Merch on CCC Event Blog

Secure your eye-catching Congress merch now!

Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The word’s on the street that you can now stock up on amazing cloth in the official 39C3 look at our merch store.

In addition to the traditional black, this year’s shirts, zippers, hoodies, and sweatshirts are also available in spring-like shades of misty jade, lavender, and natural raw, in joyful anticipation of future camps. And to top it all off, you can adorn your heads with 39C3-themed embroidered beanies and your kids’ necks with uber-nerdy bibs. And for those who want to shine with subtle hacker shibboleth textiles even in formal settings, there is a lovingly embroidered heavy shirt in black or natural raw – but only while supplies last.

To find out in advance whether this year’s textiles will fit you, you can find comparative measurements for many other hacker events from last year in the Merch Size Comparison Guide.

And as usual, here’s the fine print: You have until December 20th to place your order. Please only order if you have a way to actually receive the goods. This means that you either have a ticket for 39C3, or someone with a ticket can receive the goods for you upon presentation of the pickup code. You have until 10:00 p.m. on day 2 (2025-12-28T22:00:00+01:00) to do so. In legal terms, this is called a forward transaction. After that, the clothes will go back on sale to the general public and we will only be able to distribute them according to availability.

And now, without further ado, click and order to your heart’s content!

Browse, reminisce, anticipate: The design archive goes live!

Mon, 13 Oct 2025 13:00:00 +0200

Everybody remembers their first event shirt, proudly still worn in all its faded glory. From charming meetups with twenty people on rickety benches under disco lights in old factory lofts, to huge events with tens of thousands of kindred spirits: For almost thirty years, our event designs have provoked thought and played with ambiguity, have puzzled and delighted. A testament to almost thirty years of bursting community creativity, we now celebrate them with the first-ever CCC Design Archive.

With this archive, we aim to honour the work of the almost seventy designers and shine the spotlight on them. Collaborating with us obstinate hackers, nerds and professional curmudgeons was not (and still is not) always easy. But the results are more than worth it: The exchange with people from different spheres is part of the reason that our events are not staged under sad, cold neon lights. Instead, we’ve kicked off a vibrant and unique – if often copied – template for hacker events all around the world.

And now click and scroll down memory lane. Dig through your postcards, posters and wardrobes, and use the opportunity to pick your wardrobe for 39C3. Click your way after the makers of your favourite designs, discover the origins of design ideas, find easter eggs that have so far escaped your attention, and join in:

The archive is still incomplete, and not least because there are future events yet to come. Help us to correct and complete past events, or contribute new ones in the issues and merge requests on Codeberg.

Image CC BY-SA 4.0 psy

You can’t have enough pre-sales!

Thu, 05 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

TL;DR: For 38C3 you have again the possibility to avoid long queues at the congress shirt queue by buying now. We are again organizing the merch presale as a forward transaction (Termingeschäft), so the merchandise must be picked up during the event at the CCH by December 28, 10:00 pm. So only buy if you already have a ticket for the congress! The presale closes on December 20.

In long form: The merch pre-sales of the last two events have turned out to be a practical way for us and you to secure your memorabilia in the cut and color of your choice from the comfort of your computer at home and then have it handed out stress-free at the Congress by the bustling angels of the Fashion Operation Center.

For 38C3, we’re treating ourselves and you to a slightly broader range: for all those who like to wear feminine textiles, this year there’s a choice between T-shirts in a “fitted” cut and cozy, dinner-ready T-shirt dresses with a subtle print. Friends of warmer garments, who have no use for the previously unavoidable hoodies, will this time find a lovingly subtly embroidered pullover - with no hoodie in sight - ideal for wearing to formal occasions. And for sporting activities and leisurely lounging at home, we present a special edition of sweatpants with a 38C3 print - so that you can also proudly flaunt your nerdy identity in the gym!

You have until December 20th to order. Please only order if you have a way of actually receiving the goods, i.e. you either have a ticket for 38C3 or someone with a ticket can pick up the goods for you after presenting the pick-up code. You have until 22:00 on day 2 (2024-12-28T22:00:00+01:00) to do this. In legal terms, this is called a Termingeschäft. After that date, the clothes go back on sale and we can only issue them subject to availability.

