The Backpack: Issue #54

Want to support California Fire Aid? Buy the merch

Yoshitomo Nara, a once-in-a-generation artist whose paintings command millions, was asked to design something special: When organizers of the Fire Aid benefit concert (featuring Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, Sting, Stevie Nicks, and other A-list stars) needed designs for their concert poster and merch, they turned to the acclaimed Japanese artist. Check out the designs on Instagram and go support LA by grabbing some merch! What we're loving: the FireAid bucket hat and Rock You hoodie. Backpacker approved!

Are you being out-merched 🤓 by design studios?

It’s kinda surprising that, as an industry, we don’t do more of this: Design studios believe in the power of merch so much that they create their own (self-promo) merch collections and shops featuring their brand. Our faves? “Hey,” a design studio based out of Barcelona has a super rad merch shop. High Tide, a NYC firm also features totes and tees. Brooklyn-based Gander has their Gander Goods shop, and Dazzle Studio has its insanely cool Dazzle Supply Shop. Others? Portland-based FISK, with their FISK Projects store, and London-based OMSE studio, with their merch shop. Does it make them a lot of money? Maybe not. But it does three critical things: (1) allows them to prove their design chops, (2) creates a dopamine hit for the brand (who doesn’t love a cool merch collection?), and (3) gives them a chance to express their style and an opinion through merch. Take-away? Every distributor is a tastemaker therefore, every distributor should have their own shop. What say you, backpacker? Ever thought about branding your own shop with your own merch? Maybe you can do this with the shiny new shop templates we just dropped on commonsku shops?!

skucamp Scottsdale Pre-Registration is Open!

Skip the deets, here’s the link! ;-) For those that are new: What is skucamp? skucamp is like a mini-bootcamp for your business: Whether you're scaling up, crafting a killer customer experience, or building a team, skucamp is where the learning happens! skucamp always sells out but if you pre-register, that will give you early access to purchase your ticket 24 hours before it’s made public, plus, you’ll save $100 off your ticket purchase if you buy during the pre-sale! Lock it in and we’ll see you in sunny Scottsdale!

The real sales growth unlock? Joy!

Blackfish is an unapologetically boutique brand that focuses on a customer-obsessed experience as the bedrock for building growth and on the latest episode of the skucast, we’re joined by founder Matthew Dart to talk about 3 things: outbound vs. inbound sales, the efficiency multiplier, and how to build a robust business without sacrificing your lifestyle. Drop in!

Shiny, new feature drop: The products sold report!

Drum roll, please...brought to you by super-hyper customer demand and a brilliant team of dev engineers sku-gineers, 😎 we introduce: The Product Sold Report! (Simple name; badass functionality). You can now dig into your own product insights and discover your top-selling products, slow movers, and key product revenue drivers. Filter by suppliers, clients, industry, and tags, and basically, build all kinds of delicious reports. Want to populate your impact suppliers? Boom. Want to see your hottest apparel items? Boom. Magic happens when you combine smart customer insight and a genius dev team. Dig it!

“Nationalism is 2025’s hottest merch trend”

Well, we’re glad someone else noticed it 😅 cause we all spotted the trend: nationalism and merch. The “Canada is not for sale” caps were created by Jackpine Dynamic Branding and the demand is insanely high, “We’re now shipping from Toronto with five Canadian embroidery partners working overtime to fulfill thousands of orders.” One report showed 45,000 units sold within days of launch. But it’s not just Canada, there are now Gulf of America tees and “Make Greenland Great Again,” merch. Every media moment now has its merch moment. And you thought you were getting away from merch + political news after the election, didn’t ya? 😜

“Dunkin has my heart” merch does have our heart

👀 GQ: Is Timothée Chalamet attempting to merch-ify Bob Dylan? “Hollywood marketing strategies are fleeting, but good music (and merch) is forever.” > Damn straight, G.

😍 Have you seen how Whataburger uses merch to partner with their hometown NBA team the San Antonio Spurs? Rad designs.

📣 ePOs are HOT: Blank ePOs and the PSST program with SanMar are now available. So, what does it mean to you? Speed+accuracy. Check out our convo with SanMar’s Monty Mims to learn more.

🏆 Super Bowl headliner and multi-Grammy winner Kendrick Lamar’s dope merch collection was created by Willa Chavarria, one of the most sought-after designers in fashion today (who also dropped a collab with Tinder supporting the Human Rights Campaign).

😐 Grammy's Schmammys. We think the official merch store for The Grammy Awards could be better, what say you?

👾 But of course a Polish techno club housed in an old bomb shelter has sick merch.

💞 Awwwww. Tim Horton’s drops their Valentine’s Day merch collection including this “you complete me” donut + timbits mug. Dig these charms.

🏩 Merch Motel launches a collection to honor Altadena.

⛄ Um, Philadelphia Eagles prob have the weirdest merch. To wit: You can buy snow collected from the end zone. Or field grass clippings. Merch so bad it Hurts. 😂 Go E-L-G-S-E-S? 

🎨 Mac Miller fans rejoice: the posthumous new album comes with merch.

✨ Have you seen how high-end fashion uses merch for their show invites? It's insane and inspiring: Here’s a glance at some of the best, featuring Off White and Maison Margiela, and here’s Pamela Anderson talking about the recent Jacquemus tissue box invite.

💃 Miss skucon? No worries, we got your highlights. Oh, and don’t forget to check out the skummunity award winners! Got FOMO? See you in September at sunny skucamp Scottsdale!