Her Universe is bringing a whole new Star Wars collection to Chicago

Her Universe is launching a capsule collection for Celebration Chicago called “Sisters of the Force,” featuring items inspired by several Star Wars women. (And they’re bringing back one of their originals, the “Padmé nouveau” tee.) Ashley Eckstein talks to StarWars.com about the inspiration behind each piece, or check out the gallery under the cut.

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Her Universe’s Solo line at Hot Topic, Torrid now

Her Universe’s main lines for Solo has launched at Hot Topic and Torrid, and they are extremely retro and colorful and even – in a way – sort of subtle? In that some of them are not immediately recognizable as Star Wars to the non-obsessive eye, that is. Because there is exactly nothing subtle about those stripes and the other extremely ’70s touches.

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Her Universe, Disney launch Our Universe

Her Universe and Disney are expanding their merchandise partnership, the companies announced today. The new deal includes an athleisure line for kids and tweens called “Our Universe.” It debuts with Black Panther and Disney Princess products, with Star Wars additions coming soon. The products will be avaliable exclusively through shopDisney.com and at Disney Store locations.

There’s also a book by Her Universe founder Ashley Eckstein, It’s Your Universe: You Have the Power to Make It Happen. It’s available for preorder now, and you can read an excerpt at Entertainment Weekly.

Today in The Last Jedi: Rian Johnson’s social media tour, Daisy Ridley on TV

Rian Johnson went on a social media tour today, hitting up Twitter and Instagram/Facebook, where he did a live Q&A and debuted three new behind the scenes pictures.


Also making the rounds today was Daisy Ridley, who showed up Good Morning America and Live with Kelly and Ryan. She’ll be on The Tonight Show tonight, while John Boyega will be on all three shows tomorrow. Meanwhile, Mark Hamill was on The Ellen Degeneres Show today, where he talked about Carrie Fisher.

Her Universe’s new collections have launched at Torrid and Hot Topic, with many items inspired by The Last Jedi. They’re both beginning with some very different selections, but we have reason to believe (hope!) that all items will eventually span both stores. (I am really loving the Kylo Ren dress and the Leia cape sweatshirt.)

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Her Universe returns with new website

Her Universe’s new website is up, and it’s just one of the changes coming to the brand following their acquisition by Hot Topic. There are some new products, but new collections are coming “in the summer” – though Ashley Eckstein mentioned new stuff coming for Celebration in April. A cheaper shipping rate, more consistent sizing and even (in some cases) international shipping is coming. You can read Ashley’s letter or check out her Facebook Live video (or watch the Youtube version below) for more details.

Her Universe acquired by Hot Topic, to continue operating as a stand-alone brand

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Hot Topic has bought “certain assets” of Her Universe from founder Ashley Eckstein and the Araca Group, who have been running the brand since it began.

ashley-ecksteinIn a letter, Eckstein reassures fans that she’ll continue to oversee the company, and that products will continue to be available elsewhere. They’ll keep operating as a stand-alone brand, but the acquisition will allow for more plus sizes and more different kinds of fashion. Eckstein writes:

Your support from day one has been incredible and has meant so much to me! We were able to grow our t-shirt brand into a fashion, entertainment and publishing lifestyle brand in just a few years. However, as we continued to grow, I heard your cries for more and I was often left frustrated that we could not live up to your expectations. I’m beyond excited to share that this new chapter with Hot Topic will allow us to rise to those expectations!

“Ashley and Araca have built an incredible brand with a loyal customer base,” said Steve Vranes, CEO of Hot Topic in a release. “We look forward to supporting Her Universe in this new capacity.”

Both the Her Universe Fashion Show and Her Universe Press will continue. HerUniverse.com will be unavailable for a short time for the transition, but it will be back “in time for the holidays.”

Wear Star Wars Every Day hits the six-month mark! Week 26


Can you believe that I’ve now completed six whole months of #WearStarWarsEveryDay? That’s a different Star Wars apparel item worn every day for the past twenty-six weeks – 182 days of shirts, hats, costumes, outerwear, even a skirt and a pair of sweatpants. And there’s still more coming!

To mark the six month point, I decided to wear a week of just Her Universe clothing, as a way to highlight the different programs of Collateral Repair Project that help empower women, including their Hope Workshop and their programs funded by Dining For Women. And so we go a whole seven days, turning from the light side with Yoda and Ahsoka, and slipping to the dark side with Mara Jade and the Empire! One shirt is mine, and the High Commander Cardigan borrowed from Mrs. Jawa, and the rest are loaned by Margaret Mays (4 items) and Dunc! Plus we got a donation – Jennifer, one of our per-day pledgemakers, got her bimonthly donation in ahead of time! Clothing art by Tsuneo Sanda, Dave Filoni, Cat Staggs and Nathan Hamill. This review for Week 26 covers June 24 to June 30 of my wearathon, and an update on fundraising for Collateral Repair Project, a non-profit organization that provides emergency assistance, education, and community support to urban refugees.

Thanks to everyone who has supported Wear Star Wars Every Day so far! There’s a lot of people who had donated to Collateral Repair Project, with more than $1,900 raised in the first six months, over $1,300 of which is via the GoFundMe. And each day I continue my project is another $4.65 donated by our pledge makers. I’d love to get that total up to $5.00 even (or higher!) for the second half of 2016. If you’d like to chip in at a dime a day or a quarter per day (or more), make your pledge at the per-day pledge form and you can choose whether to support the project for the entire year, or just start at the beginning of July. Or you can just make a one-time or monthly donation at GoFundMe.com/WearStarWars2016.

Get more info on what Wear Star Wars Every Day is all about, or make a donation or a per-day pledge!

Ahsoka Tano gets dedicated panel at Celebration Europe, Her Universe docu-series debuts

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Dave Filoni, Ashley Eckstein and Pablo Hidalgo will join forces at Celebration Europe’s ‘Ahsoka’s Untold Tales’ panel on the con’s first day. The panel will include discussion of the upcoming novel and Rebels as well as the character’s life before The Clone Wars.

In related news, Eckstein’s Her Universe docu-series debuted the first three episodes today on Comic-Con HQ.