Generation DIY: Merchandising 101
posted in: Features
Got a lucky sweater? How about a favorite t-shirt? Almost everyone has one article of clothing that they wouldn’t know what to do without. Want your merchandise to become that special for someone? Well, believe it or not you can. This week on “Generation DIY” we’re going to take a stroll down Fashion Avenue and give some tips on how your band can create fresh, hot apparel your fans are dying to wear.
As always, study and research your demographic. The best way to do this is to look at different profiles on MySpace, Facebook, whatever social networking site that offers a look into your fans personal tastes (I mean if they didn’t want you to look at their photos then they wouldn’t post them right? Right.). Another great way to get an idea of what kids are wearing these days is to attend shows for bands close to your sound. Once you have a general idea of what they wear, plan a budget around what you could sell (tshirts, hoodies, hats, booty shorts, keychains, stickers, beer cozies etc). Remember, don’t spend a ton of money on printing merchandise if you don’t expect a good return on investment, but also don’t compromise quality for quantity.
Now you may ask about money: how much is too much? Always request a pricing table for each batch (printers will upsell smaller quantity orders, so get a feel for price breaks and what you can afford). One tip that I’ve used many times when printing merchandise in the past is work around 1 or 2 color prints. Each color requires a screen, and there is usually a $15-$35 charge for each screen. So, you will find that its cheaper to print 1 or 2 colors as opposed to an intricate 9 color design. Stay within your budget, and you will be golden (or green, depends on the currency you accept; I accept only gold bricks for my merchandise).
Once you have an idea of your demographic as well as what types of merchandise you want to print, you can move on to the fun part: the design. If you know how to design with programs such as Illustrator, Photoshop etc. then you can save yourself a lot of money. If you’re not fluent in those programs, don’t fret. I’ve always told bands, find students who are exceptionally good at what they do. You’d be surprised how many art students need projects and would love to get creative with a band. It’s all about networking, so give them the opportunity to use the piece in their portfolio and you may just have gotten a free design out of it. One of the most important tips I can express is to make sure the design’s actual size is 300 DPI (dots per inch) or “resolution” (when checking the image size in Photoshop) or else you will get a very blurry, pixilated image that nobody wants. Another good idea is to ask your printer for a table of dimensions so you can make sure you’re within the guidelines with your image. However, if you have this in 300 DPI you won’t run into any problems if the image needs to be resized (it will stay clear and crisp). Remember images that are too large can be resized to a smaller dimension, NOT vice versa.
Hopefully you should have a good idea of what you need to do to get your merchandise together. It all comes down to research, research, research ” can’t stress that enough. If you have any tips that you’d like to share, I’m all ears, so drop me a comment. Keep up the hustle Generation DIY. This is YOUR year!