👋 Hey everyone! We hope you had a warm, peaceful Holiday season, however you chose to spend it! And we wish you the brightest, kindest, happiest New Year! 🌟✨
It’s now the very beginning of 2026 (can you believe it?! 😭), and even if we don’t have any major updates to share just yet, we wanted to check in and let you know…
💌 We’re still here. Still working. Still pushing through in the background — slowly but steadily.
We learned silence can feel a little discouraging sometimes. But behind the scenes, things are still moving — production, coordination with manufacturers, emails, logistics, packaging, follow-ups. The current work is very "invisible", but it’s all ongoing. We’re doing our best to move things forward, at the often awkward pace that small creators with no external help, like us, have to dance to. 🥺
We’re far from perfect — a little clumsy, a little chaotic… we stumble, we get overwhelmed, but we never stop trying.
We can’t wait for the day we get to share exciting news, tangible progress, or even the final fulfillment photos with you!! That moment is still coming — and we’re holding onto that light with all our hearts. 💜 In the meantime, thank you for sticking around, for being patient, and for still believing in this little dream of ours. REALLY.
We’re wishing you a 2026 filled with warmth, breakthroughs, self-kindness and color — and we truly hope that what we’re building here will add a tiny spark of that to your year, too, despite all. 🌟
🌱 A small note: This update is going out across all of our pending/open campaigns — because while each project is different and has its own timing/complexity, the heart and care behind them is the same. 💜 We know it’s taking way longer than expected. And we want you to know: it’s in our own interest to fulfill as soon as possible, too. Only once these campaigns are fulfilled we can bring the leftover products to our shop and actually earn something from them. Crowdfunding doesn’t bring profits; it helps fund production, and sometimes we even have to add personal savings to cover unforeseen costs. 😣 So please rest assured: we want these campaigns to be finished, more than anyone. We’re committed to making that happen, even if slowly — and we’re endlessly grateful for your trust, your patience, and your presence. 🎀 As we always say, your support keeps our hearts warm and our motivation alive.
Even just knowing you’re still out there cheering us on (and/or simply waiting patiently) means everything to us. This community is what keeps us grounded. Thank you for being here.
We’re leaving behind the weight of the past year, and carrying forward only what fuels us: hope, connection, and the belief that we can finish what we started — together. 💫
Poppin’ in to give you a fresh update on Clown Bear’s progress – and show you how things are shaping up after our detailed adjustment requests! 🧸✂️
*manu pics*
front
side
button detail
back
This last new sample reflects many of the changes we asked for, and while we’re definitely getting closer… we’re not 100% there just yet. Let’s break it down! 👇
✅ What’s improved: – The collar and hat fabrics are way better now – super soft, fluffy, and much more premium-looking! – The hat stripes are no longer printed – they’re made from stitched fabric panels, which makes everything look so much more polished ✨ – The yellow button on the shorts has finally been added!
📸 Check out the before/after comparison in the image below — from the original sample, to our mock-up adjustments, to the current version.
⚠️ Still needs work: – The bow is actually less appealing than the first version: it’s smaller, lacks presence, and the color is still off (we requested a deeper teal tone 🎨). – Both the hat and collar, although nicer in texture, still feel a bit too flimsy. We asked for more structure, especially on the side of the hat, which is still too tight and narrow. – The yellow button is just a flat piece of felt for now – we’ve requested something more premium-looking, with extra detail or dimension to make it pop like a real accessory.
NEW ADJUSTMENTS - focus on the side and button
We're staying on it and already sent feedback back to the manufacturer — hopefully the next iteration gets us even closer to our vision! 💫
🔍 What do you think so far? Would you tweak anything else? Or are we almost there? As always, thank you for following along this journey with us — we can’t wait to show you the final version when it’s ready! 🌟
📦 Shipping News – We Can Finally Ship to the USA Again! You’ve probably already read some of this in the updates for our other campaigns — but we now have even more progress to share!(And we’ll be updating the other projects accordingly very soon.)
