A guide to creating successful brand merch

When it comes to merch, there’s a fine line between what’s closet-worthy and what’s landfill fodder.

If executed correctly, brand merch can drive media buzz, provide organic marketing, and deepen relationships with creators, customers, and partners alike. So what does it take to create items that people are willing to wear and flaunt their brand loyalty?

We spoke with executives from top consumer and merch brands like Chain, Fishwife, and Chili’s about the qualities resonating with customers today.

Think outside the box

A successful merch launch often requires more than just slapping a label on a T-shirt. Steve Milton is the CEO of Chain, a pop-up-turned-lifestyle-brand that was co-founded by actor B.J. Novak in 2021 and has created products ranging from Pizza Hut-branded bucket hats to a Dave & Buster’s claw-machine bag. He told us that the key to a successful merch drop is tapping into a fandom mentality and creating a product unique to the brand, even if it’s not the most functional.

“The way that we think about it is, what is that brand and/or product truth?” Milton said. “And then how is that expressed through the language of fashion?”

Nostalgia has been a particularly strong force behind Chain’s merch collabs, he added, as evidenced through the bucket hats, which were inspired by the Tiffany-style lamps that once adorned Pizza Hut restaurants. However, he cautioned against jumping on nostalgia—or any other trend, for that matter—unless it’s something that taps into something consumers naturally love about a brand.

“[Make] sure that you’re thinking about the brand, thinking about the product, [and] what is it about that that connects with the consumer,” he said. “That’s a good way to avoid any missteps.”

Time to team up?

Another way to connect with customers is to partner with the brands they already know and love. This summer, tinned-fish brand Fishwife partnered with Whole Foods on an illustrated tote bag that sold out completely in a week, Fishwife CEO and co-founder Becca Millstein told us. Millstein attributes the success of the tote to the overlap and fervor of the fandom between the two brands, as well as the fact that the product was a limited-time, in-store-only offering, which helped drive a scarcity mentality.

At a time when brand tote bags are the opposite of few and far between, offering a high-quality product was also a way to stand out. “The reality is, most totes out there are cheap and not good quality, and people are giving them away for free,” she said.

Fishwife’s 2024 collaboration with Keystone Light on a fishing season tackle box for beer and tinned fish was another merch launch that drove buzz and sales because of its unexpected nature, Millstein said. In that instance, the collab presented an opportunity to reach a new audience, whereas the Whole Foods tote was about reinforcing loyalty by tapping into existing customers’ interests.

In either case, Millstein said merch should be intentional and have an authentic connection to the brand.

“Only pursue merch drops or collabs if it’s going to be brand additive,” she said. “Really think through, ‘Is this diluting my brand or is it adding to it?’”

Chili’s is another brand that has embraced collabs as part of its merch strategy. The brand’s drop in late August was part of its Golf Club campaign with golf apparel brand Rhoback, which included margarita-print polo shirts and hats with country club–style branding, among other things. Last year, Chili’s collaborated with cowboy boot brand Tecovas on “Booth Boots” made from the leather in its restaurant seating, which not only sold out in five minutes flat, but also drove high engagement on the brand’s social channels.

Jesse Johnson, VP of marketing at Chili’s, told us that partnering with existing brands is a way to generate instant demand and offer products that more naturally integrate into a subculture.

“Any time that we make any merch, we usually think about it from, ‘I’d rather you not be a walking billboard for us,’” Johnson said. “What I’d rather make is something so cool that you actually wear it, and then you get stopped on the street and someone says, ‘Hey, that is amazing! Where did you get that?’ And you say, ‘It’s actually from Chili’s.’”

Consider DIY

For loyalists who do want to be more of a billboard, Chili’s operates its own online merch store where customers can buy branded T-shirts, hoodies, and accessories. Johnson said Chili’s released a line of “Marg of the Month Club” merch after learning that some loyalty program members were returning to try the brand’s newest $6 margarita each month. When deciding whether to partner with a brand or create merch in-house, Johnson said it often boils down to audience size.

“I think six of the last nine or 10 Marg of the Months have sold over a million [drinks],” he said. “It’s more mass [audience], and so that gives you a little bit more leniency to say, ‘I think we can make it ourselves.’”

For Fishwife, Millstein said it makes more generic and long-term merch, including a “tuna-fish sandwich” hat, in-house, but “nine times out of 10,” she would rather make it with a brand partner because it “makes it more interesting and more fun.”

Regardless of who is making the merch, Johnson said every product should be fan-led in order to make an impact. The Rhoback partnership, for example, was inspired by the finding that some customers go to Chili’s after playing golf and call the restaurant the “19th hole.” Without an insight like that to support a merch drop, he said, a branded item is likely to be tossed or forgotten.

“No one is sitting around waiting for a brand to launch another piece of merch,” Johnson said. “We don’t need more generic things that are filling people’s closets and drawers.”