Hi Merchies,

Gaz is off to watch the NFL in Melbourne today, so A) got a contributor for his section (excellent delegation) and B) he’s getting all types of inspiration for his own merch range of sports merch, as he watches thousands of Americans and others from all over the world flood Melbourne streets with SF 49ers and LA Rams gear.

Kayla, on the other hand, is working from home and has zero excuse for today’s issue being sent late.

Gaz & Kayla

In a recent research dive for brand guideline examples, I asked the Generate community for help and Jay Wheatley put me on to GitLab’s guidelines, which included a whole section on how their merch works:

Of course, they also have a public swag shop you can order from, with some really cool pieces. I’ve picked out some of my favourites: A pack of 3 pens, pet leash, logo and mascot sticky notes (not stickers!), and glow in the dark stickers.

My favourite items are the stock standard merch taken just that little bit further. Instead of a single pen, you get three in a box (which also has space for more things to be printed on it, great for expo merch.)

Instead of basic stickers, they’re glow in the dark. Instead of logo stickers, they’re functional sticky notes that will sit on a desk until they’re used up.

They’re functional, things you’d appreciate having around, and “standard” but done in an above-standard way. Smort.

Absolutely heart-warming stuff here: I received an email yesterday from Steph Clarke, who does a bunch of writing, looks heavily at the future, and enjoys sharing what she’s reading HERE (it has been said that DRIP DROP is her fav newsletter)

ANYONE who takes the time to send over a contribution like this is likely to be earmarked for a spot in the newsletter at some point. Plus I’m heading off to the very first NFL game on Australian soil today at the MCG in Melbourne, so, it’s quite efficient for me to hit the deadline, too 😃

Steph writes about ‘accidental merch’ - here you go:

“Back in 2024 I made a few visits to Brooklyn for some work stuff. Whilst hanging around the very cool Carroll Gardens area of town, I wandered past a shop with this very bright poster in the window. I assumed it was a print shop, and as a sucker for a good print, I wandered in to buy one. However, it was actually an Italian eyeglasses shop and this was their seasonal promo poster.

I asked if they had spares or if I could buy one. They only had the one in the window but told me that if I waited a few months I could have it when that seasonal display was finished. I assumed I'd never hear from them again, but sure enough a few months later they got in touch to say the poster was mine. My friend lives around the corner so she went to retrieve said poster, and popped it in the mail to me. Here it is now happily hanging in my home office.

I'm sure there's some kind of lesson here about accidental merch, but probably it's about working with great designers that create something beautiful (these were made by Juta Studio in Italy, I wish I had the pink NY one to go with the Brooklyn one) rather than churning out slop posters.”

Follow Steph on Substack HERE and go football!

Steph said it best - work with great designers. Go find a great designer - look at the previously featured Jacky Winter artist roster for example - and go make some art for your thing!

Tees. Prints. Totes. Product Packaging. Make a campaign announcement look like a gig poster. Get a hectic design for some company tracksuits. Whatever, it’s going to look a hell of a lot better than a lazy canva whipped up template, and you’ll be sure to turn some heads. 👏 Someone 👏 might 👏 even 👏 want 👏 to 👏 buy 👏 your 👏 merch. 👏 O IT

Check out the DRIP DROP Sublime for more merch inspo