The Summer Collection Details
I remember the first time I ever wanted to open an apparel shop was in my senior year of college. I lived minutes away from Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, saw all these adorable Disney shirts, and wanted to design my own. The problem was I had no experience in designing or creating apparel. Do you keep the stock in your house? How do you know what shirts to buy?
Then I started looking and asking in Facebook groups and discovered what trademark means. So yeah. I never opened that Disney shop.
But I still wanted to learn how to design, and I fell in love with the creative process. And low and behold in 2021 the time came when it was time for me to create bookish merch!
Since that first launch in February 2021, I have learned valuable lessons about operating a merch shop. Whether it is the type of shirt I sell to collecting taxes every drop has been a major learning lesson.
The Summer drop in 2021 was the first time I purchased, manufactured, and shipped all merch. And while that process was fun for the few weeks it lasted, the reality was my family could not sustain it. The other thing was the way in which those shirts were created and released was not my favorite. People who know me in IRL will tell you I am a perfectionist and that didn’t meet the quality which I demand of myself and my brand.
So in 2022, I knew I had to reevaluate and decide how I was going to release everything. But more importantly, I took the time to play around and find the joy in creating again. Almost one year later since my last drop, I am thrilled to officially open the Rosebud’s Realm shop on 5/31/22. In fact this is just the beginning of many drops in 2022.
The Summer Collection ‘22
BookTok Made Me Read It - Heather Lilac
(Limited Summer Color)
This is the Momma Rose Request - No seriously.
Since we started talking about designing and creating shirts, Momma Rose has wanted a shirt that says “BookTok Made Me”. So I finally made it!
This shirt feels like a love letter to the BookTok community who continues to keep our TBR’s never-ending.
Smutty Girl Summer - White
(Limited Edition)
I am actually wearing this shirt right now - No. Seriously.
This shirt was the first one I finished and I LOVED. I wanted it to be sexy but also flirty and cute. Also I think I shocked everyone (including myself) when I made the decision to make it white but it WORKS. I am currently wearing it with some black jeans.
The Smutty Girl Summer shirt is limited for this summer only and will be removed from the shop at the end of June.
Rosebud’s Realm Basic Tee - Heather Forest Green.
Last but certainly not least, the Rosebud Realm Shirt,
This design was probably the hardest one to finalize. Trying to capture everything about The Realm in one shirt was tough but I think the design is perfect.
Every piece on this shirt is subtle hints to the journey we have gone on together. Can you guess all the references?
This shirt will always be available in the shop and I am sure will adapt over time but for now, it is everything I could want and more.
Theory Time - Heather Prism Peach
(Limited Summer Color)
This was the “bonus” design shirt that I knew we had to include in the collection. If there is one phrase I can think of when describing The Realm or our community, it is that we love our Theory Time.
The design includes an hourglass with a moon and of course some greenery (because it’s not Rosebud’s Realm without some greenery).
Fun Fact: This shirt was originally supposed to be a white design (I own that one) and it didn’t pop the way I envisioned so it was changed to black just in time for this launch!
Can’t Talk Right Now Doing Book Club Stuff - Soft Cream
(Limited Summer Color)
This might be one of my favorite designs in this collection and probably the easiest one to come up with. When I saw this woman in my thousands of design files I knew I had to use her. And then I added the evergreen tree in the background because…duh.
Right now, this shirt is marked as limited, however, I am open to keeping it in the shop longer if people love the design!
So what’s next?
Right now, I am hard at work finalizing the FIRST licensed collection! This is one of many coming this year and I am beyond excited to share it with all of you. TBH it is a bit nerve-wracking to go to an author and show them the design you have made based on their amazing books but I know you will all love them!
In fact, I may have some of them already….
But once I am ready to share the next launch, you will know!
X.
