Since Dan and I have gotten many requests by listeners for more merchandise and alternative retailers, especially based in Europe, we are currently investigating how to ramp up our swag offerings. We are very happy with Cafepress, especially the quality of their stuff is amazing and they have great customer support from what I can tell, but ordering from them from outside the US can become very expensive very fast due to enormous customs fees levied by your local customs office. Therefore, we are looking into retailers with the same kind of setup and quality that are based in the EU. If you have any suggestions, please let us know via the contact form.

As for more designs and items in general, I definitely have plans but I’d like to hold off on that until we have the European distribution sorted out. I hope you understand that. Until then I will play with some cool ideas for new stuff so that we hopefully have a lot of new merchandise to offer in the EU as well as the US very soon.

As I mentioned on the podcast, my test order of Linux Outlaws merchandise recently arrived and it looks great. I have uploaded some photos of it for you to check out because I know that it’s always better to see stuff like that on “real” photographs (ie. not from the manufacturer’s site). Both the apparel and the mugs are amazing quality and look very professional. Some more photos that Aussie listener Mick graciously provided can be seen in his Flickr stream.

I also have to say that Cafepress’ customer support is amazing. When I told them my order hadn’t arrived yet they send another one free of charge and said I could keep the original. Dan has also made similarly positive experiences with them. Bottom line: I am very happy with this stuff and can totally recommend it. If you want to get your hands on some cool Linux Outlaws swag, head over to our merchandise store and knock yourself out. Remember: $2 from every article sold go towards bandwith and upkeep costs of the podcast, so it’s a great way to help us out and get something for yourself in return.

As I had promised earlier and was requested by several listeners, I’ve come up with some designs for merchandise for the show. Several shirts for both men and women and a Linux Outlaws themed mug can now be purchased at our new store at Cafépress. I encourage you to go over there and check them out. We will make exactly $2 on every item sold through the store and I will use these proceeds only to pay for hosting and bandwith fees and hardware for the show. That is a reasonable arrangement, I think.

I have ordered samples of the items and will get back to you here on the blog about the quality once they arrive. I have ordered stuff from Cafépress previously, though, and both the items themselves as well as the print job have always been very high quality. In my experience, they are the best at this kind of thing. Nonetheless, I am pursuing alternative vendors, especially for us Europeans. If you have any ideas on this or if you would like additional products in the store, please let me know via the contact form. I would also really enjoy pictures of listeners with our products, so if you order some, feel free to send me shots of the gear in action. I really hope you enjoy these as much as I do!