The Backpack: Issue 51

2024 The year merch went to the movies

Done with being a sidekick, merch now has main character energy. Virtually every major (and indie) movie release dropped a merch collection. First, there was "Wicked," supported by a marketing roll-out that was “just short of obnoxious” (WSJ). For up-coming movie Nosferatu, Heretic Parfum dropped a fragrance, and this must-see-to-believe casket popcorn bucket is creepy cool. Squid Game merch goes hard, of course. A24 drops merch for the Daniel Craig movie "Queer" and as always, stirs up a little controversy with their Nicole Kidman Babygirl movie merch. And the merch movie business is creating a new crop of merch providers, folks like Cotton Bureau and Mise En Scént and Super Yaki. Articles like "Indie film merch has become a hot commodity" are everywhere now. But TBH, what started it all was Jean Seberg's New York Herald Tribune grail from Godard’s Breathless. Merch deserves an Oscar for its performance in 2024.

KFC’s Holiday Collection with YeYe Weller is RAD

This is a trend we’re continuing to see: Big brands partnering directly with influencers and designers for merch. Why? Because designers and influencers are tastemakers. Check this case in point with YeYe Weller (the dynamic artist duo based in Germany) for KFC, it’s a rad drop, especially this dope sweater and this hoodie. Honorable mention: KFC’s golden drumstick ornament. Nice play, Colonel. You had me at “golden fried chicken leg.” BTW: If you want to learn more about these trends and how to become a tastemaker yourself for your clients, join our Chief Content Officer, Bobby Lehew (and editor of The Backpack!) at Expo as he shares how to map cool trends to a bold selling strategy! Deets here.

Romanelli upcycles vintage merch for LA Olympics

The artist Darren Romanelli has worked with Converse, Levis, Coca-Cola, and Disney to create incredible art but his latest project warms our little merch hearts: A lounge chair made of entirely upcycled vintage Olympic merch and uniforms. “The thread line of my work is the history of iconography. I love brands, and I love the idea of reworking the iconography in a way where it has a new meaning, or it could exist in a new light.” Beautiful work, DRx.

See you at Expo! Join our party(s)!

If you are going to skucon and the PPAI Expo, we’ve got a host of activities we’d like to invite you to and we’ve made it simple for you to find them all at commonsku.com/expo. We’re hosting a Breakfast Club, Happy Hours, and Charlie Moscoe and Aaron Kucherawy are leading a session on Connecting your Workflow (bring your team!), and you can even find a handy list of all the commonsku suppliers and their expo booth numbers in one convenient doc. For our breakfcast club and happy hours you’ll need to RSVP so hop on over to commonsku.com/expo -- Viva Las Vegas!

Fairware’s Incredible Impact

Normally, Impact Reports are dry, multi-page docs that, despite their accomplishments, often leave you feeling less inspired than when you started reading them. Not Fairware’s. It’s a beautifully designed, compelling message that unpacks their responsible sourcing mission, supply chain overview, their justice, equity, diversity & inclusion commitment, company culture, hiring approach, and their community impact. We talk with Sarah and Denise about the creation of it through the lens of their impact journey. Tune in!

commonsku 2024 recap: 1 million projects!

We just dropped our year-end review and it features a stunner: 1 million projects create on the commonsku platform in 2024. 😍 Nice work, backpackers; you've had a busy year! You not only set new records with projects, but there was a 140% increase in shops and a 30% increase in ePOs! Want to learn more? Check out our recap here and also, watch our year-end webinar with commonsku co-founders Mark and Catherine Graham as we both look back and look ahead!

More merch competition for ya: Heard of Uprisers?

UPRISERS just did a really cool drop for Panda Express, a Sherpa panda bear jacket (complete with Panda ears). And their merch activation was brilliant: On “National Comfort Food Day” (which, tbh, we thought was every Monday), you could buy a meal and get the hoodie for free. BTW: Who is UPRISERS? They are a female founded lifestyle brand dedicated to building a more sustainable future at the intersection of environment and community sustainability. They "utilize existing materials and historical artifacts to remake new designs into limited edition capsules that seamlessly blend cultures, designs, communities and materials.” Like this 1924 project. Here’s a really cool “behind the design” blog that features how they bring their designs to life. Cool brand to watch!

Immersive merch experiences are poppin’ off

On-site merch activations are HOT! We had one at skucamp Nashville with our friends at utees and Spotify dropped a t-shirt printing and live tattooing station at their new AUX live experiences along with their brand partner, Budweiser. How about you? Are you helping clients create live activations and immersive experiences? Let us know, we’d love to feature your story in The Backpack!

📚 Town & Country Magazine breaks down the best New York merch.

😸 Bruno Mars + Hello Kitty collab on a coming soon merch drop: cool.

❄️ Our friends at The Icebox dropped some holiday merch for Arby’s and we’re loving this cow-pig-chicken-fish sleigh scarf, knit sweater, PJ set, and “meat wrapping paper” that is smoked scented and yep, also sold out.

🛍️ Erewhon, the grocery store none of us can afford, dropped a beautiful array of totes in a brilliant colorway along with this Winter ‘24 collection.

🌯  Subway enters the [merch] chat in a late but great way: all merch for free and all already gone. “Fresh merch runs out fast!” 😅

🌵 The collab you didn’t know you needed: Cactus Plant Flea Market, UNIQLO + Spongebob.

😎 Bush’s Baked Beans: Cool Beans Holiday Edition

🗞️ Newspapers droppin’ merch collections but, Minnesota Tribune, maybe try a little harder? Like they do over at The Gray Lady?

☸️ Yet again, our friends (and commonsku customer) Canary Marketing creates cool merch kits for the debut of Ryan Seacrest as Wheel of Fortune host.

😍 Going to Expo? Join us for our Breakfast Club, Happy Hours, and amazing sessions, plus, get your handy-dandy list of commonsku supplier partners! It's all here on one simple site: commonsku.com/expo!