The ⚜️gold standard⚜️ for branded merchandise is this: does someone who has no connection to your brand still want to own and wear it?

(𝘏𝘪𝘯𝘵: 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘷𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘰 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘯𝘰.)

𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 of branded merchandise so freakin’ good that I covet it despite having no connection to the company or brand.

The tee above is part of the absolutely adorable, clever, beautiful and fashion-forward merchandise by the Orlando Squeeze, Orlando’s Major League Pickleball team.

I don’t play pickle ball and I’ve never been to Orlando.

And yet: this shirt is so freakin’ cute that it’s in my shopping cart. The entire line is cheeky, trendy, and covetable. Their design team 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵.

𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝:

⚜️ 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 — the more specific you can be about your origins, the better.
⚜️ 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐲 — this look is very of-the-moment and appealing
⚜️ Try a variety of designs, but 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 that moves through your merch so it looks like a unified shop

What do you think of this tee? Would you wear something branded that you had no connection to other than liking the merch? Finally, do you play pickleball, and if so, have you noticed the massive amount of pickleball merch in the world?