We've been known for our collection of band merch shirts. And for this month, we're featuring Fandom Capital.
It was owned by Henri Marie Villegas. Ayan knew her after Anberlin concert. When she found out that she has an online merch store, this blog's co-founder bought Chvrches' shirt, just in time for their concert. She was satisfied over the turnout of purchasing fab shirts.
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| Glow in the dark Chvrches-inspired shirt #ftw. |
Get to know more about Henri and Fandom Capital:
Fandom Capital is a personal side project. My parents started a printing & corporate giveaway business a couple of years back, and from time to time I'd make designs for some of the items they offer and sell them on their facebook page. There were times when I would make a design for them to print and tell them that we could sell them, but really I just wanted that on a shirt for myself. (haha) Early this year my parents encouraged me to set up Fandom Capital as my own business and outlet for my love affair with design and music. We did a soft launch back in August with five shirt designs in time for Bazooka Rocks. They never got printed on shirts, which is okay, because it turned out to be a lesson in marketing. (lol!) Now we regularly produce new designs and some of them get shipped to places I haven't even been to, like Cebu and Iloilo.
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| Ayan (far right) wore Chvrches' shirt from Fandom Capital. |
What makes you inspired to make awesome shirts and its designs?
I want to fill my closet with band shirts! Before I got this into music, I was really into fashion. And I always look to musicians (and people related to musicians) for style inspiration. It's pretty cool how a simple band shirt can make someone look so stylish and seem so effortless. Like Kate Moss. That's how I got into making shirt designs. Most of the designs I make are based on the songs that I listen to and the posters I see on the internet.
With a lot of band merch shirts online shops out there, what makes Fandom Capital unique?
I'm more into typography than illustration, so if people want some artsy stylized prints of lyrics on their shirts (or bags, or coffee mugs), we're a good place to go to. I think what Fandom Capital has are pieces that I personally would like to wear or use. We offer more than just shirts, and we'll be having even more options come 2015.
Any plans for expand your merch business?
Ship globally! When I was still selling merch under my parents' business, we got orders from overseas. But we hand to turn them down because we didn't know how to send it to them without the shipping fee costing more than twice the item they wanted to get. Now that we've figured that out, I'm hoping we get the chance to test it next year. We're also working on making the shopping experience more convenient for people, and maybe produce even more designs to cover even morefandoms. Fandom Capital wasn't really meant to focus on just music fans. I'm obsessed with a lot of TV shows, books, and movies, and I'd want to wear merch based on those, and sell them too.