 By now, we’ve all been “lucky” enough to hear about how the CEO of every corporation you’ve ever bought from is handling Covid-19 – often accompanied by multiple emails from those same CEOs over the past few months. That isn’t what this is. What this is, however, is a chance to share our gratitude for the overwhelming response we’ve gotten so far to our efforts, our gratitude for our customers’ patience in delayed fulfillment times, and a look at what the future of Finnish Inn Cider looks like. As referenced in our About Us page, we started this site while two of the founders were literally stranded overseas due to airline restrictions resulting from Covid-19 (and, as of the time of this writing, still there). The ensuing boredom and ennui led to the creation of this site – Finnish Inn Cider was always an inside joke amongst the founding group, and we already had self-sourced shirts and stickers we amused ourselves by wearing and displaying. But what began as a juvenile joke (OK, it still is) grew into something that we never expected once we started throwing up preliminary designs on Instagram. Those designs and logos got shared amongst outsiders at a phenomenal rate, and we saw a huge opportunity to provide amusing, high-quality apparel to the masses who clearly saw the entertainment value in them. Unfortunately, getting an e-commerce store off of it’s feet is always going to be a challenge, and that challenge was magnified by the pandemic. As we’re a print on demand company (maintaining stock is obviously impossible due to our current situation), fulfillment times have been pretty crazy – to the point that orders were taking 3+ weeks to arrive at customers’ homes. But crazily, on top of the great reception we had from prospective customers, every single buyer we have spoken to about fulfillment delays have been so understanding and patient that we are in awe. So thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for your understanding and patience. So what’s next for Finnish Inn Cider? As the pandemic slows and we prepare for our return to the United States, we have a few goals in mind. First, fulfillment from our manufacturer should speed up significantly over the next few months. If you ever have a question about fulfillment estimates, before or after you order, please reach out to us through email or our Instagram for a current status report – we’re very receptive to customer contact and typically respond within a few hours, dependent upon the time (here and in the US).
Even though we started off as a generalized apparel and sticker shop, we’ve really grown to see that Finnish Inn Cider could be much more of a lifestyle brand. And, with that in mind, we’re already making moves to expand our product line to non-apparel, lifestyle-driven products that we expect to release within the next few months. See our Instagram for a peek at what’s coming soon. And, since we’re ordering in bulk and maintaining inventory on these items, we’re able to continue to make them as affordable as possible AND we’ll be offering free shipping on these products. Also, as we are able to narrow down the most popular apparel and stickers based on sales and feedback, we plan to build and maintain inventory of the top five or so most popular products; again, reducing the cost of these and offering free shipping. With that being said, we’re almost comfortable with the bench of designs we have available and on deck (a few more are in development), so we’re going to start slowing the release of new designs over the next few months after the next big drop we have planned. This will allow us to focus on sourcing our lifestyle product series, tightening up some of the existing lines, and really knocking it out of the park with the new designs we do release. Remember, you can always get a peek of what’s on deck with our Mystery Tees or Mystery Sticker Pack. With that being said, we’re always open to suggestions for future designs – hit us up on our Instagram or email to let us know what you’re thinking and, if we like it, we’re happy to give free merch to those with great ideas we end up using. Again, thank you guys so much for your support and patience. Big things are on the horizon, and we hope that you’re as excited as we are. -FIC
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