How to directly support your favorite brands? Buy their merch.

I have a lot of T-shirts. Not dozens, but hundreds. 

Like, most Floridians have “a lot of T-shirts,” then point to a drawer of them. I’ve got three full drawers, plus a pile on top of my dresser, plus a bin in the garage, plus a perpetually full donation basket for my local nonprofit. 

Naturally, almost every single one of these …

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I love this trend also, with the exception that T shirts are such a crapshoot.  One will fit great, then the next fits me like a circus tent made of burlap.

I wish some other businesses would take note.  My local public radio station accepts any donations, but gatekeeps the swag behind some absurd tier, so instead they often get nothing from me.  If they sold a $30-$40 T shirt or a $10 bumper sticker with a healthy profit baked in, I'd probably have 15 of them.

Wouldn't it be better just to click on their patreon, youtube channel membership, etc? I like a good t-shirt, but I always feel like a good majority are something I wouldn't wear either from a quality or design perspective. A good portion of the price goes into the physical object and shipping.  Not a lot, relatively, is profit.

I kinda prefer stickers myself if I'm looking to support someone and get a physical reward. Cheaper to produce and ship. No sizing issues. There is always room on the toolbox for more.

I now have 2 GRM polos (caution they run big) so I can wear them to work.  As a bonus I look like a professional magazineer.

i have a rule when it comes to t-shirts, anytime I get a new one the one on the bottom of the pile (meaning it's been the longest since last worn) gets put into a bin to donated to the local good will.

I do the same thing with all clothing/shoes/etc.  I don't need more of anything but I do need to update/replace/etc. as time goes on.  It also means that if there is something in my closet that i'll never wear again, it is likely something that I need so when I donate/throw it away I immediately purchase a replacement for it.  

 

theruleslawyer said:

Wouldn't it be better just to click do their patreon, youtube channel membership, etc? I like a good t-shirt, but I always feel like a good majority are something I wouldn't wear either from a quality or design perspective. A good portion of the price goes into the physical object and shipping.  Not a lot, relatively, is profit.

Agreed. I have far too many t-shirts as it is. I'm more inclined to support someone/something via direct contribution (like paying for GRM+). 

Can someone, anyone, anywhere, do a collaboration with Carhartt? Or maybe talk Gildan into making pocket Ts?

I'd buy way more shirts if they had a pocket on them. I don't wear shirts without pockets, but I also don't like wearing plain solid color shirts all the time. 

ClearWaterMS said:

i have a rule when it comes to t-shirts, anytime I get a new one the one on the bottom of the pile (meaning it's been the longest since last worn) gets put into a bin to donated to the local good will.

I do the same thing with all clothing/shoes/etc.  I don't need more of anything but I do need to update/replace/etc. as time goes on.  It also means that if there is something in my closet that i'll never wear again, it is likely something that I need so when I donate/throw it away I immediately purchase a replacement for it.  

I like this method. I always seem to wait until my closest/clothes drawers are bursting at the seams before taking everything out, sorting through it, and then not getting rid of enough.

theruleslawyer said:

Wouldn't it be better just to click on their patreon, youtube channel membership, etc? I like a good t-shirt, but I always feel like a good majority are something I wouldn't wear either from a quality or design perspective. A good portion of the price goes into the physical object and shipping.  Not a lot, relatively, is profit.

Speaking as a years long monetized YouTuber... no, not really. I average less than a dollar a video in ad revenue. YouTube keeps 30% of channel memberships. Patreon keeps 20%. Merch sales, however, I set the price and have a fixed profit that I am guaranteed. I make more money from merch sales than everything else combined.

I can't stand shirts with iron-on graphics. They don't breathe at all. I'm awfully tempted to suffer for this one, though.

Javelin said:

theruleslawyer said:

Wouldn't it be better just to click on their patreon, youtube channel membership, etc? I like a good t-shirt, but I always feel like a good majority are something I wouldn't wear either from a quality or design perspective. A good portion of the price goes into the physical object and shipping.  Not a lot, relatively, is profit.

