Fashion Forward to November: Who Will Win the White House?

SAN MATEO, Calif., June 9 /PRNewswire/ -- As the long road through the Presidential primary season came to a close, reenergized voters looking to 'sport their support' came out in droves -- resulting in the single largest sales of elections gear at CafePress.com. Sales on the final day of the primary, Tuesday, June 3, and through Friday June 6, were 138% higher than an average sales day since the start of the campaign.

(Photo: )

The CafePress Meter, a real-time look at which candidate is selling the most gear and available for all to see at CafePress.com, proved to be an accurate indicator of who would win the Democratic nomination. Senator, and Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has been leading the pack with over 51% of sales since November of 2007.

"We anticipate political T-Shirts, pins, bumper stickers and other gear will continue to gain momentum as we approach the general election," comments CafePress Vice President of Marketing Amy Maniatis. "We expect that our community of merchandise designers will create a wave of new political gear once the nominees' Vice Presidents are announced."

The CafePress community of merchandise designers is already looking ahead at the next big thing -- which party will prevail in the general election. According to the CafePress Meter, merchandise supporting Democratic candidates account for 70% of sales since November of 2007 -- Republican supporting products account for 27%. This data could be an indication of where the country is going, or simply the result of John McCain's early nomination.

According to The Wall Street Journal, as of late May, 64% of all primary votes cast were Democratic, and 36% were Republican. The parties performed similarly in CafePress' T-Shirt Primary, as 70% of election sales were Democratic, and 27% were Republican -- T-Shirts as indicator of voter behavior? You be the judge.

CafePress, the leader of user-generated commerce, sells T-Shirts, gifts for the home, and other printable items designed entirely by their community of 6.5 million users; as merchandise sells the designers earn a profit. During Presidential election years the sales of user-designed elections gear makes up approximately 20% of CafePress' gross revenue. With millions of user-created elections products available in their catalog, supporters for all candidates have no shortage of products to choose from; for example, to date CafePress users have created nearly 1.4 million Obama related products.

The sales reflected in the CafePress Meter prove a theory CafePress CEO Fred Durham has had since he opened CafePress' virtual doors in 1999 -- the sales of expressive merchandise (i.e. T-Shirts and bumper stickers) offer a clear view into what's on the mind and heart of every American. "When people open their wallets and purchase a T-Shirt or bumper sticker supporting their candidate they're elevating their level of support," he explains. "It's one thing to say you support Obama, it's another thing all together when you're willing to spend your hard earned money to buy a T-Shirt that publicly advertises that support."

About CafePress

CafePress.com is the leading online marketplace that offers sellers complete e-commerce services to independently create and sell a wide variety of products, and offers buyers unique merchandise across virtually every topic. Launched in 1999, CafePress.com has empowered individuals, organizations and businesses to create, buy and sell customized merchandise online using the company's unique print-on-demand and e-commerce services. Today, CafePress.com is a growing network of over 3 million members who have unleashed their creativity to transform their artwork and ideas into unique gifts and new revenue streams.

CafePress has been tracking the sales of gear supporting Presidential candidates on their Meter (http://www.cafepress.com/cp/buy/elections08_meter). Since Super Tuesday Obama has held a clear sales lead over all candidates, and emerged as the clear winner of the T-Shirt Primary with 51% of the overall sales.

     Media Contact
     Marc Cowlin
     Sara Doepke
     650.655.3039
     pr@cafepress.com