Of course, there will be a sale of sufficient Congress shirts without pre-order at 38C3 for all those who absolutely want to feel and try them on before buying, but we cannot predict availability or waiting times there. If it becomes apparent that certain textiles are already running out in the pre-sale, we will try to reorder them.

Enough said … now hop over to the ticket system and order your congress merch!

Image CC BY oatsy40

37C3: Dressed to hack

Sun, 24 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

It is the shibboleth among European nerds on campsites, at the Mate wholesale market and in lecture halls. It often divides the community, has often led to long queues in the past and for many hackers it’s the reliable source of clothing: The Congress Merch.

The wildest hot takes on merch in the run-up to the event usually start with “Why don’t they just …” and the answers to this are rarely obvious without having rocked such a production yourself. That’s why we want to provide a little insight into the motivations, constraints and experiences and grant a peek through the keyhole at out calculations.

First of all, here are the bare figures for 37C3 to illustrate the order of magnitude: We sent 11,392 textiles to print (including angel shirts). The delivery arrived on 19 EUR-pallet and our trusted print shop was busy putting our order through its presses for around two weeks (in the middle of the pre-Christmas period). Sell all the items will allow the orga™ to subsidize more amazing projects at congress.

However, drawing up such a calculation is a complex piece of art: we’re not in the business of squeezing the maximum profit out of you folks, but rather want to provide us all with mementos of what for some participants was the most meaningful event of their lives. Of course, the products should be of a quality that (a glance in the wardrobe confirms this) will still allow us to look back fondly on previous conventions in twenty years’ time. We also value fairly produced raw materials and go for a local printing company that treats its employees correctly.

As already indicated above, the Congress shirts are one of the ways for people with a little more financial leeway to cross-finance the organisation of the event for all those who are not so flush with money: as the Congress is traditionally run close to the green zero, every euro from merch sales actually helps to reduce the risk in the overall calculation.

As you’ve probably noticed at events in recent years, the merchandise ran out at some point. So you formed rather impressive queues in front of the Congress shirt counter to avoid ending up in front of empty shelves. Now, capitalist logic would suggest a simple approach here: simply produce more and cushion the risk with a surcharge. Or even commission one of the big T-shirt printers to sell post-produced merchandise somewhere in the dodgy web shops between Congresses.

The problem here is, on the one hand, that we don’t want to produce stockpiles and destroy textiles later. A Congress shirt is also a Congress shirt and not fan merchandise that can be ordered by Joe Fandude at leisure or which would also mean to hand over your private data to third parties. On the other hand, we do not have any angel shifts to allocate between the Congresses and would still have to store all unsold shirt somewhere. Our logistics team is only moderately enthusiastic about having to store several EUR-pallets full of clothes, which would then also have to be freely accessible for stocktaking (which usually takes place in a freezing warehouse in winter). Considering all this, we regularly optimise merch towards selling the whole stock.

At the events, you probably encountered our friendly heroes of the Fashion Operation Centre - c3foc - who on average have to hand out four textiles per minute during the seventy hours of 37C3. Of course, this also includes picking out the right piece in the correct size, sorting and stocktaking, handling cash or beeping out your receipts, adjusting the stock at c3foc.net, waiting for you to try on, dealing with exchange requests and playing style advisor. And while everyone at the merch desk are big fans of a large, diverse and colourful product matrix, every new colour or design usually means two product types (fitted and straight), each with a dozen new product type sizes ranging from XXS to 5XL with the greatest sales risk at the edges of the bell curve.

Which brings us right to the next problem: In the past, determining the size distribution table for our order, affectionately known as the “paunch curve”, was a difficult task to calculate: Having sold out all the textiles at the events, we never learnt the actual demand for any of the sizes or products. Even a secret peak at the shirt orders from the angel system and the list we got from pre-sale introduced for Camp 2023 only helped a little: even though angels regularly make up around 15% of the participants, certain biases for a textile size cannot be ruled out there either, and even in the pre-sale, the probability is not low that people with sizes at the extremes of the range will pre-order more often than participants with average bodies - which makes extrapolation even more difficult.

