Hi Merchies,

Both of us have been travelling outside our bubbles this week, Gaz to a tropical paradise, and Kayla to Gaz’s hood, Melbourne.

It’s nice to have merch as a hobby as it’s both travel friendly and doesn’t feel like work, so no matter where we go, we’re peepin’ the drip. Buckle in for this week’s finds!

Gaz & Kayla

Love me a gallery, museum, or library. For the non Aussie merchies out there, our state libraries are truly wonderful and have free art galleries attached to them.

The State Library of VIC of course has a gift shop, as all good institutions do, with a shelf of library merch as picture below. It also has a fantastic exhibition on called Rebel Heart right now.

What stood out to me about the curation and display of Rebel Heart is that merch featuring elements of the items on display, were displayed next to the items themselves. Usually you need to complete the exhibition and wander on through to the gift store to discover what items they have on offer, whereas this made it possible to connect with one of the pieces in the exhibition and then see a corresponding piece of merch and set your heart on it.

The exhibition was themed around love letters and other “declarations” so it really was quite sweet.

Want to see the rest of the Rebel Heart merch displayed within the exhibition? We posted it on our Instagram! (Which I promise, we’re trying to be better with, so give it a follow)

If your merch is based on something, whether that’s your local city, your product, your team, or anything of the sort, and you’re going to be giving away merch at a conference or event, think about how you might display the inspo and the merch side by side to create a more emotional impact!

The rumours are true. I have - for the first time ever - departed Melbourne’s Winter (I never go away in Winter. I am not a smart man) and have ended up in Bali, Indonesia, in a delightful little area called Pererenan which feels both A) quite quiet compared to nearby Canggu and B) likely going to be far busier next time I’m here on account of the bougie shops popping up and undeniable overseas money floating into the area. But it’s cool and I like it and the warmer climate has been good for me to rest up and chill out.

I spent my first morning here at a local coffee shop and furiously wrote into my notes app all the merch I was going to design upcoming by the way. I might be resting, but I’ll never log off when it comes to looking for merch inspo 😏

They have a St.Ali Coffee here! IYKYK (you live in Melbourne probably) but this is basically Melbourne pride right there, a Melbourne institution, and we love our coffee in Melbourne, uh-huh, yes we do.

The crew were all decked out in St.Ali boilersuits, looking very schmick and playing the part. Have always been a fan of the commitment to the brand by brand St.Ali - this is something you’ll see repeated in a number of their other locations, but here’s a crew who took branding - and their merch - seriously.

And they had some excellent stuff for sale too. A simple range, but a range nonetheless, and those camo vests are extremely, extremely cool, and very high quality. I was suitably impressed, being that I’ve entered into my merch connoisseur era)

Well, honestly, going away is always good for a personal reset, something I’ve learned the hard way in the past (Melbourne’s weather has a particular way of cooking you if you don’t escape it), but in terms of the merch on offer by St.Ali themselves: LOVE the camo vests and LOVE the boilersuits. I shall return with my own DRIP DROP versions post-haste, and I implore you to do the same! Now, I’m off to the pool, while you’re still working probably. Toodle-oo. 👋

Check out the DRIP DROP Sublime for more merch inspo