I started to look around for official Fedora merch and ran across Store - Fedora Project Wiki but it looks a bit outdated. The Red Hat Store link is out of date, and as far as I can tell the RH store isn’t carrying any Fedora swag that I could find. The unixstickers link is only kinda valid, it looks like the only way to get a Fedora sticker from there is through the Ultimate Pack. It does seem that the hellotux link is functional but the options are fairly limited. I see some options at redbubble, but I’m pretty sure that is just random people slapping uploaded logos on various products. So are there any other options?
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Improving our swag is on the list of things to do. In the meantime, I’m wearing a Fedora sweatshirt from HELLOTUX that I really like. I also have a polo from them. They do all of their design work on Linux as well.
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That is awesome that they actually use Linux for the design work! I did eventually run across the Fedora Magazine Article talking about that. Definitely a great operation! I wonder how well the embroidery works on a t-shirt? That is certainly unique.
The various products up on redbubble, are those usages OK? I haven’t actually looked at whether the quality is decent or anything of that sort, but if the usage is a bit on the shady side I will steer clear.
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Oh no, now you’ve gone and made work for me. 
I’m not aware of the Council granting authorization for usage on products on Redbubble. I’ll look into that.
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The current usage on Redbubble is not authorized. We’re working on a solution.
Not yet, but hopefully soon after the holidays.
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Any potential updates on swag, or is this still further out?
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@jflory7 is working on it…
so its not ok to buy stickers and stuff now from redbubble or am i wrong?
It is technically not okay. Those are unauthorized. We considered making official Redbubble stickers to counter them, but enough people felt that Redbubble doesn’t live up to the quality we want that I couldn’t get consensus for approval. Issue #347: trademark request: redbubble store - tickets - Pagure.io for the record.
Oh ok, quality issues…that sucks
So, we have official swag in a managed store, but there is not an easy way today to send and distribute things other than getting me to mail stuff. For obvious reasons, this is not very sustainable.
I will use this post as an opportunity to think aloud and share some very unpolished thoughts.
Background
In December 2022, our swag distribution system changed. We went from a Red Hat-managed system and process, to an external third-party vendor. The vendor does inventory for all of our swag, and also does the distribution of it from their warehouses. Right now, we have several swag items pent up from the last two years of COVID virtual events, but at some point, we can have up to 14 slots of “regular” swag that we produce and have stocked in the new system.
Right now, we are a good ways off from having the ideal 14 slots of regularly-produced swag in the new store. This is because I still have to get rid of all this old swag we still have, as well as figuring out a process for determining what swag items are considered “permanent” or fixed items in our collection. I could use an iron-fist and determine what we will produce, but I’d prefer to do something community-facing and also take an eye to environmental sustainability for what we produce. Sadly, so much swag just ends up in the trash bin. While we can’t change that, we can change what items we produce, so if some of our swag does end up in the bin, we should at least not be contributing to the great sprawl of plastic/material waste.
But anyways, what does this mean about today?
We have a digital store-front with just Fedora items. I thought there might be a way for there to be a self-service mechanism where anyone can pay for and order swag, but I don’t think this is possible. Everything requires a login and credentials. This means we will always have to have a human or group of humans in front of the swag distribution process.
Possible solutions?
I see two possible solutions:
- Mindshare-driven swag fulfillment
- Ambassador-driven swag fulfillment
Each of these are problematic although for different reasons. But I think if implemented with caution and care, we can move back to a decentralized model for how we distribute and send official Fedora swag across the world.
Mindshare fulfillment
The Mindshare Committee would process swag shipment requests, as they have done historically. Swag shipments are prioritized for sponsored Fedora Ambassadors and Advocates. What changes in this approach is that members of the Mindshare Committee would be given direct access to the swag storefront, where they could create carts of swag and send it to others at a given address.
The problem with this approach is that the Mindshare Committee is not structured as a “doing” body but more of a “decision-making” body. The question of who owns this work is unclear. Mindshare Committee membership changes periodically, and there would be consistent churn of people who receive and lose access to the storefront, depending on their membership in the Committee. We would also need to define a clear process for (1) what makes someone eligible for a swag shipment, and (2) what caps should exist on how much swag is sent in a shipment.
Ambassador fulfillment
I like this approach best but it comes with work.
Sponsored Fedora Ambassadors could volunteer as regional distributors for events in their region (e.g. LATAM, APAC, EMEA, etc.). For the purpose of this discussion, let’s call them Swag Captains. A captain would be the primary contact point for someone in their region who needs swag. The captain has access to the storefront and can submit and mail orders based on requests they receive. I like this approach best because it is more decentralized and pushes us closer to the model we had a long time ago, where regional Ambassador Mentors were the contact points for requests like this and helped facilitate action for getting local contributors or Fedora fans the things they needed. Someone who is local to a region will have more context and understanding for what local people need, and in this way, they can be more of a face for Fedora, instead of blocking on the Mindshare Committee or myself.
The problem with this approach is that Ambassadors are in an ambiguous state, and have been for a while. Improvements were made in the 2020 revamp, but there is additional work to provide clear guidance and structure for how Ambassadors are defined. Additionally, we’d need clear guidance and policy for how swag orders should be made, how they should be fulfilled, and how they are tracked. Red Hat requires transparency for how this works, and we should empower Ambassadors to make the best decisions in their local context while also fulfilling Red Hat’s legal and compliance obligations.
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hello folks!
just wondered if there had been any resolution to this?
for our second year we are holding a space at a local festival and would really appreciate some Fedora swag for our centro sociocultural
I wonder is there a local ambassadors-team member that can assist?
somos tec3. basado en Las Alpujarras, Andalusia. Espana.
Hello Adam!
You could file a ticket at ‘Mindshare’ fedora / Mindshare Committee / Home - Tickets and Decisions · GitLab to request some swag for your event. It is not my area but as no-one answered you I would suggest posting as much info as you can about your teams commitment to Fedora, the event itself (such as attendance numbers and themes) and your timeframe.
Justin is on leave so that is why he has not got back to you.
Best regards,
Mat
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