In addition to the obvious advantages for you - such as more free cash on the premises, guaranteed availability of your size and more peace of mind when collecting - and advantages for us - such as money already in our account when purchasing ordering raw materials, less cash handling and better estimates which motifs, textiles and sizes are most in demand - the new pre-sale also brought a whole load of problems: In the eyes of the Distance Contract Act (Fernabsatzgesetz), an online purchase with self-collection is a very unusual case, and suddenly goods ordered from the print shop but not delivered no longer just result in a “sold out - sorry”, but entail cancellation and refund processes. And, of course, the c3foc angels also have to pre-sort the pre-ordered goods, a complexity that we had to painfully learn at the camp. All in all, however, pre-sales are a win-win situation and we will continue to improve the processes.

Time permitting, we occasionally produce extra swag in addition to the classics, such as the beautifully designed hitchhiker-themed sports towels at the camp, as even if they had proved to be shelf warmers, they only come in one size and quickly disappear into a single box. (We will be offering the last few for sale at 37C3.) For 25C3, we also produced dresses in the Congress design, in other years we had caps and rain jackets on offer, and in the future we want to make additional offers to all those who have little use for shirts with slogans, prefer to wear polo shirts rather than hoodies or need even more unusual sizes that we simply cannot keep in stock every year. We are also happy to provide the print data on request - as long as it is not used to run competitor shops. And of course we’ll keep our ears open for further ideas from the community. Just write to 37c3-design@cccv.de.

So, if you’re involved with the c3foc at 37C3, perhaps you’ll remember this text and the complex problems caused by the Congress’ sheer size dealt with by only a handful of volunteers: give a smile back and, in the event of delays in operations, assume that nobody is trying to rip you off or take advantage of you. And still be happy when you look in your wardrobe in twenty years’ time!

Image by Thorsten Schröder CC BY-SA 2.0

37C3 pre-sale is dead, long live pre-sale!

Thu, 07 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

TL;DR: In preparation for the upcoming 37C3 you have the opportunity to buy your favourite merch right now without having to wait in line later. The goods MUST be collected at the event in the CCH by 28 December 22:00, so only go shopping if you already have a ticket for 37C3! The pre-sale ends on 20 December.

Our 37C3 ticket pre-sale is over and we are speechless and happy about the solidarity in our community! An overwhelming amount of attendees grabbed supporter and business tickets and pushed the average price to currently well over 190 € and right into our congress piggy bank. Thanks to this buffer, we can now approve the “Friends” requests with a much lighter heart and have room for more chic installations, decorations and cassettes for punk-rock späti.

To make sure you will bring home as many great memories from the event, we want to get our amazing Congress merch into as many of your hands as possible. And to make this as painless as possible, you can already shop around for clothes exactly your size and desired colour in this year’s merch pre-sale and then pick them up at your leisure at 37C3. You have until 22:00 on day 2 (2023-12-28T22:00:00+01:00) to do so. In legal terms, this is called a “Termingeschäft”. After that, the clothes go back on sale for everyone and we can only issue your goods subject to availability.

Merch will of course be sold at the Congress as usual, but you may have to queue and your favourite cut, the right size or colour may be sold out. We will try to re-order sold-out merchandise, but cannot guarantee that everything will still be available in all sizes at 37C3.

The not so fine print

In order to be able to process all payments, the pre-sale closes on 20 December 2023 just before midnight and the payment deadline is 22 December 2023. This is a hard deadline that we cannot negotiate because the bank simply does not process payments over the holidays. Please refrain from trying to do this somehow - our pre-sale angels would have to painstakingly return late payments one by one.

Camp 2023 – Merch presale

Tue, 06 Jun 2023 10:00:00 +0200

Get your camp souvenirs in your size now!

For this Chaos Communication Camp, we want to give you the opportunity to buy t-shirts, hoodies, zippers and other camp memorabilia in advance. This is an experiment to make it easier for you to collect clothes of your taste and in your size at the stall later on - without having to wait in the queue for hours shooting fearful glimpse at the residual stock indicator. What’s more, you don’t have to hold on to your scarce cash holdings at the event to buy textiles, but can spend it on drinks and craft kits to your heart’s content.

