By popular demand, the long-awaited Firefox plushies are now available in the North American Mozilla Store. They’ll be in the International Store in about two weeks, at which point I will triumphantly close this bug.

So, if you can handle this sort of cuteness staring at you all day long, head over the Store and get yours while supplies last. Also, thanks to everyone who voted in the poll and commented on the bug for helping to make this happen.

(Quick background: “Firefox” is another name for the red panda, hence the connection.)

It’s been awhile since I reported on the Mozilla Store, so here are a few updates:

* Probably the most frequent comment we got after relaunching the US-based Store back in August was, “are you going to redo the International Store too, and if so, when?” The short answer is “absolutely yes” and “very soon”. I probably should have done a better job of communicating this at the time, but updating the International Store has been part of the plan all along…work has been proceeding for a few weeks now and we’re hoping to have the International Store live in late October or early November. It’ll have the same design, features and merchandise as the US-based Store, so stay tuned…

* The good thing about the International Store is that Mozilla fans will be able to have their gear shipped to almost any country around the globe. The bad thing is that the world is a big place and shipping costs can get pretty expensive (especially when you factor in duties and taxes in certain places). We’re currently looking into a few grassroots solutions with some local Mozilla communities to combat this. I don’t have anything specific to report on this yet, but wanted everyone to know that we’re actively exploring ways to solve the problem.

* About the US-based Store, we have an opportunity to add a new item of our choosing. We figured this would be a good opportunity to let the community weigh in, so we’re putting five frequently suggested items up for a vote. David Rolnitzky’s blog has more details on this, but the quick summary is that we’ll add the winner to the Store as soon as possible. So, if you have an opinion, click here to vote, or look for this promo next time you’re at the Store homepage:

High fashion comes to Mountain View: David, JT and Seth do their best Blue Steel poses and show off some potential new caps that we’re considering adding to the Mozilla Store. Which one do you like best? (the caps, not the models)

I’m not really so into the idea of posting pictures of myself in this blog, but the t-shirt shipment came addressed to me and I was the first person to wear one, so…

Anyway, here’s the latest Mozilla shirt, this time for Rock Your Firefox. I really like the way it turned out. Lee Tom did a great job putting a new twist on his original Rock Your Firefox art…I’ll definitely be wearing this one a lot.

Update 9/18/07: Added a new photo featuring me and Paul. We didn’t plan this, I promise.

Now that the Mozilla Store is live, the next step is to get the word out to all the Mozilla and/or Firefox fans out there. This is really an ongoing project, of course, but here are some of the steps we’re taking to let people know about the launch:

* a new top-level Store tab on Mozilla.com. Previously the link to the Store was buried several layers deep, so this should raise its profile quite a bit.
* an announcement email (with a discount), to be sent later this week to people who have opted-in to receive Mozilla emails during the Store’s checkout process.
* blog posts from various influential Mozillians. (they did this out of the goodness of their hearts…no bribery was involved, I swear!)
* search marketing with Google and Yahoo
* a pack-in included with all orders that includes a thank you letter from Mitchell Baker on one side and a coupon for a discount on their next order on the other. Not everyone knows that all Store proceeds support the Mozilla Foundation, so we wanted to communicate this key point in Mitchell’s letter.
* an upcoming snippet on the main Firefox start page announcing the relaunch. This page is seen by tens of millions of worldwide users every day, so obviously this a good spot to spread the word.

As always, these projects were a joint effort led by David Rolnitzky, Rhian Baker, Sarah Arora and me. And thanks to Stephen Lowe for his design work on the email and pack-in.

Exciting news…David, Rhian, Sarah and I are happy to announce that the revamped, overhauled, better-than-ever Mozilla Store is now officially live.

I’ve done a couple of teaser posts about this, but now that there are no more secrets here’s a snapshot of what’s new:
* a new site design, courtesy of our friends at Nobox. We wanted a design that looked great, but didn’t feel like an overly slick e-commerce site, and they definitely delivered. (if the models look familiar, that’s because they’re all Mozilla employees and interns)
* a new user experience that reduces the number of clicks needed to get to what you want. For example, you no longer have to navigate through a country chooser page…instead the Store detects your location and directs you straight to the appropriate homepage. (for now the new Store is only available in North America, but the International Store will be getting the update soon)
* 12 brand new products, including seven t-shirts, some very cool stickers, and stuff featuring the ever-popular Kit.
* interactive features that let you comment on existing items (good or bad, let us know what you think) or suggest new products for the future. Your feedback will help us continue to make the Store better, so don’t be shy!
* a Community Spotlight program, which will feature tales from people in the community about their experiences wearing Mozilla gear. So if you’ve got a story to share, let us know.
* a Store Blog, with more info about the products, like comments from the designers about their inspiration for the t-shirt artwork.

All this, and there’s a discount too: use coupon code MOZILLASTYLE at checkout and you’ll get 10% off your order. Plus, all orders over $10 will also get a free Japanese-style sticker sheet full of Mozilla, Firefox and Thunderbird stickers.

If you’ve read this far, thanks for making it through the entire long post…now go check out the Store!

After weeks of relentless hype (ok, one blog post), I’m excited to announce that the Mozilla Store will be re-launching next week with a totally new site design, new merchandise and some new interactive features.

To whet your appetite for what’s in store, here’s a preview of one of the new items. This shirt was commissioned by our friends at Mozilla Japan to celebrate everyone’s favorite Firefox anime-style character, Foxkeh, and was created by a local Japanese artist to give it that authentic look:

Expertly modeled by Bret Reckard. Photo by David Rolnitzky.

Rhian models the stylish new ‘Free Ride’ shirt at OSCON. (the back says “support your open source community”)

Photo swiped from the Firefox Community photostream. Also, thanks to Rubber Design for the nice work on the shirt.

David, Rhian and I are in the process of overhauling the Mozilla Store with lots of new merch and a totally new site design. That’s all coming later in the summer (Firefox shirts will be the hot fashion statement on campus this fall), but for now here’s a sneak peak at some of the new items:

(Photo by David Rolnitzky)

Special thanks to our fabulous models Matthew Zeier, Jonas Sicking and Rishi Mallik.

T-shirts are big at Mozilla. In my three months here, I’ve already worked on 9 or 10 t-shirt design projects. Most of these are for the upcoming relaunch of the Mozilla Store (stay tuned for details!) and will be available for sale soon, but others are more specialized.

The shirt shown below is one of the more specialized ones - basically you have to be a Mozilla intern or campus rep to get one - but I liked the way it turned out so I thought I’d share it. The copy on the back reads “Spreading Firefox One Planet at a Time”.

Thanks to Stephen Lowe for the cool design.