THE FILIPINO F1 community has seen a sudden surge of growth over the past year, and they’ve got a Netflix series to credit for that. When Drive to Survive aired its third season, the global interest for Formula 1 grew even more.
“It’s really exciting that it’s engaging with a whole new type of person, and yes, they’re not going to be motorsport purists, but it doesn’t matter. As long as people are engaging with the sport, that’s the be all and end all of it. It will survive because of it,” said Jennie Gow, an F1 reporter for BBC.
True enough, F1 has grown to become the fastest growing sport brand on social media, overtaking leagues like the NFL to claim such a feat.
With that, we’ve seen a rise in the demand for merchandise that would cater to the needs of the fans.
But access to merch here in the Philippines has still been pretty elusive and often, they can be quite expensive. Lucky for us fans, there are stores that do carry a wide array of merchandise, both official and fan-made.
If you can recall, we previously featured a Ferrari-centric F1 merch store here on Spin. Now, we give you a rundown on more stores that carry F1 merch:
Looking for official team and driver merch? RBN Racing’s got you covered
First on our list is RBN Racing Merchandise PH, formerly known as Formula 1 Merchandise PH. It's a business that's been around since 2019.
Owned by Richard Ng, it is one of the pioneers in bringing F1 merch to the country at price points nearly the same as the actual F1 website. It’s one of the first stores to be recommended if you ask the local F1 community, thanks to their products’ quality and authenticity.
They carry everything: caps, shirts, the exclusive collaboration between Anti Social Social Club x Undefeated x F1 that was released in 2020, even the special edition Silver Arrows Monopoly Board Game. You name it, RBN Racing’s got it!
What makes it special? You don’t have to pay for the cost of international shipping and they even offer discounts! You could also have your items delivered on the same-day if they are currently available on-hand.
Check them out on Facebook and Instagram.
Spruce up your walls with these custom vector art illustrations by Enrico Pena Jr.
Filipinos are known to be insanely creative, so it’s no surprise that the local F1 community has a talented graphic artist in its midst.
Meet Enrico Pena Jr. ⏤ a game design and development graduate who currently works as a graphic designer for the Department of Tourism, Culture and Arts of Manila.
Pena had long been thinking about creating and selling custom works for about two years now, but only decided to post about it this year. He initially released his custom vector art designs in the F1 Club of the Philippines group of Facebook. But he did not expect that it would get a lot of attention, as well as a lot of orders, within the first day.
He shared with Spin that for an existing design printed on a 16x20 inch sintra board (with high quality printing and pearl lamination for protection) would cost P2,500. Custom designs start at P3,000.
If you want to check out his art or place an order, check out his Instagram account.
Got a penchant for stickers? Stickiesbyyaboi has got what you need!
Another graphic artist on our list is Gio Abcede ⏤ a project support officer by day and Illustrator by night ⏤ who creates custom stickers on his IG shop @stickiesbyyaboi. His current offering? A McLaren F1 sticker set!
In his IG, he mentions that this set was initially a custom order, but he is now planning to release more that are based on other teams. He plans to drop these stickers by late next week, so stay tuned for that!
His shop is currently based in Makati, and the price range of a ready-to-order set would be from P200 to P350, depending on the number of pieces. He also accepts custom design requests at an additional cost (P600 to P1,000) and these packs usually come in packages of 3-6 copies per design.
In the meantime, you can order only through his Instagram account; but he did mention that he will be setting up a Shopee store soon.
Puma - Cash & Carry Mall
Sometimes, you just can't beat the classics. If you’re looking for early 2000s/2010s merch designs from Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull, word on the street is that they’re currently available on Puma’s Cash and Carry branch. So if you’re around the area, make sure to cop one for yourself before they're sold out!
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