In his most recent Kickstarter update, Rob Thomas announced a partnership between Veronica Mars, CafePress, and Marshmallows to create a line of fan-designed merchandise.
According to Rob Thomas, if the Veronica Mars team had created and offered official merchandise in more traditional ways and through more official channels, it wouldn’t be ready until months after the movie came out.
Instead, Rob Thomas and the Veronica Mars crew decided to work with CafePress to not only come up with a collection of fan-designed merchandise, but to also create a platform for any and all fans to design and sell their own Veronica Mars products.
“What I like best about this approach,” says Rob Thomas in the Kickstarter update, “is that — just like Kickstarter — it keeps Veronica Mars fan-driven, from beginning to end.”
Like with anything, there are a few stipulations on what kind of Veronica Mars designs are allowed. For instance, you cannot use any photos, screencaps, or designs that are used in the series or the movie. Your work has to be completely original, although you can use fun quotes and inside jokes.
If you’re simply interested in buying Veronica Mars merch and not designing it, be sure to visit the shop and check out the current CafePress selection. There will be new designs and promotions released on CafePress every week leading up to the Veronica Mars premiere. You may have already been made aware of the sales when the shop had a special on the LoVe designs in the days leading up to Valentine’s Day.
Merchandise available in the CafePress store includes shirts, hoodies, infant onesies, and fun mugs (including one that has Veronica Mars quotes all over it).
One design that Rob Thomas is confident will be popular is the line of “official” team shirts, including “Team Mars,” “Team Logan,” and “Team Mac.” The idea for these designs came from fans’ positive reactions to the similar homemade shirts that Jason Dohring, Ryan Hansen, and Chris Lowell wore to Comic-Con last July.
One of the most exciting parts about this line of shirts (besides the teams themselves) is the inclusion of the Veronica Mars logo just under the team name. You can see the entire selection below.
Until the end of this week, all of the team shirts will be on sale for only $10 each, so be sure to decide what team you’re on before the week’s out!