If you are purchasing branded merchandise in bulk, you might be making a costly mistake. There’s one major reason why this approach often falls short.

The Problem with Bulk Buying: Inventory Management

When you buy in bulk, you inevitably end up with either too much or too little inventory. Managing this inventory can be a nightmare, especially for small business owners. Not only does it drain your time, money, and energy, but it also creates an environmental burden. Excess inventory often leads to waste, contributing to environmental degradation and financial loss.

The Hidden Costs of Bulk Printing

Bulk printing doesn’t just create inventory headaches; it also brings along several other challenges:

• Limited Style Appeal: You might choose styles that are “okay” for most, but great for no one. This one-size-fits-all approach rarely satisfies everyone, leaving you with unsold items that don’t resonate with your audience.
• Distribution Hassles: Bulk orders require you to physically distribute all merchandise, adding another layer of complexity and cost to your operations.
• Branding Challenges: If you change your logo or branding, you’ll need to discard your entire existing inventory, leading to wasted resources and potential financial loss.
• Environmental Impact: Let’s not forget the significant environmental impact of producing more than you need, often resulting in excess waste.

The Solution: Print-on-Demand for Branded Merchandise

Switching to a print-on-demand model can eliminate these issues. Here’s why:

• No Wasted Inventory: You print only what you need, ensuring that every piece of merchandise is wanted and used. This approach reduces waste and eliminates the stress of managing excess inventory.
• Customization & Variety: With print-on-demand, you can create a variety of merchandise options, so everyone gets something that suits their preferences. This personalized approach increases customer satisfaction and brand loyalty.
• Trend Responsiveness: Stay on top of the latest trends by updating your merchandise offerings regularly. Print-on-demand allows for flexibility and freshness in your product lineup.
• Size Inclusivity: Ensure that your merchandise is size-inclusive, catering to everyone on your team or in your fan base.

My Passion for Sustainable Merchandising

I started my company because I’m passionate about helping businesses avoid the pitfalls of bulk printing. Have you ever had to manage inventory at your company or in a volunteer role? How did you handle it?

Branded Merchandise can be created in many different ways.

Let’s talk about travel merchandise, and how it applies to your business. Where the branded merchandise in Tuscany was reserved, tasteful, and artist-focused, the swag in Rome was 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜, 𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐲.

𝘭𝘦𝘵’𝘴 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵: 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘢 𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 “𝘥𝘢𝘣”, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘥, 𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘨𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭.

The Rome merch screamed “𝐈 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐄!” while the Tuscany merch said “𝐨𝐡, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧? 𝐨𝐡 𝐲𝐞𝐬, 𝐈 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐲”.

𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡?

Dropping your logo — and your logo alone — on all of your company branded merchandise is 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲. It’s the “I AM PART OF THIS COMPANY!” method.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝 is thinking through the values and special parts of your company and featuring that magic on your merch.

𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲, 𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐲?

What do you think of the Rome merch in this video? Is it sacrilegious to alter classic art like this, or just fun and silly?

I just got back from a weeklong bike-packing trip around Tuscany, Italy. 𝐌𝐲 𝐡𝐮𝐬𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐛𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝 200 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐯𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐞. It was gorgeous, challenging, highly sweaty and adventurous 🚴‍♀️🚴🏼⛰

(Let’s just say, we did 𝘯𝘰𝘵 realize how HOT it is in Italy in July 🥵.)

Here are the Top 3 Ways to Engage with Branded Merchandise: Italy Edition

🇮🇹 𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐅𝐔𝐋𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒: I saw *only* tasteful merch in Tuscany. There was no “I’m with stupid” or “my grandparents went to Tuscany and got me this dumb shirt”, no sexual innuendo, no political messaging, no shot glasses. Everything fit into the same general aesthetic and was pretty pleasing!

🇮🇹 𝐐𝐔𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐘: Aside from a few mostly-tasteful items bearing the town name and lots of cheese-, wine- and olive oil-related products, there wasn’t a lot to choose from. Tourists have a smaller, more curated selection, even in the lower-end tobacco shops. Individual restaurants don’t offer branded merchandise.

🇮🇹 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐒𝐀𝐍-𝐅𝐎𝐂𝐔𝐒: It seems that the shops favor art featuring Tuscany, so you can find many items inspired by the vistas around Tuscany or gorgeous hand-painted pottery.

𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐓𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 Go To Market – Custom Print-On-Demand Branded Merchandise 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐞: 𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥, 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲.

I didn’t find much to buy there because the aesthetic didn’t match my personal taste, but I can appreciate that 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟. (And anyway, when you’re bike-packing you can’t buy anything bigger than your fist because you’ll have to bike with it the rest of the way.)

I ended up buying a very small leather wallet and two tiny rings for me and my daughter. We also bought and sent postcards of cats dressed up in regal royal outfits to our kids 😻 (𝘰𝘯-𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦)

Have you seen and bought branded merchandise from international travel? What have you noticed about it? I was surprised to see so much lower volume of branded merch outside of the USA!

Merch that’s Ugly-on-Purpose is now a capital-t Thing.

At least, that’s the only way I can explain the Pizza Hut hat from Chain that is so highly coveted that it has sold out multiple times.

