Make Your Own Merch: Getting it Made in 2022

Gone are the days when rock bands were the only ones who could shill out some of their own merch. Now welcome to the 20s where almost everybody has branded goods they want to sell.

No matter your industry, status, or brand, having merchandise available for customers and fans is a no-brainer. Doing so can help you reach an even bigger audience.

How do you make your own merch?

Today, there are great options out there for creating merchandise using your own imagery and ideas. You don’t need to be a professional garment maker or designer just to get it done.

This guide can show you just how easy it is to get your brand out there and start making a name for yourself, no matter what it is you do. We’ll cover all of the benefits of creating your own merchandise, the help that’s available, and even how to get it out to your customers and fans, so you don’t have to go anywhere else.

Why Should You Make Your Own Merch?

There’s a good reason why you see so many brands and personalities with their own t-shirts and phone cases these days, and why you should be doing the same.

These are some of the benefits you’ll reap from making merchandise to give you a push in the right direction.

It’s cheap marketing

Merchandise gets your brand seen and in a completely unique way from using the media. Compared to a media marketing strategy, making branded t-shirts gets your name out there for a cheaper cost, and there’s less risk that it won’t pay off.

It’s easy

These days you can automate every step of the way with merchandise including the initial design stages through to shipping and customer contact. You don’t need to know a thing about how it works when a professional is doing it all for you.

It increases profits

This is another great revenue of income that’s unrelated to your usual business and one that’s affordable for most people to buy. The costs to make garments today are lower but the profits are still good, which is more money in your business’s pocket.

It gets you brand recognition

Seeing your logo or brand name slapped on a t-shirt or cap is a great way to get people talking about you, or questioning what it is you do. When one of your loyal customers wears your merchandise they’ll be sharing your name for you, and likely with others who will find your brand appealing too.

The Planning Stages

To sell merchandise these days is easy but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a plan.

Any smart business person knows that everything should be planned out in advance, and the same goes for merch creation.

These are the steps to take when you’re ready to jump in and make your own merchandise.

#1: Think About The Audience

It might seem obvious enough who the audience buying your merch will be, but think again. As well as thinking about who to target, you’ll want to consider other points like:

what type of merch best suits my brand
are there any consistent subjects or catchphrases that can be associated with your stuff
and is there something specific you want to promote or just your business/brand in general

This will give you a clear indication of not only what the design should be but also where it should be. Options like t-shirts are the simplest, work for most brands, and are considered a best seller but there may be other things that will sell as well.

An alcohol company, for example, could make stubbie coolers or bottle openers, and a streamer might do better selling mousepads.

#2: Create the Design

Making the design is the best part and it allows you to really flex your creative muscles. If you feel like you don’t have any, that’s okay as well, because you can work with a graphic designer or custom printing company to do it for you.

It doesn’t just need to look good but also needs to be engaging, easy to understand, and identifiable as your brand.

The best approach is to use your existing logo, catchwords, brand name, or slogan and work on that. You’ll also have to think about where you want to place the design, the colours you’ll use, and what options customers will have for choosing their own colours and styles as well.

#3: Choose the Platform

Now you are ready to decide how you’re going to distribute your merch.

You basically have 3 options to choose from:

Print in bulk and ship them yourself
Print in bulk and use a fulfilment company to distribute
Use dropshipping with print on demand

You can choose either a t-shirt printing and distribution company to do this for you, or you can choose to do it all yourself.

Think about your capabilities, strong and weak points, and how much you want to spend on the process. With all of these answered, you should be closer to finding a perfect match.

From here, you’ll either have a stack of t-shirts that are made up and ready to ship, or a business relationship with a dropshipping or design company that is going to make them as they’re ordered.

All you need are the customers to place their orders and you’ll be in business.

Dropshirt is where to get ‘Print-on-demand’ merch that is shipped directly to your customer. As a print-on-demand service you hold no stock. Order just one. As a ‘white label’ service. It even looks like you shipped it. Create an account here.

#4: Market the Merch

It’s not enough to just add a link on your website and hope people will find their way to your newly created merchandise. You have to market this stuff like it was anything else you wanted to sell.

Have people wearing the merchandise at the relevant events, get on social media and start sharing pictures of yourself and others wearing them, and offer some give-aways to customers and fans to start spreading the word.

Once they’ve started selling, ask people to share pictures of themselves with your gear on, and offer incentives for doing so. This will build engagement with your brand and help to sell more merch as well.

DIY vs Professional Garments

When you’re finally ready to get your merch out there, you’ll have to decide whether you want to have the garments made professionally or if you want to do it yourself.

Of course, either side comes with pros and cons so to decide which is best for your business, you have to weigh them up.

