What's the plan now?

My manufacturer is currently preparing her for shipment and it's expected for her to arrive near the end of June. Once Cotton has arrived, I'll be doing quality control and all eligible pledges will have their goodies shipped out ASAP. I'll be posting another update once this is in the works!

Regarding Moocha Latte and Sailor Moo, I'm currently working with my manufacturer to get them mass produced, CE tested, and shipped out to me as well. At the moment I'm waiting for their finalized samples to arrive which will come with Cotton's shipment so I can take a photos and share them with you guys.

Things have been taking a bit longer due to a couple of Chinese holidays since the start of this year in which they usually take (roughly) around a week off, but I'm itching to tackle this the fastest I can!

USA shipping update

Even more exciting news to share: our postal carrier, CTT, has finally been working on reopening shipments towards the USA! 🎉

However, it's still in the beginning stages and not officially open yet, but I signed up for the service and it's still a waiting game at the moment. It's yet unclear as to when it'll become active, and according to my contract manager, they're still waiting on approval from the US customs clearance offices or some other figure of authority, but I'm happy that things are finally rolling. 

For added information: if packages get sent without duties and fees being paid prior, it's going to get sent back to the sender which was one of the major hurdles lots of European countries were facing (and, even to this day, I see packages getting returned for no good reason to France, Germany, Netherlands, etc.). This only applies to packages that aren't flat mail (which is why stickers, prints, and other flat items can be sent without issues, but not enamel pins or bulkier items like plushies). It's not even possible to send items marked as gifts, so even if a package is non-transactional (like wanting to send something to a friend in the US), it's not possible to send stuff unless you want to pay a ridiculous amount of money.

By the time I can ship to the USA, I'll likely do a few test shipments first before committing to bulk fulfillment to be on the safe side since it'll be a bit of a learning curve until I'm comfortable with how the system works so that there are no surprises on neither mine nor your end.

Does this mean I'll get charged extra now that duties need to be paid?

Due to the long wait with this project, I'll eat the costs of the fees so that you don't get charged for this. This will likely mean fulfillment will go along slower than I would've liked due to this extra financial management, but I think at this stage it's only fair, so please don't worry. I'll be as transparent as needed once we get to this stage.

What's the status?

Cotton is almost ready and about to get thoroughly CE safety tested before she's being shipped out to me so that I can start part of the fulfillment.  Once Cotton has arrived, I'll post another update as well as more information about Sailor Moo and Moocha Latte.

I know it has been a very slow process that I've explained the reasons for in previous updates, and to avoid repeating them I'd like to now add that things have finally taken a turn for the better and things have gradually been coming along now!

I'm sorry that updates have been sporadic - part of it has to do with horrendous, back-to-back storms  (one of them even labelled catastrophic such as Storm Kristin) in Portugal hitting us in late January and lasting through most of February. It affected our electricity, property and road damage throughout the country, crazy floodings (due to rivers or rainfall) of which some of the side effects still can be felt to this day among other devastating situations such as parts of the region not having been able to use communications or have access to water.

I know it's been way overdue with this project which is frankly embarrassing to say the least, but I appreciate everyone's patience a tremendous amount during these really rough and trying times. This is definitely not something I foresaw at all when starting this project nor have let it get to this point in previous projects, so it has been a huge lesson for sure, but I'm happy that I can finally get things going right now.

What about the shipping situation to the US?

I'm still figuring out things logistically because unfortunately Portugal still cannot ship to the US since it closed down in August 2025, and it's something that me and my fellow Portuguese small businesses (and some other European countries as well) have been trying to find a workaround for without much success at the moment.

I know that other EU countries such as Germany have reopened their services to the US, but even that seems to be quite fickle and not 100% reliable since packages can apparently still get sent back for unclear reasons from what I've seen and heard. Rest assured that I've been contacting the postal services with frequency but they've only given people vague answers as to when we can all expect shipping to resume. I'm keeping a close eye alongside everyone else to see if we can find a reliable solution in the meantime since it impacts us all heavily.

Due to the complicated tariff situation, our postal carrier has temporarily suspended all parcel shipments to the USA. 

This means that the pins, for US backers, will be put on hold and reserved indefinitely until further notice. Flat items such as stickers are, however, still able to get mailed out.

Since this is a worldwide issue and many other countries all over the globe are also suspending shipments, we cannot give an accurate estimation as to when this will get resolved. ): Everything is incredibly unclear and - perhaps unsurprisingly - this restriction came very sudden.

As mentioned beforehand: We'll naturally reserve all plushies, pins, and stickers on the side until parcel shipment to the USA resumes! Naturally, orders that are not to be sent to the USA will still get their goodies sent as normal. 💖

Finally, to all USA-based backers: We're very sorry to hear that everything is going incredibly difficult regarding shipments. This is outside of everyone's control. Everyone is kept in the dark, and no one has any clarity other than that the situation utterly sucks and is complicated for no good reason. ):