Update #1: Pre-order closed, production underway

Hello Tea Party guests!

Firstly, thank you all for attending our tea party (pre-order). It was a massive success! The world is uncertain right now, but what is certain, is your love for Carmico and all things green. 💚

We were honestly blown away by the support for Teahouse—it’s given us a revitalized inspiration to keep on going despite all that’s going on in the world. And if you ask us, anything can be solved with a few friends and your favourite drink. So, let’s get sipping!

The Tea

We operated this pre-order differently than we usually do. In previous pre-orders, we left the opportunity for original payment method (OPM) refunds open for a few days before we officially closed orders and started production.

Since we’re operating on a much shorter timeline than usual, numbers for pre-orders were submitted before the pre-order ended and production begun on Sunday. We did this to make sure everything was in the US before the tariff pause potentially ends. Usually we leave some time for cancellations before starting the order, but due to the shorter delivery window for this pre-order, we are foregoing the preliminary cancellation window.

Please review our refund policy about pre-orders if you have not already. We have some reminders in this update as well.

If you have any questions regarding the pre-order, timeline, or policy, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at hello@carmico.ca. We’re always here to help!

A gentle reminder to be kind when you send us a message

We get it, especially if you’re a first-time Carmico customer, you want to make sure you get your stuff and you’re excited! But please do not assume anything about us or our process without asking questions first. We will answer, and we will do right by you. You can also join our Discord to chat with the community about any doubts you may have. We have many Carmico regulars who have been with us since the beginning that would be happy to share their experience.

tl;dr

• Timeline
  • June 6th - 23rd: Pre-order (we extended it a few days because y’all couldn’t get enough)
  • June 20th - Bulk order submitted to manufacturers
  • June 23rd - Production began
  • July 1st: Last day to cancel your order if you made a mistake
  • June - July: Production
  • Late July - Late August: Shipping
  • Mid September - Early October: Fulfillment
    • Subject to delays and early arrivals. Reminders will be sent to you to update your address before we start fulfillment.
  • October: Opportunity for exchanges
  • Late October: Pre-order complete! Restock launches.
• Cancellations and refunds
  • 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.
• Exchanges and restocks
  • You will have ample time to address order issues once pre-orders are fulfilled.
  • Items may be exchanged for different sizes and styles based on in-stock quantities. We ordered a lot of extras so everyone should be able to exchange if needed.
  • After issues and exchanges are addressed, all extra stock will be available on our site and in-person events.
• 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.
    • This update will serve as the update meant for next week (first Wednesday of July) since there won’t be any substantial progress between now and then.
  • More updates as major developments occur on a case by case basis.
  • We will send notices to update your address two weeks before fulfillment begins.
• Reminders from the launch post to consider before we finalize your order
  • Shipping fees will not be refunded if you deny delivery or customs. Familiarize yourself with your regional customs charges.
  • US customers will not be subject to customs fees. All US orders are now shipped domestic from our new US warehouse.
  • Delays are always possible. We’ve added extra time to account for possible delays as we believe it’s better to under-promise and over-deliver.

Cancellations and Refunds

Pre-orders bear a lot of risk of which we have experienced first hand.

As stated in our refund policy and the pre-order launch blog post, refunds to your original payment method (OPM) are only available before our set cancellation date, July 1st.

In an effort to make it a little more fair to you all, started offering refunds store credit only on our most recent Starfall restock***.*** 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. Thus, they are not allowed once production has begun.

Compared to our 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!

Exchanges and Restocks

As always, once we’ve completed fulfillment (expected in September), we’ll have our return portal open for you to exchange items with in-stock items. Teahouse items will be temporarily removed from the website but will be available in the return portal so nobody can snatch up the size or style you want to exchange for.

You’ll also have a few weeks to address any issues regarding your order such as failed deliveries, missing items, and other order-related issues.

Once fulfillment is complete, we’ll include a reminder for your last call to address order issues before we restock the extras. There will be restocks of all items and all sizes with very few exceptions if for some reason many people exchange for the same size.

What next?

We’re already in production! We jumped a head a step so that we can keep this pre-order lean and clean. Our factories have ordered and mostly received all bulk materials and will begin final garment construction in the next few days.

On our side of the border, we’re packing up all the little extras from US in-stock purchases and preparing them for transfer to our US warehouse. Once everything from our Canadian warehouse and the pre-order items from the factories arrive in the US, all US orders will ship from the US warehouse.

What to expect?

If you’ve never pre-order with us, we’re here with you every step of the way. Any major updates will be addressed as they come up. We have scheduled blog updates sent directly to your email on the first Wednesday of every month while the pre-order is in progress. We also share those blog updates on our socials and they’re always available on the blog page. You’ll never miss a beat!

If you ever have any questions, you can reach out to us at hello@carmico.ca for any order related issues. Join in on the conversations in our public Carmico Discord. We’re so proud to say we have the friendliest community. <3

Next update

We’ll be back with an update next Wednesday, August 6th. If there are any major updates before then, we will send an update earlier.

Until then, sit back and relax. We’ll take it from here!

—The CarmiCrew

Contact us at hello@carmico.ca if you have any questions.