5 Tips on how to create fresh and original merchandise

Aside from selling music and performing live on tour, selling merchandise to fans is another stream of revenue for music artists and it’s important to keep all of the creative content (music and merchandise) fresh and original. It is also an easy way to turn fans into consumers. So what are some ideas to create original merch?

First, it’s important to understand the necessity of merchandise. Artist merch brings in money for musicians and promotes their music from mass exposure. A creative merch line is what will make your brand memorable because this allocates for even more exposure and people will start to recognize your brand as well. Ultimately, this brings in more revenue and more fans.

INDIO, CA — APRIL 14: A view of the Ariana Grande merchandise store during the 2019 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival on April 14, 2019, in Indio, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Coachella)

That being said, here are five ideas to help turn your merchandise into original pieces.

1. Follow Fashion Trends. This may sound basic, but following fashion trends is an important factor in deciding merchandise ideas. Selling trendy merch attracts new consumers and offers more publicity for your brand. Looking into fashion trends such as dad hats, bucket hats, socks, and other apparel will give you an outline of what your fans and consumers want and are willing to buy. Trends come and go, but this is a great way to pull in new fans, and existing fans.
2. Stick to the Basics, but with a Twist. Selling shirts, sweaters, and socks are basic merch items, but adding a little twist to them will make them more creative and original. Collaborating with other brands or businesses are the twists you can add to your merch line. Working with big brands will profoundly help boost your exposure among a new crowd because of their already large and existing audience, and working with smaller brands will also help with promotion to a new audience. It also adds a ‘limited edition’ impression on fans as well, and people are naturally drawn to those kinds of items — so adding collaborations to your merch line is valuable.
3. Craft Your Own Signature Style. If you have a piece of clothing you always seem to wear, or it’s your go-to when you go out, that’s your signature item. Whether it’s a bracelet, a hat, or socks, you can brand it to be your signature item and sell it to fans. This is a great way to connect to existing fans because they want to feel as connected to you as much as possible — whether it’s through music or merchandise. Just like Chance the Rapper’s signature number 3 hat, you can brand anything that is close to your heart.
4. Stickers and Patches. A trend that will never fade is making items personalized. People love to decorate their own items with stickers, and having fans walk around with your merch stickers adds to the free advertisement. Stickers can go anywhere from a wall, a water bottle, or a laptop, and music fans love showing off their favorite artists. Free stickers are even better. Adding free stickers to merch bundles or giving them out at concerts will entice fans to buy more merch. As for patches, although they’ve been outdated for the last 15 years, that just means they are just in time for a comeback. Just like stickers, patches offer free promotion, and they stick on apparel, which lasts longer than stickers. Patches work great on jean jackets, hats, or even jeans, and it adds to the endless personalized possibilities to fans.
5. Share the Wealth. The last idea for making creative merch is to work with non-profit organizations with a portion of the proceeds benefiting them. Just like working with another brand, working with a non-profit organization will expand your audience, and help those in need at the same time. Creating merchandise for a specific cause adds to the market value of your items because it is ‘limited edition’, (benefits mentioned earlier). Although you won’t be profiting a lot from this type of merchandise, sharing the wealth with those in need is valuable in itself.

Offering fans original and creative merchandise with high-quality products is a winning combination. Raising money for you or your band also raises the visibility of your content. Reaching a wide range of fans and turning them into consumers is the ultimate goal and by following these tips, you will no doubt be successful in creating one of a kind merchandise.