Update #1: Appreciation and Next Steps

Hello Stargazers! 🌠

Thank you so much for the overwhelming support. We knew Starfall would be a hit but we really didn’t think products would have sold out in 6 minutes! We hope opening the pre-order so everyone had the opportunity to get what they wanted is as appreciated as we appreciate you! Now, to official business. 🤝

We have a few things to address. Here’s the tl;dr

• Timeline
  • Pre-order: August 16-31st, 2024
  • Production: September-November 2024
  • Shipping: December-January 2025
  • Fulfillment: February-March 2025
  • We recommend waiting to change your address until you receive the planned pre-fulfillment notice.
• Mini Tees
  • Feedback from customers who placed in-stock orders informed a neck hole adjustment.
    • Neck holes are getting bigger.
    • We’ll post the adjustments once they’ve been sampled and we’re happy with the results. Should be by the end of September at the latest.
• Exchanges and restocks
  • You will have ample time to address order issues once pre-orders are fulfilled.
  • After issues are addressed, all extra stock will be available on our site and in our brick and mortar location.
• Cancellations and refunds
  • Absolutely no cancellations for original payment method refunds (OPM) after Thursday, September 5th at 11:59pm EST (midnight) as production will be in progress.
  • We will allow cancellations for store credit, no questions asked.
    • This is a generous offer most indie brands of our size do not offer. Please respect our efforts to make pre-orders as fair as possible for everybody.
• Expected updates
  • Scheduled updates posted before noon on the first Wednesday of every month. Each update will also be emailed directly to you.
    • If you do not receive the email, check the blog page.
  • More updates as major developments occur on a case by case basis.
  • Address update notices two weeks before fulfillment begins.

Timeline

This is a gentle reminder that—in accordance with our pre-order launch blog post—pre-orders are not expected to ship until 2025. You can read more about the timeline in our launch blog post.

It’s a long wait, we know. If you know yourself and don’t trust your patience to last through potential delays, please help us run this as smoothly as possible and cancel now. As always, we do our absolute best to have pre-orders arrive on time but we are not omniscient; we cannot predict the future and all the trials it may hold.

Extra time has been added to account for unexpected delays. We recommend waiting until the notice we plan to send before fulfillment to change your address because if bulk arrives earlier than expected, we will be sending to an updated address you may not have access to yet.

We know the wait will be worth it in the end, we just need to get there together!

Mini Tee Neck Adjustments

We’ve had a lot of feedback from customers who ordered from the in-stock launch that the mini tee neck hole was too small for the big brains in our community. 🧠

We will be adjusting the neck hole before production. Since neck measurements were not provided in the size chart at the time of the pre-order, this shouldn’t affect the decision you made about your order. We will share the measurement updates once we have samples with adjustments we’re happy with. We should have confirmation by mid to late September.

Exchanges and Restocks

We always order a little extra with pre-orders for anyone who missed out on the pre-order, however, we always prioritize pre-order customers before we restock pre-order items.

You will have a notable amount of time to receive your order and address any issues you may have with your pre-order while we have stock to resolve issues. We will send a notice to reach out regarding any unaddressed concerns with your pre-order before we restock the extras. The ultimate goal is to make sure anyone who pre-ordered is treated fairly and is happy with their order before opening up stock to the public.

Starfall will be restocked after all pre-orders have been delivered and last minute inquiries and exchanges are complete.

Cancellations and Refunds

Now is a great time to go over our pre-order refund policy and remind you that, as stated in the policy and the pre-order launch blog post, refunds to your original payment method (OPM) are only available before we submit numbers to our manufacturer for production. Please contact us to cancel before Thursday, September 5th at 11:59pm EST (midnight).

Pre-orders bear a lot of risk of which we have now experienced first hand. It takes a village. If you’ve ever backed something on Kickstarter, this is similar.

In an effort to make it a little more fair to you all, we’re going to allow cancellations at any time for store credit only. No questions asked. Store credit refunds allows us to keep our cash flow and, by extension, our business, healthy. Original payment method refunds are a liability and can put us in the red which is why they are not allowed once production has begun.

We have given ample warning regarding the availability of original payment method refunds. Compared to peers in the indie fashion space, our policy is generous. Most other brands of our size do not allow refunds at all. Please respect our efforts to make pre-orders as fair as possible for everybody. Patience is a virtue!

Scheduled Updates

Updates from our last pre-order were well received so we’re going to continue with the same strategy.

We know what it’s like to be left in the dark. The one thing we have absolute control over when it comes to pre-orders is our communication pipeline. We hope by promising guaranteed update times that you never have to worry about when the next update will come.

Regular blog updates will be available by 12pm EST on the first Wednesday of every month until the pre-order is over. You will also receive an email about the update on the same day that the blog is posted. Any major updates in between will be posted as needed.

These updates may not be substantial and will sometimes be a formality to let you know we haven’t forgotten about you and that things are still going as scheduled. Less is more when it comes to updates!

Final Words

Officially ending the official business. 🤝 We know most of you are absolute angels and love having you around! The kindness you show us and the excitement you have for Carmico items are the best reason to keep going! We just have to cover our bases for the new people around that might not understand what it means to pre-order from a small brand.

Celestial themes have a special place in the Carmico’s heart. Selina, our founder, kickstarted Carmico (literally on Kickstarter) with Comet Caps and Star Bags in 2019-2020. It seems fitting to have the success of Starfall continue our growth. It’s written in the stars. ✨

Thank you all so much!

-The CarmiCrew

Contact us at hello@carmico.ca if you have any questions or wish to cancel your order before Thursday, September 5th at 11:59pm EST.