"Behind the Rift: Designing the Torchwood Collection"

When UNIT's Temporal Fashion Division asked us to design a Torchwood merchandise collection, we knew we were in for an interesting ride. After all, how do you capture the essence of a secret organisation that technically doesn't exist? (Though if you're reading this, you already know that's about as accurate as calling the Doctor's sonic screwdriver 'just a torch with a fancy setting.')

Our core design team included Glug, the Graske graphic designer, who presented and designed the delightful individual character designs and with the help of Karl who we eventually found sketching concepts on the ceiling after accidentally triggering an anti-gravity device he'd mistaken for a pencil sharpener. Standard Karl, really.

The collection split naturally into two paths: the Character Series and the themed Season Specials. The Character Series sparked what we now call "The Great Suzie Debate of 2025" - three hours of heated discussion about whether someone who tried to kill Gwen Cooper (twice!) deserved their own mug. In the end, Glug settled it by designing a mug but locking it away in the Vault until such time as the public demands it.

Our Season Specials proved trickier. How do you capture "Children of Earth" in a way that doesn't terrify the kids? Thanks to our newest team member, Janet the reformed Weevil (hired specifically for her unique perspective on human fashion), suggested incorporating hidden messages that only appear when the mug reaches precisely 37.2 degrees Celsius – the temperature at which Weevils find humans most appetising. We... modified that idea slightly and hid the gorier details in the background.

The real breakthrough came during what we thought was a standard fire drill. Turns out the mysterious red lights were actually Karl testing glow-in-the-dark ink by setting off the Hub's temporal warning system. Happy accidents, right? This led to our signature feature: designs that change when exposed to rift energy!

Note to HR: We're still trying to get his latest masterpiece off the quantum-locked ceiling.

The collection launched recently, coinciding perfectly with reports of mysterious lights above Cardiff Bay and several cases of mugs trying to connect to the Hub's mainframe. Marketing assures us this was planned. Karl claims it wasn't his fault this time, and Janet's been suspiciously quiet while enjoying her new "I ♥ Weevils" prototype mug.

Thanks for reading,

The Team