the merch industry has gone too far

Yes spending 300+ dollars on a grey tee that says “I told ya” is very dystopian.

yeah im not paying $300 for a t shirt, and in my opinion, those 'designer' shirts are probably made in the same sweat shop as the $5 one.

this is what im having for lunch

There's a Belgian popstar (edit: her name is Pommelien Thijs!) who, instead of selling merch, created 4 designs that they printed on shirts that fans already had and could bring to the show. I thought that was quite cool!

I can attest that every single time I go to my local goth club, people start conversations with me by talking about the band on my tshirt, no matter which one I'm wearing. So definitely can confirm that merch is a good conversation starter.

A few weeks ago a delivery guy commented on my t-shirt when I answered my door (merch for the band health) and he was intrigued and said he'd listen to them. Next time he delivered to me he told me he had actually given them a listen and liked them. It really was a nice human to human moment I got to share because I have that merch.

I’m an American living in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and people here have been OBSESSED with Yankees baseball caps since around April. Every time I go to the grocery store - a five minute walk from my apartment- I see AT LEAST 5. 😭 it’s been wild. I ask Dutch people and they’re just like ‘it looks cool, and New York is cool’. Lol. Apparently in the 90s there was a similar trend here, my colleague told me that he had a baseball hat from some random team in Wisconsin. He picked it because he liked the colors. You’re the first person I’ve seen acknowledge the madness of Yankees caps in Western Europe!

Buying a whole outfit for a single event and then discarding it afterwards is unthinkable to me.

It’s like she knew I just sat down to draw

Restaurant merch had been around forever. Every dad I see on vacation has a Hard Rock Cafe t shirt from somewhere.

Kanye West wasn't the first person to bring merch to malls by any stretch of the imagination. Bringing band t-shirts to every corner of America was Hot Topic's entire brand identity. They had their start just going around to concerts and buying up as many extras as possible to bring to people who couldn't go see the bands in person. Eventually, they expanded to nerd culture & pop culture properties and that associated merch, but their whole ethos has always been to feel like the t-shirt stand at a concert venue

The merch of bands does really change the smaller the band is, buying a vinyl and a t-shirt puts much more money in the pockets of small bands than it does grammy award winning artists and is still a conversation starter. Multiple local bands t-shirts normally leads to people actually knowing members of the band personally and is always so fun being out and about. Taylor Swift and Charlie XCX don’t need my money, but the band playing for $15 tickets in a tiny venue does.

One thing I think is funny is according to an official Challengers prop auction, the I TOLD YA shirt Zendaya wears in the movie is a J.Crew shirt with I TOLD YA screen printed on, not the Loewe one. That made an Etsy knock off feel more authentic to me lol, but I still haven’t hit checkout

As someone who sucks at conversation, I look at ur clothes to see if there’s anything I can comment on and it would be sooo embarrassing to ask abt the band on ur shirt, thinking we can connect or at least start a conversation and u don’t even listen to to them 😂😂 I wouldn’t know what to say!

whenever a restaurant or a store hands my dad a branded bag for the stuff he bought, he always asks them as a joke if he gets a discount for the free advertisement😭

I enjoy buying/wearing t-shirts from concerts I attended or merch of an artist I support. But most of the time I resorted to buy from Etsy because “official” merch prices are not wallet friendly.

broke my ankles getting here

I found my best friend in uni through a BTS Suga hoodie 5 years ago😅 I was in a new city, new school environment, 600km far from home, and obviously didn't know a single soul. When I saw her wearing the hoodie I took all of my little introvert courage, went up to her and said: "Hi, your bias is Suga? Mine is Jimin. My name is-" and we've been inseparable ever since. So, YES talk to people wearing merch from your fandom, you will never know what friendship might come from it❤ BUT on the other side, I sometimes don't like wearing merch out in public, because I don't want to be affiliated with the 'cringe' and, yeah sometimes pretty shitty, parts of the respective fandom.

I buy two types of merch: -Bands t-shirts I buy at their concerts. I listen mostly indie bands and buying merch from them is a great wat to support them, specially since I listen to their music for free online. - Tote bags from bookshops around the world. Whenever I travel I like to visit independent bookshops and I buy a tote bag from them, is my way to support their business (I don't always find a book I like) and it's my souvenir from the country. It's also a great conversation starter with strangers, I met one of my best friends when she approached me at a concert because I was carrying a tote bag from an independent bookshop she had worked at in Santorini.

Maybe it’s because I’m an older gen z, but the idea of wearing merch of band you’ve never listened to or a movie you’ve never seen is so weird to me. Even some of the faux location merch that stores sell now that say “Los Angeles” or “Cape Cod” or whatever, why would you wear merch of a place you’ve never actually been to? I do like to buy merch from my favorite artists, especially because merch is often a main source of income for smaller artists, since streaming doesn’t really bring in a lot of income. Even if I don’t really wear the merch a ton, I’m still happy to support my favorite artists