The Backpack: Issue #89

Trend Alert: Pink Drink summer
What's new in commonsku: Our virtual premiere: 15 years ahead!
Can’t Miss Content: Croc slushies, Wimbledon sellouts and Stolen merch

Starbucks-Summer-Pink-Collection-3-scaled

Starbucks Pink Drink Summer

Starbucks took a drink that went viral in 2016 and gave it a wardrobe. The Pink Drink Vibes collection hit stores July 7 — bottles, a strawberry-print cold cup, hair clips, a belt bag, everything $14.95 to $34.95. A pink Glass Bearista follows July 13, and if that name rings a bell, it's because fans of the original waited in overnight lines and literally fought over it. The smart part? None of this is about drinkware. It's a product's aesthetic — pop pink, strawberry red — turned into things you wear and carry. Your client has a Pink Drink somewhere. Merch the fandom, not the logo.

Happiness Is a Warm Pop-Up

Super7 and Peanuts are running an Adopt-a-Puppy pop-up across from San Diego Comic-Con, July 23–26, and the star isn't Snoopy — it's the mechanic. Fans "adopt" 8-inch plushes of Snoopy and his five siblings (yes, Snoopy has siblings), each packed in a pet-carrier box with an adoption certificate and a puppy bandana made with Best Friends Animal Society. You write your new friend's name on the certificate yourself. (Mascot photo ops and giveaways too, obviously.) Again nobody invented a new product here, it's a plush. The adoption framing turned a purchase into a ceremony. The certificate probably costs a dime but it's doing all the work.

Dress Code: Corpcore

Inc. just named the thing we've been watching all year: the B2B apparel boom. Mortgage lender Rate is selling $86 leggings. Figma has moved 135,000+ items and sells out at its own conference. Palantir's $239 chore coat went viral and merch sales grew 64% last year. These aren't merch closets — they're apparel brands, with real fabrics, real design, and seasonal drops. Real talk tho: this is our industry's home turf, and the clients are already asking. Corpcore isn't coming, it's here.

commonsku Presents: 15 Years Ahead

The next 15 years of promo get their own premiere. Join us Wednesday, August 19 for a virtual event hosted by Bobby Lehew and Kara Parkinson, built around two conversations: the next era of the promo industry (with PPAI's Drew Holmgreen, Fairware's Denise Taschereau, Gemline's Jonathan Isaacson, and commonsku's own Catherine Graham) and the next era of merch as a marketing channel. Because merch isn't stuff, it's media. Attend both panels or divide and conquer with your team — register now and submit your questions for the panelists.

☕ Tim Hortons put a coffee slushy on a Croc, making the QSR shoe collab officially a genre.

🐉 Japan's beef-bowl giant Yoshinoya and Dragon Quest switched their collab merch to made-to-order to shut down scalpers, leaving resellers nothing to flip.

🏈 New Bills receiver DJ Moore bought all 27 of his own shirts at a local mall and gave them away to fans, the cheapest brand campaign of the summer.

🎸 Rush launched an official t-shirt to fund Venezuelan earthquake relief, more proof that merch is the fastest fundraiser in music.

💍 Fan-made Taylor Swift x Travis Kelce wedding merch was everywhere before the couple even said "I do" at MSG on July 3.

🎾 Marta Kostyuk's two-in-one Wilson dress went viral at Wimbledon and sold out mid-tournament, court-to-closet at record speed.

✂️ BSN SPORTS and adidas are outfitting Sport Clips stylists at nearly 1,800 stores nationwide in a multiyear deal, a team-sports giant moving onto corporate apparel turf.

👖 Levi's made its Paris couture debut with Christelle Kocher. The 501 just walked couture week.

🚨 Nearly $350K of a band's merch was stolen during their Paris shows, two arrests, and a reminder that tour merch is cash-dense inventory. Lock that truck.

🔮 We're looking 15 years ahead on August 19 — register for our virtual premiere and submit questions for the panelists.

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