Speaking as a years long monetized YouTuber... no, not really. I average less than a dollar a video in ad revenue. YouTube keeps 30% of channel memberships. Patreon keeps 20%. Merch sales, however, I set the price and have a fixed profit that I am guaranteed. I make more money from merch sales than everything else combined.

Does it cost you more than 30% of the tshirt price to sell it? Never mind the time you spend managing it. That's the point I'm getting at. Digital is straight gravy . If everyone who bought merch instead spent that much on a sub instead you'd probably be way ahead. OTOH a lot of people are more likely to buy than donate.

theruleslawyer said:

Javelin said:

theruleslawyer said:

Wouldn't it be better just to click on their patreon, youtube channel membership, etc? I like a good t-shirt, but I always feel like a good majority are something I wouldn't wear either from a quality or design perspective. A good portion of the price goes into the physical object and shipping.  Not a lot, relatively, is profit.

Speaking as a years long monetized YouTuber... no, not really. I average less than a dollar a video in ad revenue. YouTube keeps 30% of channel memberships. Patreon keeps 20%. Merch sales, however, I set the price and have a fixed profit that I am guaranteed. I make more money from merch sales than everything else combined.

Does it cost you more than 30% of the tshirt price to sell it? Never mind the time you spend managing it. That's the point I'm getting at. Digital is straight gravy . If everyone who bought merch instead spent that much on a sub instead you'd probably be way ahead. OTOH a lot of people are more likely to buy than donate.

One of the additional benefits of merch is that it's also advertising.  I wore a shirt from Tony Angelo's Stay Tuned channel to the local bar and grille on Friday and ended up having a nice conversation about the channel with the waitress.  She would have a lot lesser chance of finding out about the channel without that interaction.

theruleslawyer said:

Javelin said:

theruleslawyer said:

Wouldn't it be better just to click on their patreon, youtube channel membership, etc? I like a good t-shirt, but I always feel like a good majority are something I wouldn't wear either from a quality or design perspective. A good portion of the price goes into the physical object and shipping.  Not a lot, relatively, is profit.

Speaking as a years long monetized YouTuber... no, not really. I average less than a dollar a video in ad revenue. YouTube keeps 30% of channel memberships. Patreon keeps 20%. Merch sales, however, I set the price and have a fixed profit that I am guaranteed. I make more money from merch sales than everything else combined.

Does it cost you more than 30% of the tshirt price to sell it? Never mind the time you spend managing it. That's the point I'm getting at. Digital is straight gravy . If everyone who bought merch instead spent that much on a sub instead you'd probably be way ahead. OTOH a lot of people are more likely to buy than donate.

You're confusing percentages and outright totals. I'm not the one buying and printing the shirt. I set the profit dollar amount and forget it. The e-commerce and printing companies handle almost everything. Even my lowest priced item nets more dollars than the highest Patreon / channel membership. I would need to make tiers over $20-$25 to equal merch payouts, and nobody signs up for those. 

All t shirts should be made with the same material and "cut" as the Monzora shirts.  It just feels sooo right.

On the topic of this column, I came home the other night to a fun gift from past-me: a fresh package of goodies from One Hell of a Town that I had forgotten I ordered! While they aren't "content creators", the are "creators" in the artistic sense, which merits support too.
They're a Vermont-based store that sells a lot of fun and lovingly-designed car-themed merch, as well as some truly stunning photo prints. I even had the pleasure of meeting them at Lime Rock a couple years back. If you've seen me at an event, you've probably seen the "I  Terrible Cars" hat I got from them. 

In reply to Nicole Suddard :

I really ought to pull the trigger on a few items I've been eyeing from One Hell of a Town.

It'll be good for the economy

This was a good reminder to order a few things I had my eye on on the LTT store. They are make YouTube content about gaming computers but their merch store has a ton of cool stuff in it besides just shirts.