Why occasionally having branded merchandise that’s ugly is helpful for your business.

𝐀𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧. 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐩𝐨𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫:

👹 It’s a signal of 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲. Not everyone is invited to these celeb-infused events. The hat is an IYKYK social signal of an elite society.
👹 It’s 𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐠𝐢𝐜, which is super powerful in and of itself
👹 It 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭 — the hat is loud and noticeable. It’s the equivalent of a neon shirt or dying your hair purple.

𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡, 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐞. This technique won’t work for every brand but it’s worth considering if a loud design might work for yours. If someone who loves your brand wants to wear it as a fashion statement, let them!

Why do YOU think this design is so popular? Do you like it, would you wear it? And lastly, could a loud or ugly design work for your brand?

Let’s be honest: you’re 𝘸𝘢𝘺 too busy to design, order, and ship the branded merch you need for your business.

In the list of things you need to do for your business, let me guess where branded merchandise and swag falls: ↘️↘️↘️↘️

Merch usually gets assigned to whoever and lands at the bottom of a to do list.
𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 9,999 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭, 98 𝐨𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 👨‍🚒🔥, 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐮𝐩. 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭.

(𝘈𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴)

Here’s how we can help with your branded merchandise and swag:

🤩 Come up with fashion-forward, chic branded merchandise designs for your merch
🤩 Figure out what kinds of items to print for your business (tees vs bags, for examples)
🤩 Set up a print-on-demand merchandise shop with no order minimums

… and much more, so you can get to those 9,999 other things! If merch is on your list for this summer, DM us or comment and we’ll get it done for you easy peasy.

And thanks to Tara Lenney for the inspo for this blog post. She says: “If Merch has been falling to the bottom of your list for a thousand years like it was mine, let Go To Market loose! They had such great ideas, and also took my fledgling ideas and ran with them. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦.”

Tell me, has branded merch ever landed on your to do list, and did it keep falling to the bottom? How have you seen this play out in your company?

Taco Bell, what the 💩🙅🏻‍♀️ is going on with your merch?

This store violates everything I know about best practices for branded merch:
👎 The shop is super logo heavy, and their logo is… old and uninteresting
👎 There’s nothing creative, playful or reflective of their brand or brand values

There is one thing they get right, which is their use of current trends:
👍 They are using tone-on-tone (purple-on-purple, gray-on-gray), which is in right now
👍 They’re offering matching sweats sets
👍 Their models are young, diverse and cool

Still, I hate this. They tried to go chic but they’re … Taco Bell. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝.

If you’re a fast food chain and you’re making branded merch, taking yourself seriously is a miss. Your merch should be FUN. McDonald’s does this incredibly well, bringing in high end designers to make ironic and playful branded merchandise that’s loud and in your face (on purpose).

Our social media manager disagrees with me on this and likes their merch. What do you think? Do you think their merch matches their brand? I’m not a fan or customer of Taco Bell so I may not be the best person to judge. Who do you think wants to wear this?

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?

Let’s look at an artist whose merch gives me a 𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 every time I see it: Olivia Rodrigo.

Every single item of branded merchandise on Olivia Rodrigo’s page embodies her music and personality, from the design of the items to the way every item is styled. It’s also worth noting that Olivia herself models each item with cute photos.

𝐎𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐚’𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜. 𝐋𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝒚𝒐𝒖. Here’s how you can be more like Olivia:

➡️➡️ 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝 ⬅️⬅️

Olivia Rodrigo’s brand is rebellious, against-the-grain, sexy and girly, and her merch is exactly that. Is your brand’s merch reflecting your brand’s personality? 

Also… how freakin’ cool is Olivia’s merch? Go take a look and tell me what you think. The first time I heard her music it took me **right back** to when I first heard Alanis Morissette’s You Outta Know.

My love for race merch might (𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵) supersede my hate for junk swag.

Which leads me to ask: is there 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 a good time for junk swag? My answer might surprise you. 🤔

My husband finished the GFNY France Grand Fondo yesterday, an 85-mile bike race in the hills of northern NJ. At the expo, he was handed the following bright green branded things:
🟢 drawstring bag
🟢 a mini pouch bag
🟢 luggage tag
🟢 eye mask
🟢 pen

This part is key: he was also given a pretty bomb neon riding Jersey that everyone in the race has to wear to compete.

In general, I love the bright green branding and the “Be a Pro for a Day” slogan. The eye mask is pretty clever (though junky) and I can see people using the luggage tag when they’re traveling to races. The pen and the two bags are semi-useful trash. 🤷‍♀️🗑️

I’ve never had any use — not one — for a drawstring bag. Why do we still make these?

𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭, 𝐈𝐒 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐣𝐮𝐧𝐤 𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐠? 𝐈 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬:
🟢 the junk items are strongly branded (like these) and have clever uses that are appropriate for your audience
🟢 ✨you also give out a high-quality item✨ that includes some choice (in this case, size)
🟢 there are options to buy high quality merch of your choosing (in this case, these were at the expo)

So in the end, yes, you can sometimes (rarely) give out junk swag with my blessing, as long as you meet these three criteria.

What do you think? Do you enjoy swag bags like this? And most importantly, have you ever (ever!) used a drawstring bag??