When Merch Gets It Right
For artists, releasing merch means a step in the right direction. If you could confidently release a piece of clothing that people are willing to buy, you must be doing something right. And artists do it all the time. There is a lot of merch out there with one main goal. For the already popular, it's an extension of how far they could represent themselves through others. And for the rising hopefuls, it’s a longing for an established identity in the public.
For decades, artists have built a stronghold in the merchandise they release. Merch is pure branding, and if that means slapping your name on a shirt and selling it for $25, then so be it. But, sometimes these monotonous pieces of clothing gain the power to represent something greater. An iconic few manage to break through the abundance; they are able to stand out amongst the crowds and end up successfully representing the artist, no name tag needed. And most of the time, it happens unintentionally.
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When we think of successful merchandise, we think of what we’ve been exposed to. We’ve all seen it: the red tongue sticking out, plastered on shirts across the fast fashion industry and inside of the closets of those most likely unaware of who it represents. If you were to ask someone wearing the Rolling Stones symbol where it comes from, you could very well get a blank response. But, how did it get to that point?
Well, the power of popular merch seems to enable a converse response in its status. It’s not to say it didn’t start that way. In the 1970s, if you wore a shirt with the Rolling Stones symbol, you were recognized as a Mick Jagger devotee, no questions asked. Today, the explanations get a little blurrier. The Stones symbol began to transcend its original intent. Little by little it lost the name of the band, literally and figuratively. One can’t argue with the fact that the symbol is still popular to this day. But to draw comparison between the merch’s models and the Stones “real” fans would not be legitimized.
Good merch gets inevitably worn broadly, and when it gains popularity it risks losing its individuality. The Stones merch was released in the ‘70s, and today, we’re able to track its journey. To see how it began, we can look at some current lines and predict if they’ll end up on the same path decades later.
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Artists like Harry Styles and Billie Eilish are at the forefront of selling merch that goes beyond being well known. Harry took something he wholeheartedly believed in and wanted to spread it. So, he sang about it, tweeted it and put it on a shirt. Treat People with Kindness (TPWK) is what he landed on, and today, the phrase goes beyond its original denotation. Accompanying his name with the phrase would be useless, you wouldn’t have to. You make that connection yourself. That is merch that stands out.
With Billie Eilish, her merch is an extension of who she is, more specifically, her fashion sense. She catches the eye and her merch does the same. Not in terms of flashiness, in fact, it’s the opposite. Billie’s version of TPWK is Blohsh, a simple lopsided stick figure she has branded and already claimed the copyrights for. The Blohsh symbol doesn’t need an introduction, and like Harry’s, it skips out on the nametag. But, when we see it, we know who it represents and everything attached. Like style, for example. Possibly the fashion sense of a person wearing her merch could be inferred to be like Billie’s. That wouldn’t be too far-fetched of a guess.
Harry’s merch represents a message. Billie’s? An identity.
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Maybe these artists knew what they were doing because they were confident enough in their popularity and stronghold in the world. Or maybe it didn’t matter.
The line between familiarity and vagueness gets blurrier as time goes by and sales go up, and a price is to be paid more than the $25 earned. But, hey, maybe Mick Jagger doesn’t care. Maybe he would defend the cluelessness of those sporting his mouth when they get attacked online for not being able to name a Rolling Stones song.
All these artists created symbols that risked not getting that instant connection to themselves, and the risk is paying off. While you may not have been exposed to them yet, they are gaining momentum. For the artist, it’s an even bigger step in the right direction. And for the fans, it’s a way to say thank you to them. Because ultimately buying and wearing merch is a nod to their artistry. And that’s all they could ever ask for.
Strike Out,
Writer: Emily Ruiz
Orlando