So yes: this means that by the time we’ll be ready to ship the Delibears rewards, there will no longer be any issues. Everything should move smoothly, and we’ll be fully set up to ship worldwide, including to the US, also with no surprise fees. 💌
In fact, we’re thrilled to let you know that we’ve finally received official approval from our courier to activate the DDP shipping service!!!!! 🥳🎉 And we’re now setting it up on our shipping platform (there are still some technical steps to configure on our end, but the hard part is done!).
✨ This means we’ll finally be able to ship to the US again without unexpected fees or delays for backers — something we’ve been working toward behind the scenes for months.
And the best part? Despite all the recent chaos with the new tariffs and shipping issues, we were able to keep the new shipping prices really good and reasonable overall! 🙌
As soon as we receive all the Delibears rewards, shipping will resume worldwide — including Europe, the US, and the Rest of the World, with improved stability and full tracking thanks to the new service.
We wish this wasn’t the update we had to write today, we're devastated. But sadly, like many other small businesses based outside the US, we’re being forced to temporarily suspend all shipments to the USA, effective immediately —until further notice.
This decision is not voluntary, nor temporary out of convenience. Due to new international trade restrictions, and following a formal notice from our shipping carrier, all DDU (unpaid customs) services to the U.S. have been suspended starting August 23, 2025.
This comes in response to the abolition of the de minimis import exemption pushed by the Trump administration, which will make every single international package — regardless of its value — subject to sudden and severe customs fees, often between $80 and $200.
Worse still, there’s no infrastructure in place for small businesses like ours to cover or pre-pay these fees the same and with DDU service removed by our courier, we physically cannot ship to the US for now —even if we wanted to.
👉 What this means for us: As a brand whose customer base is over 89% U.S. based, it’s not just an inconvenience. It’s literally devastating.
💔 How this affects us — and why we’re heartbroken If you've been following us for a while, you already know: the past two years have been incredibly hard and emotionally heavy. But 2024… 2024 has been the hardest year of our lives. We went through multiple heartbreaking losses, one after another. Our 4 beloved companions got sick, one by one. We fought for them. We sacrificed sleep, comfort, and thousands in medical expenses to give them the best possible care — but we lost them anyway. And with every loss, a piece of us broke too. And at the same time, we were trying to keep our work alive.
Work, which had always been our one steady ground — suddenly turned into chaos too — and completely crumbled. Our long-time trusted manufacturers, who had never let us down before, began failing us in ways we never imagined: delayed communications, endless waiting. We were left with months of silence, and no choice but to start over from scratch. We had to test new unknown suppliers — and ended up with defective products. We lost money, time, energy. We had to redo entire collections multiple times, spending every last cent we had. Every last bit of our personal savings vanished in the whole process.
We were physically and emotionally exhausted — and as we kept trying to stay afloat, the multiple burnouts we were facing, eventually turned into physical illness. Still — we kept going. We kept creating.
Because we kept telling ourselves:
“As soon as we get all the items, if WE just work extra hard, if we give it our all, we’ll finally be able to ship everything and get back on track.”
But now… this. A decision completely out of our hands — cutting us off from the country where most of our customers live. This new law is like a giant wall placed between us and you — our supporters, our community.
We’ve always been transparent with you, and today is no different: 👉 This is not just a shipping issue. This is about our entire livelihood. 👉 Not just our work, but our ability to survive — to eat, to pay rent, to afford care for our last living animal still with us (only our bunny Mini-kun is left).
And it’s not something we can climb over with just more effort. It’s out of our hands.
🛠️ So what now? This is NOT the end.
We want to be very clear about one thing: This is not permanent. This is not “the end”, for now. We are still committed to doing everything in our power to make all the rewards happen, and we hold on to hope that things will work out. For now, it’s a pause, not a goodbye.
We’re working on trying to find solutions — actively — and we are fully committed to bringing this project and all our creations to life as much as we possibly can, even if this adds to the already huge delays.
