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MNHQ

Mumsnet merchandise - your input needed please

42 replies

JustineMumsnet · 15/11/2013 12:02

Hi all

After years of being asked to come up with MN merchandise and (aside from some incredibly tight t-shirts with virtual mother on them way back in the early-2000s) pretty much sticking our collective fingers in our ears, we've finally found someone who can help us produce and sell a qualiteee online range - hopefully available in time for Christmas. And we're looking for your input.

We reckon a range of T-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies and mugs with Mumsnet in-jokes/ popular phrases - which is what folks have mentioned in the past - but is there anything else we've collectively missed? And what do you want on them? A T-shirt telling all and sundry to LTB? A mug asking whether YABU? A hoody announcing that it' really best to RTFT?

Ideas very much welcome please Grin

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MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 15/11/2013 14:19

RevealTheHiddenBeach thanks. I'll talk to our supplier, but frankly if we sell a million mugs and one tee then that'll give them the confidence to try other stuff. However to start with we are limited to those three things, although we might be able to do some car window stickers.

MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 15/11/2013 14:35

sparklingbrook socially awkward fist bumps. It really is the only way.

MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 15/11/2013 15:18

It has been a crash course in MN in-jokery, that's for sure. In the clothing catalogue I can find some lovely gilets and even a wolf howling at the moon fleece. I have not yet seen whatever it is a "judgy pant" might be. :)

MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 15/11/2013 15:24

We're on the case with tote bags. If we can, we'll do them. That's basically a T shirt with handles, right?

MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 15/11/2013 15:41

MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 15/11/2013 16:16

sunbathe how about one of those rulers which showed different pictures depending on which way you tipped it, and which you invariably bought in the zoo gift shop after a school trip (or am I showing my great age?)?

T Shirts. Hoodies. Mugs. Totes. Random tat from the London Zoo Gift Shop.

Anything else? Smile

MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 15/11/2013 16:49

I fear it might be too late for me.

Tea Towels. Right. Of course if I'd suggested that as my opening gambit on Mumsnet I'd have been torn limb from limb in seconds.

MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 15/11/2013 17:11

I've just been having an offline lesson in the multi-layered intricacies and etiquette of biscuits and jammy dodgers. Oh, and when to Smile and when to Grin.

Totally up with you now. Really. Yup.

MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 15/11/2013 17:17

YoniMatopoeia Yes of course.

MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 15/11/2013 17:22

Tee2072 No, I've been here for a few weeks.

However, disclosure: I ran PistonHeads for many years. I don't do that now, and I'm helping MN out on a few projects. So I'm quite happy getting stuck in on forums. You're swearier than PH, and much funnier.

Plus, my wife works for MN as one of the local editors, and I've been around the site (albeit silently) on an off for about three years.

StuartMumsnet · 15/11/2013 17:30

This reply has been deleted

You might well do.

MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 16/11/2013 11:39

Some great ideas on here, plus it functions as a handy at a glance guide to a good proportion of MN in-jokes for newbies like me. Grin

I was catching up on the thread last night on the train and doing that thing which annoys me most about other people on trains - laughing out loud at my mobile phone. Blush

Keep them coming, and we'll do as many as we can which are viable. I LOVE the YABU car sticker idea ControlGeek and that's very doable.

Happy for any designers who want to donate their commission to do so. We could even flag up those where a charitable donation would be made in the description, as it might help people choose what to buy.

MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 19/11/2013 17:12

Thanks everyone, some really good stuff on this thread.

All being well, we'll have the designs we're going with at launch agreed and ready in a couple of days. At launch we'll have t shirts, mugs, hoodies, tea towels, aprons and a couple of car stickers because those are the things our supplier can produce using their print on demand system already. Shortly behind that will be some tote bags, and then we'll look at other stuff in due course.

We'll be picking up on quite a few of the suggestions made here, and adding to those some of the regularly used abbreviations, and emoticons. We also hope to be doing some specific Woolly Hugs designs. Our supplier also has a number of other children's licences, so there'll be a small range of kids tees available featuring other brands.

MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 19/11/2013 17:28

Licensing model. Albeit one in which we retain sign off on all product. So we're de-risking it from our perspective (the margins on this stuff are tiny, as you're possibly aware), but able to have a broad range of designs for all tastes.

MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 20/11/2013 06:43

There will be a couple of bits and bobs for blokes. We can easily do more based on demand.

MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 20/11/2013 10:20

A very imaginative MNer sent me this via PM. I really like it - quietly subversive and amusing. I could see it working as an expanded range.

What do you all think?

Mumsnet merchandise - your input needed please
MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 20/11/2013 10:39

I guess the appeal for me is that it looks twee, but in fact isn't.

Possibly not obvious enough then.

Wouldn't work on a T shirt, but a tea towel or Mug could?

MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 20/11/2013 11:17

OK, thanks for the feedback. Appreciated. As you can see, my instincts aren't spot on around this stuff...

MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 20/11/2013 12:28

One thing I learned in a previous role is that the stuff you think will sell stubbornly refuses to, and the stuff you think you'll end up owning forever disappears fast than you can say "The Secret Service does not comment on procedure"

We're pretty much set on the launch range now, but looking for more ideas for further down the line.

MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 20/11/2013 17:00

Agree that there's some in-jokery. That's part of the appeal for those that are into that sort of thing. There are levels of commitment to that - either full on with a t shirt, or nice and subtle with a mug which nobody but you need really know about (unless you're in the habit of taking a mug with you when you're out and about). Much the same as any team merchandise - the buyer gets to choose the extent to which they want to publicly wear their colours.

We aren't doing cunt worm merchandise.

MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 20/11/2013 21:54

Should have some designs to show you all tomorrow, with any luck. Nice and simple, using the MN font, and with the Charlies Angels logo (without text) very small alongside. We're just trying to finalise the smiley (as well as cake, biscuit etc) illustrations. It hasn't been easy scaling those up (and therefore adding detail) but whilst keeping them looking as they do on the boards.

MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 21/11/2013 15:22

OK, the launch range is all signed off now. We'll be able to show these very soon.

We have at this stage parked the emoticon illustrations, simply because scaling them up well was proving to be a total nightmare and we're up against a very tight deadline. To be honest, the Biscuit illustration looked like a giant (and very sore) nipple, rather than a jammy dodger. We'd rather not do them until they look good and, well, right now they don't. Trust me on that one...

We'll revisit those very soon, but to start with we're going to have a series of text based designs, with words in square brackets and a very small & very discreet angels logo (with no words) by way of an identifier.

We think they look very good, and hope that you will too.

MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 22/11/2013 13:06

Not much wrong with a sore nipple if you're Lansinoh I suppose, but it wasn't something that any of us really fancied wearing on a shirt.

We'll keep trying, but we have our launch range now and the shop will be live in just over a week.

Here's a sneak preview, of just a couple of designs. Hope you like them.

Mumsnet merchandise - your input needed please
Mumsnet merchandise - your input needed please
Mumsnet merchandise - your input needed please
MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 22/11/2013 16:49

I should add, these are just a couple of the designs and there is also a YABU/YANBU mug. With all the designs we made the text as big as we could within the width, so longer text such as YABU/YANBU has smaller text. So I suppose it is more subtle than the YABU mug. There are 20+ designs for the first wave, with more to come as and when you all have good ideas.

We can also play around with designs, so if there's demand for a very small typeface, then we can try that too. Same thing with different coloured letters. We've done this with a couple of the square bracket designs. These are shown on tees, but will be available on mugs and other stuff as well.

Mumsnet merchandise - your input needed please
Mumsnet merchandise - your input needed please
Mumsnet merchandise - your input needed please
MNHQ

StuartMumsnet · 22/11/2013 21:32

Agree. Boak isn't in the range - I think we've been very careful either to choose specifically MN expressions, or to use the square brackets for stuff which reflects how people write here.

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