The pre-sale enables us to produce more precisely, to better estimate the distribution of sizes and the interest in the designs, and thus to avoid costly stock-keeping and tedious taking of inventories of unsold clothes later on. Since we organise the sales in a very small team completely on a voluntary basis, we have no resources for complex shipping and returns organisation. Big companies and commercial festivals can compensate for the risk of over-producing by charging higher prices - we, on the other hand, want to also give the financially less well-padded members of the Chaos family the opportunity to go home with a long-lasting souvenir of the event.

We are happy to pass the savings on to you by offering the merch a few euros cheaper when purchased in advance.

You can find the merch shop at the following URL: https://tickets.events.ccc.de/camp2023-merch/.

Note: You will need to come and get your merch!

After paying for your order and downloading the corresponding QR code from our presale system, you can use it at the camp itself to pick up your merchandise until August 17 2023 at 22:00 (day 3) - this also means that you should only order if you’ve already secured a ticket for the camp or know someone who can pick up the t-shirts for you. However, in return, we have to insist that you actually pick up the previously purchased goods by day 3. In the language of the lawyers, this is called a forward contract. After that, your claim to the textile expires and we try to offer it for sale to other participants. Until the end of the camp, we can only offer you the goods according to availability. For logistical reasons, we cannot ship the merchandise after the camp.

That being said, we don’t want to rip you off: If there are unforeseen circumstances preventing you from fulfilling the “get your merch” part of the contract, will try to find a fair solution.

Besides sporting an amazing design, the textiles are eco-organic certified, durable and, according to our experience, have a great cut. If you have bought memorabilia from us at Congresses or rc3 in recent years, you know that we don’t buy cheap stuff and you already know what sizes will probably fit you. We will also link the manufacturer’s size charts for all items of clothing in our presale system.

To ensure that you can keep a clear head when ordering the camp tickets without being distracted by what merch you should buy, the presale for camp merchandise starts one day after the first ticket pre-sale, i.e. on 7 June, and ends one day after the last round of ticket sales, i.e. on June 25. We can not accept later pre-orders - after all, we have to order the raw material for the print shop at some point.

Of course, we will also offer some products at the camp itself that have not been pre-ordered. You can use them to stock up on the souvenirs you bought in advance - only while stocks last, of course.

rC3 Merch

Fri, 24 Dec 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Happy Xmas dear ones <3

It became late. But for now the time has come. We open the RC3 NOWHERE Merch. We hope that there will be something suitable for every human, hacker, maker, activist or interested creature.

All orders will be collected by the end of December. The production begins in mid-January. Everything should be shipped by the end of January hopefully.

So this is Christmas and what have you done? Another year over, a new one just begun. by John Lennon

Happy Xmas to all of you. Enjoy this year’s RC3 NOWHERE merch: merch.rc3.world

DiVOC: Call for Watchamacallit

Mon, 08 Mar 2021 17:31:47 +0000

tl;dr:

We’re looking for sessions, angels, and maps. To make the first DiVOC this year a full success, we need three things: angels, self-organized sessions, and maps. Therefor, here are three calls in one. And we have merch!

Call for Maps

The rC3 world was great, and for r2r we’d like to continue it on a smaller scale, so r2r will have a lobby. If you’d like to contribute one or more maps and hook them up to the lobby, please mail us at welt@diese-welt-ist-schlecht.de. Please let us know your hack space/group/project, the link your map is hosted at, and the start layer we should be linking to. We’ll add your map and the link you need to place in your map to return to the lobby here.

Obviously, there is no limited to your creativity, whether you are recreating your hack space, reuse your rC3 map, or create something new – everything is welcome!

If you have a Jitsi or BBB room in your map as a meeting place, please also add this to the wiki as a self-organized session or meeting place, respectively, since not all participants can or would like to get there through the world.

If you need some inspiration, you will find are preview of the lobby and its tile set here:

Call for Self-Organized Sessions

Of course we’re having self-organized session at this DiVOC as well. Please add your session to this wiki page, as per usual: (https://di.c3voc.de/sessions-liste).

Call for Angels

You need the support of angels for your team? Then please contact heaving through RocketChat in #r2r-heaven.

You would like to help out as an angel? Then register here: https://himmel.hacc.earth

Merch

For the fashion-conscious participants there will be merch again this year. T-shirts, hoodies, zippers, shorts & sweatpants are available in the R2R design.
This year also with t-shirts and zippers for the young hackers.