Our friends over at Sad Shirts have been busy, busy, busy! Running a handcrafted shirt shop takes a lot of work, but they’ve been especially busy recently, getting ready for FanCon. In the words of their illustrious brand designer, Sad Ivan: “The FanCon Celebration weekend lit a fire under our asses, and we’re bringing our A game.” We reached out to them to find out what they have planned as part of Celebrate FanCon 2020 weekend (4-5 July 2020). Read on below!
A digital #ValleyOfVendors and an #ArtistAlley
For many local craftspeople, cosplayers, and artists, FanCon is one of the biggest dates on the nerd calendar, and not having the physical event was a huge knock. So Sad Shirts were understandably happy when the online event was announced.
We were obviously overjoyed to hear that FanCon was doing a virtual event this year. FanCon is one of Sad Shirts’ big earners each year, and it’s an awesome event on top of that. I was looking forward to seeing a lot of the regular faces and checking out the new art, merch and costumes. Artists have been hit hard by the lockdown, and I know so many talented people.
Sad Ivan
Usually, they’d be carting loads of stock from home to the venue and back each day. They would also have spent a lot of time designing, printing, and promoting new shirts and art for the event. This time, they had to change their strategy a bit:
Due to lockdown and other circumstances, we haven’t been able to do any big print runs, so we’re focusing on limited-edition smaller runs and even some new items (the likes of which ye have never seen!).
Sad Ivan
What are they planning, you ask? Over the two days, they will have a number of sales and limited-edition items:
- A super-sale on their Red Moon t-shirt
- Other selected mark-downs across the site
- A limited number of hand-painted Shadow Over Innsmouth shirts
- A limited number of printed tote bags
- A lucky-draw giveaway of a hand-crafted shirt, hand-printed artwork, and hand-printed tote-bag!
- A ludicrous video by the creators of Sad Shirts!
Please note: They’re not kidding when they say the hand-painted Shadow Over Innsmouth shirts are “a SUPER-MEGA-BEHEMOTHICALLY limited-run”. There will be a mere handful of these wonders up for grabs this weekend. Each shirt will be unique, and they’re only planning to make 6 or 7 in total. So keep your eyes on their Facebook and Instagram pages for more details!
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In the two-week lead-up to the event, Sad Shirts has also been showcasing the work of some artist friends, “because we know some damned talented people who make awesome shit.” So, in that spirit, why don’t you head on over to Krafts By Witch Knight on Facebook? They have some fantastic plans for the weekend:
???This weekend, 4 & 5 Juy, Krafts By Witch Knight will be joining the celebrations with FanCon Celebration Weekend 2020 – I’ll have a photo album on my page; ‘FanCon Celebration Weekend 2020’ with random posts on *specials & discounted (up to 50% off!) select items for sale over the weekend.
Krafts By Witch Knight
I’ll also be donating a portion of my profits, along with 50% of sales from selected items to Dead Animals Walking, an extremely hard working, NPO, that pride themselves in providing rescue, rehabilitation, relief, primary health care, sterilization and educational efforts, on the ground in impoverished communities and farms in Cape Town.
Thank you for supporting local creatives!???
So look out for the #FanConFan2020 and #CelebrateFanCon2020 posts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more news and updates about this fest, and support a few indie creatives if you can.
