How to Launch Merch for a Podcast
By The Velocity Wear Team
Pick one garment, put a line your listeners already quote back at you on it, and launch it inside an episode rather than around it. A podcast audience is small and unusually loyal, so you do not need a shop. You need twenty pieces, one clear deadline and one good reason to buy.
The Design Is Already in Your Show
Podcast merch works as a password. It is bought by people who want other listeners to recognise them, and ignored by everyone else. So the strongest design is usually a phrase you have said so often you stopped hearing it: the running joke, the thing a co-host says when they are annoyed, the line that turns up in your inbox because listeners have adopted it.
Put that phrase on the garment and leave it alone. Do not add the show name in small type underneath, and do not add a microphone icon. The moment you explain the joke you have turned a private signal into a promotional item, and the private signal was the entire appeal. If a stranger in a supermarket queue instantly understands it, it is probably too general to be worth wearing.
One Garment, One Colourway, To Begin
The most common first mistake is range width. Four products in three colours is twelve combinations, and with a twenty piece minimum per order you end up with a scatter of sizes in each and proper coverage of none. Sizes mix freely inside a single run, so one garment in one colour across a full size spread is a much better use of the same order.
- Choose the garment your audience is most likely to already own a version of, usually a mid weight tee or a hoodie.
- Pick a colour that flatters nothing and hides nothing: black, navy or a proper mid grey.
- Order the sizes people ask for rather than an even spread, and expect the middle of the range to carry most of the run.
- Keep two or three pieces back for guests, giveaways and photographs.
- Write down what you ordered and what sold, because that record is the only reliable planning tool you will have next time.
Selling a Visual Product on an Audio Show
This is the part almost everyone gets wrong. Your audience cannot see the garment while you are talking about it. They are driving, walking or washing up. Describe it the way you would describe it to a friend on the phone: the fabric weight and how heavy it feels in the hand, whether the fit is boxy or close, what colour the print is, whether the print sits on the surface or feels soft in the fabric.
A sentence like "it is a heavier hoodie, brushed inside, and the print is a single cream colour across the chest" does more work in an audio read than any studio photo on your site. Then tell people exactly where to look, and use the same short address every time you mention it.
The Launch Is an Episode, Not a Campaign
Merch that sits quietly in a link in the show notes does not sell. Merch that has a window does. Announce it properly in one episode, mention it in passing in the next two, and close the pre order on a stated date. A pre order also solves the awkward problem of guessing sizes, because you print what people have already bought.
Leave room in the timeline. Production starts at artwork approval rather than order placement, and screen printing typically runs around ten to fifteen working days from that point. If you want garments in hands before a live show or a season finale, work backwards from that date and add slack for proofing.
Sizing When Your Listeners Are Everywhere
Podcast audiences do not cluster geographically the way a club or a school does. You will be posting to the UK, the US and Europe out of the same run, and sizing expectations differ enough between those markets to cause returns. The fix is boring and effective: publish flat measurements per size, chest across from pit to pit and body length, instead of relying on the letter on the label. Tracked delivery covers the UK, USA, Europe and worldwide, so the shipping side is manageable. The sizing side is on your product page.
Choosing a Print Method for a Punchline
Text based designs are less forgiving than people expect. Screen printing is the cheapest option at volume and gives a bold, clean result, but setup is charged per colour, so a two colour joke costs more to start than a one colour one. DTF carries no per colour setup and handles detail and full colour well on short runs, which suits a first drop. DTG is soft and sits nicely in cotton. Embroidery is durable but hostile to small text, so if your design is a sentence in a thin typeface, it is the wrong tool.
“"If you have to add the show name so people get it, the design is not the joke. It is an advert with a joke attached."”
What to Do After the First Run
Do not immediately design a second product. Look at what actually happened: which sizes went first, how quickly the run cleared, and whether people bought because of the design or because they wanted to support the show. Those are different motivations and they point to different second runs. Keep the artwork files organised and sensibly named, because reprinting the same design in a new colour costs far less effort than starting again.