The Backpack: Issue #15

Hey, friends! Welcome to our newly revised (monthly) newsletter, “The Backpack” bringing monthly news that features trends in merch, top articles, podcast episodes, and global news impacting merch life. Miss an article or an episode? We’ll highlight the best of, right here, each month!

Big Slick’s Big Merch Energy

Less than 4% of the federal budget for cancer research is dedicated to childhood cancer. After accidents, cancer is the second leading cause of death in children ages 1 to 14*. Thirteen years before Ted Lasso, actors Jason Sudeikis, Rob Riggle, and Paul Rudd decided to change that. The three fellow Shawnee Mission West High friends hosted a celebrity poker tournament to raise money for Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. Reaching for a $50,000 goal that year, they raised over $150,000. In 2023, they raised $3.5 million, 5% of which was contributed by Big Merch. Learn how three friends turned a few bad poker hands into millions for kids’ cancer and how branded merch played a starring role.

Surf’s Up with Slowtide

Just in time for summer - What does surfing have to do with business? “Abundance.” At least, that’s what Kyle Spencer learned while surfing big waves in Hawaii. Kyle and his business partners Dario Phillips and Wylie Von Tempsky, started a simple business: a towel company called Slowtide. Slowtide eventually partnered with famous bands like the Wu-Tang Clan and famous brands like fashion icon Kith, and eventually, they surfaced on the shores of the merch industry in a big way. Learn about their ocean-friendly support through superior product experiences and embrace abundance!

Want to make your shop bee-yuu-ti-full? Need a sizzlin’ summer pic? Pride month background? You can now source high-res images from Unsplash’s massive database of over 5 million photos and plug them right into commonsku shops with a few mouse clicks. Easy — that’s our vibe. More on shops, here!

Architectural Digest Gets Jelly ‘Bout Merch

“What’s All the Hype Behind Design Merch?” AD asks in a surly, way-late-to-the-party tone. Perhaps jilted cause they didn’t get their hands on this 4-piece merch capsule collection featuring some of the most iconic furniture designs in history. The capsule was created as a partnership by Highsnobiety magazine for Salone del Mobile (also known as Milan Design Week) the largest furnishing and design show in the world. Herbert Hofmann, VP Creative and Buying at Highsnobiety sums it up like a merch pro: “I can guarantee the next time you’re walking around with a Salone cap at Salone, everyone will ask you where to get one … it’s about [hitting] the sweet spot between clothing, architecture, design, and spaces where you’re creating a moment and feeling part of something.” Hmmmm, soooouuunnndds familiar. Welcome to the party, AD.

How’s This for Good Merch Vibes?

Sometimes, if you will it and dream big, you can manifest merch. Here’s the scoop: Nascar fan doesn’t have a Nascar shirt. So, he does what any self-respecting merch + Nascar lover would do, he sharpies his own “Nascar” logo scrawled on a basic white t-shirt. Then, midrace, he finds himself trolled by Official Nascar who spotted the fan and shared a shot on social with the comment, “we love the effort.” But Nascar didn’t just stop at trolling. They tracked down the fan to gift him the real thing. Magic merch moment, backpackers. Brings a tear to the eye. Note: 44k likes and millions of views. Nice move, Nascar.

Send it to Darrell!

And in the category of catchphrase merch: Lala Kent from “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills fame” (yes really, hang with us) went on to star in a spin-off series called “Vanderpump Rules”. Or, so we’re told. Of course, we don’t know this for sure cause we wouldn’t be caught dead watching all ten seasons on Bravo even if we secretly hope Racquel and Tom are still together. Anyways … Lala Kent went on a rage against Racquel in a lawyer-to-lawyer rant that ended with the phrase, “Send it to Darrell!”, (Darrell is Lala’s erstwhile but non-Mickey Mouse lawyer). Long story short: The rant caught fire on social and, “Send it to Darrell!” became a hall of famer catchphrase, right up there with “Bazinga!” and “D’oh!” but The Real Merch Story of Lala Kent? She created a merch shop featuring the phrase and the gear was so popular it paid for the downpayment on her $1.3 million home.

Made in the USA Def on the Rebound!

WSJ reports that construction related to manufacturing skyrocketed to $108 billion in 2022. That's more than was spent on building schools or healthcare centers. The new surge in factory-building heralds a new trend in Made in USA, spurred on by billions in government incentives. What’s your opinion backpacker, will the new factory footprint plus a looming election cycle cause a spike in US made goods? 

Paying rent on merch?

Apparently, Taylor Swift merch is so popular it spawned a whole industry of people, “paying rent on merch.” Swift’s merch is selling $2.4 million from every show, and there’s now a whole sideline of fans making money off anything even tangentially related to the Swift kingdom. This new breed of anti-hero entrepreneurs are masterminds at carving new paths of revenue from merch not protected by trademark. But seriously, this editor’s still pining for that cardigan.

Singing Significance

Now that Seth Godin’s new book, The Song of Significance, is out, read along with us! You can grab the audio version here (read by Seth himself) or grab the book here or even hear a condensed version from our interview with Seth. Who’s up for a book chat?

🤓 Olivia Wilde’s nerd merch moment.

🤑 In case you missed it: Our new Comp Guide for Distributors!

🤖 OpenAI just released a ChatGPT best practices guide, but it’s a mammoth to sift through, so here’s an easy explainer for marketers from our friends at Marketing AI Institute. Want to hear more? Paul Roetzer, founder at the AI Institute will join us for a live webinar in a few weeks, register here!