DIY Merch Maker

If you know how to do it, making merchandise by hand can be a unique selling point and give customers something personalised.
Your customers and fans will feel as if you truly care about them with handmade merch and will be likely to buy more from you.
Creating everything yourself takes up a lot of time and effort, which could otherwise be spent building your brand and doing business.
If you get too many orders and can’t handle the load, you’ll be letting down your loyal customer base.
The quality of what you create may not be up to the standards of a professional garment and it could end up backfiring on you.

Professional Merch Maker

The ease of using something like dropshipping to create t-shirts takes the risk out of over-ordering from a manufacturer and means they’re only shipping what you’ve sold.
Costs associated with commercial garment production are kept low because they work in bulk and these savings are passed down to their consumers.
Finding a service that makes quality goods with unique designs can be hard and you’ll have to spend some time comparing what’s available to get something that’s going to be worth it.
The quality of some goods made in these instant merchandise companies leaves something to be desired so make sure you do your research and read reviews before committing.

How Does Print On Demand Work?

Print on demand is a technology that allows a customer to order items such as a T-shirt, from a computer and have it printed and shipped with any design. It’s the ultimate merch maker technology.

The technology for print on demand has been around for a long time, but was limited because the printing process was slow and the quality was not always good.

In recent years, however, the quality of printing has improved and the speed of the printing process has increased, making print on demand more popular for merch makers.

Most companies that offer print on demand services use a technology called “print on demand inkjet”. Or “Direct to Garment.” These technology’s use modified inkjet printers to print onto items directly. The printers are connected to computers that allow customers to place custom orders online.

When a customer places an order, the computer sends the order to one of the printers. The printer prints the item, and the customer has it shipped directly to them or one of their customers. We can even make it look like you shipped it.

Print on demand technology is becoming more popular each year because it allows customers to order exactly what they want, it is more environmentally friendly as it cuts out waste.

Would Dropshipping Work for You?

One of the biggest trends in garment production and merchandising these days is dropshipping.

This business model means you’re outsourcing the work of inventory storage, management, and shipping, as another service is doing it all for you.

When it comes to merchandise, the dropshipping model would work something like this:

One of your customers or supporters visits your page and sees that you have merchandise listed for sale. They decide to buy a t-shirt in a design that suits them and complete the checkout process easily on your site.
This order information is sent to your dropshipping provider and they receive the order with the specific product, size, and other specifications.
You pay the relevant fees to the dropshipping company for the product they’re sending and the service they’re providing.
The dropshipper sources the item in their warehouse or makes it from scratch using the designs you’ve provided, depending on the product.
The item is packaged up and sent directly to your customer from the dropshipper, but with a label that states it’s from your business so that they’re none the wiser.
Your customer wears your branded merchandise with pride and you didn’t have to lift a finger to see it come to fruition.

This method has been a game-changer in the world of merchandise and made it easy for just about anyone to get their brand out there on t-shirts, caps, and other products.

It works for small and large-scale businesses and adds a touch of professionalism to your brand, but there are risks involved and it should be considered on an individual basis.

Connect Your Merch Store To Us

Connecting your eCommerce platform – where you sell your merch to your customer – is the ultimate in technological efficiency.

Dropshirt makes this possible by supporting integrations for Shopify, Weebly, Square, Wix, WooCommerce, Etsy, Deconetwork. More platforms are added all the time.

When a customer buys an enabled product – on your merch store – you can easily sent that order to our production team with the click of a button.

Making your Own Custom Merch

These days everyone from social media influencers to paper companies have custom merchandise available, and if you have a brand or business, you’d be crazy not to.

With all of the help now available it’s simplified the process of making and shipping merch, guaranteeing you an easy way to get your name out there with the help of satisfied customers and fans.

Merch For Your Instagram Followers

Looking for ways to profit from Instragram? Selling merch to your following on Instagram’s continues to grow in popularity year after year.

There have never been so many options for making money on social media. Customised branded clothing, accessories, and other print-on-demand goods for your most loyal followers can help you advance your career as an influencer.

Merch For Your Youtube Subscribers

Looking for ways to make extra money for your Youtube channel. Selling merch is a really good idea.

Get the subscribes to head over to you website where they can get access to your custom merchandise page. Hardcore fans will follow your every command. There are many ways of making money on social media.

Customised branded clothing, accessories, and other print-on-demand goods for your most loyal followers to purchase.

Merch For Your Patreons

The idea of funding through subscription on Patreon is suited to people who create art that people enjoy, but who previously lacked the financial means to do so.

With the advent of Patreon, it’s now possible for a wide range of creators to advertise and stay in contact with people who enjoy their work.

By offering customised branded clothing, accessories, and other print-on-demand items for your most loyal followers may help you to continue to make money from you work.