Welcome to our guide on where and how to find the perfect merch to show your love for Love and Deepspace.

Calling all Deepspace hunters – if your heart beats for the immersive world of Love and Deepspace and you’re looking to bring a piece of it into your daily life, this is prepared for you.

This will be a two-part series. In the second part, we’ll provide an extensive list of Love and Deepspace brick and mortar merch stores across various regions that we ourselves have explored, shopped, and enjoyed. For now, let’s focus on online shopping.

Firstly, let’s break down the types of merch you’ll encounter. Essentially, it all falls into two categories:

1. Official Merch: This is the premium, licensed merchandise designed and sold directly by the developers of the game Love and Deepspace – Infold Games. These items are often high-quality, released in limited quantities for special occasions like birthdays events, game anniversaries, or celebrating new banners.
2. Fan-made Merch: This encompasses everything created by the talented fans and artists within our community.These items are born from love and creativity, often featuring unique designs and concepts you won’t find anywhere else.

A crucial note from us at Rumi: We strongly encourage supporting official and ethical fan-made creators. We do not endorse purchasing bootleg items. For official merch, bootlegs are cheap, low-quality imitations that steal the original designs. For fan-made merch, bootlegs are items that steal artwork from artists without permission or payment, harming the very creators who make our community vibrant.

Now, let’s explore your online options!

1. Official Merch: The Infold Games Taobao Store

For genuine official merchandise, there is only one online source: the 叠纸心意旗舰店 (Diézhǐ Xīnyì Flagship Store) on Taobao.

• How it works: New items are typically announced a few days in advance through official channels like Rednote or Weibo. If you want to catch those limited drops, make sure to follow their official accounts!
• The Challenges: International purchases experience two main hurdles:
  1. Long Waiting Times: Production and shipping from Infold can take months. Pre-orders often have a wait time of around 3 months before they even ship.
  2. International Shipping & Customs: You will likely need to use a forwarding service to ship your items outside of China. This adds more time and cost. There’s also a small risk of packages getting lost or facing customs fees. If you seek out a forwarding agent (you can find recommendations on Reddit or Instagram), please be cautious and do your research to avoid scams.

While official merch is stunning, its limited availability and higher price point lead many fans to explore the wonderful world of fan-made creations.

2. Fan-made Merch: A World of Creativity

This is where the community truly shines! Countless talented artists design beautiful, unique items. Just to list a few here:

• Our Humble Shop: RumiStore! We specialize in bringing high-quality, everyday items inspired by the game. Our range includes plushies, plushie costumes, handwritten letters & postcards, pins, jewelry, and keychains. We either design in-house or collaborate with artists and then partner with quality manufacturers to bring these designs to life. For some special items, we commission master artisans for handcrafted pieces.
• Independent Artists: The best way to find original art is to follow artists directly on platforms like Instagram and Pinterest. Many artists sell their goods through their own online stores or platforms like BigCartel. They often operate through pre-orders (“group orders”) or sell small batches of ready stock (“on-hand” items).
• Marketplace Platforms: Etsy & AliExpress:
  • Etsy is a great platform for finding handmade and vintage items. You can find many genuine fan artists here. However, a major warning: Recently, there has been a flood of bootleg sellers on Etsy, especially selling low-quality, mass-produced plushies that steal artwork. Always check the seller’s reviews and see if they are the original artist!
  • AliExpress: We generally do not recommend AliExpress. The prices are low for a reason. The vast majority of items here are bootlegs—either stolen art printed cheaply or poor-quality factory knock-offs of official designs. If you absolutely want to buy from here, scrutinize the customer reviews and be very cautious.
  • Crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter: For larger, more ambitious fan projects, creators sometimes turn to Kickstarter. Backing a Kickstarter is a fantastic way to support creators directly and secure a unique item. A word of caution: As with any crowdfunding platform, there is an inherent risk that the project could be delayed or, in rare cases, not come to fruition. Always back projects from creators with a proven track record and read the campaign details thoroughly.

The Bottom Line: The online merch world is vast! For official goods, patience is key. For fan-made goods, seek out and support the original artists directly. It ensures you get a quality product and helps sustain the creative heartbeat of our fandom.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where we’ll guide you through the best physical stores around the world where you can find Love and Deepspace treasures in person!

Happy collecting!