Here’s what we’re doing already: 🌀 We're exploring alternative routes (like DDP or intermediate delivery hubs, PO box reroutes) 🌀 We're planning to speak directly with US-based fulfillment centers/warehouses 🌀 And yes — we will continue the currently ongoing production wherever possible. We are fully committed to creating every single item we promised, even if shipping will be extremely delayed. 🌀 Additionally, any new campaigns we had in the works will now be postponed, suspended, or blocked for US backers until there is more clarity. This breaks our hearts, but it’s the only thing we can do
We know this might sound like a lot of uncertainty — but please know this: 💬 We are not giving up. Not on you. Not on what we built. Not on this dream.
And beyond the immediate crisis, here’s what we are planning for the future, in order to stay afloat and avoid complete shutdown:
We may set up US-based print-on-demand options for some of our creations
We’ll soon open digital versions of many of our works — from wallpapers to coloring pages to art printables
We’re planning to reopen limited shipping for certain flat items like stickers or prints using flat mail (which seems to be exempt — for now)
Most importantly: we’re also working on coloring books through Amazon’s direct print service. This is something we had already started developing, and now more than ever it feels like the right path — turning our art into something therapeutic and accessible worldwide.
🌱 How you can help (if you want to):
We are a two-person, neurodivergent team. We work from a tiny room, trying to create beauty and connection despite the chaos around us.
And right now, we’re at risk of losing everything we’ve built — and everything we’ve survived to keep alive.
If you want to help us make it through this: 💾 Support our upcoming digital releases — we’re making many of our designs available in digital/printable form (wallpapers, sheets, planners, etc) ✉️ Grab stickers or prints — when we’ll reopen flat mail shipping for US customers (as soon as we’ve adjusted the shop) 📣 Engage with our posts on socials: leave a kind comment, send a message, or share our work — a kind word goes a long, long way... it means more than you know 🌍 If you’re outside the US — your continued support is more crucial than ever! And we thank you deeply for being here 🫶 🎁 Even symbolic support helps us keep going
Please stay with us. Your patience, your presence, your faith in what we do… it’s everything.
And we'll do our best to keep you updated, as clearly and as honestly as possible.
Right now, we’re hurting. We’re tired. And yes, we’re scared. But we’re still here — because of you.
And we will fight, with all we have, to keep creating and delivering the magic you believed in when you chose to support us.
💬 Last but not least: thank you.
Thank you for believing in us. For staying, for waiting, for understanding. We’re doing our best, even when we’re at our worst. And this time — we really, really need your help to get through it. This is not goodbye. It’s a pause, while we fight to make things work. From the bottom of our hearts: Thank you for being here. Thank you for still caring.
With all our love (and all our hope), Inari & Mako 🐄 💔🖤 quirkory
Poppin’ in quickly to show you something we’ve just received from our manufacturer… we got a full batch of fresh photos and videos of the very first full sample of 90’s Bear!! 🧸✨
And honestly? He’s already stealing the spotlight. 🥹 He come out super cuuuute! 😭 From the tiny red-rimmed Sweater, to the denim overalls stitched with “RAD” on the little pocket... every detail is giving pure nostalgic vibes. 📼The oversized cap (yes, it’s removable!) adds the perfect finishing touch — slightly tilted, just like a true '90s rebel. 🧢💥
We’re loving how this little rad plush bean is coming to life already — it really captures the adorableness and playfulness we had in mind for his design!
Pre-orders are also still open hereif you missed the campaign and want to adopt one or any of his brothers 🥹
That said – this is still a first sample, and we do have some adjustments in mind 👀 But before we send them over to our manufacturer, we’d love to hear what you think as well! 👉 Is there anything you’d change or tweak? 👉 What details do you love the most so far?
Poppin’ in quickly to share some fresh photos of Clown Bear taken under natural light – and we’re happy to confirm what we thought: the fur color looks much better now! 🌞✨
In the previous photos, the lighting was quite cold, making the fur appear dull and undersaturated. But as you can see now, the real tone is richer, warmer, and more vibrant – much closer to what we originally planned and previewed during the campaign.
We’ve now sent our adjustments for the accessories to the manufacturer based on the current sample, and we’re waiting for them to be applied! 🧵🐻
Also still waiting for the 90’s Bear sample to be finished – so stay tuned!
Wish you a lovely start to the week in the meantime, the Quirkory team~
