In an age when TikTok is flooded with videos of thousands of people lining up for hours at Taylor Swift merch trucks, it is hard to agree with Gentleman’s Quarterly’s statement that we are experiencing “The End of Merch.” The article, published at the beginning of the summer alongside others as part of “Merch Week,” seems to argue that while merch, the abbreviated form of the term merchandise, may be commercially successful, its golden age in the world of fashion has come to an end.
According to “The End of Merch,” merch can be categorized as “any branded item of clothing or accessory that is distributed to promote something.” With that definition in mind, think to yourself for a moment: Have you recently been walking around campus and seen someone in a Taylor Swift Eras Tour t-shirt? Or perhaps a vintage-inspired Fleetwood Mac or Rolling Stones t-shirt? Beyond music, maybe you’ve seen the classic pink Glossier hoodie or a man in a Bass Pro Shop hat instead. All these items are examples of merch, and it is hard to think that someone wouldn’t encounter at least one item of merch daily.
With merch seemingly everywhere, why is it that GQ thinks it is fashionably dead? From the article, it seems to boil down to two main factors: market saturation and a lack of exclusivity/meaning.
Market saturation and exclusivity seem to go hand in hand. It used to be that, in general, merch was hard to get your hands on and pieces had a sense of luxury associated with them. Today, merch is easily accessible both officially and unofficially. For example, from official merchandise sales alone, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift is estimated to have generated $200 million. However, if you were unable to pick up a specific piece of merch you were looking for at her tour — such as the highly-coveted blue crewneck — you can easily find an unofficial dupe on Depop, RedBubble, Etsy and other such online markets. The ease at which people have been able to copy merch items and sell them themselves has certainly contributed to merch losing its meaning.
Exclusivity and meaning also seem to be lost simply due to the ease at which one can obtain merch. In the past, when a sought-after piece of merch sold out, you could brag about being one of the few who got their hands on it. However, in today’s day and age, artists’ merchandise is constantly restocked online.
That being said, there are some unique examples of merch today that pose a counter-argument to the argument that merch remains very much in fashion. Look no further than the Loewe “I Told Ya” t-shirt from “Challengers.” The now iconic t-shirt worn by Zendaya and Josh O’Connor’s characters in the film was released to the public and sold out in both white and gray colorways. It has not been restocked and buyers can only obtain off-color dupes from Etsy and other similar platforms.
Additionally, the entertainment company A24 is a prime example of how to successfully produce merch while still preserving the factors of exclusivity and meaning. A24 consistently releases merch to accompany its films and they sell out quickly. A24’s collaborations with the brand Online Ceramics are some of the most coveted pieces and, once released, are almost never restocked. A24 also keeps their sold-out merch visible on their store page, almost reminding shoppers of what they missed out on.
Expanding outside of entertainment merch, perhaps one of the biggest shocks of the article is the complete omission of any discussion around sports merchandise. By their own definition of merchandise — “any branded item of clothing or accessory that is distributed to promote something” — one would think sports merchandise would be discussed at least once, and GQ’s omission of the subject seems to be a gaping hole in the discussion around the topic.
Even in the world of sports (it appears that Swift is an inescapable motif in this article), the rise in merch sales for the Kansas City Chiefs skyrocketed after Swift was spotted at her first Chiefs game to support her boyfriend, Travis Kelce. It was reported that sales of Kelce merch rose by 400% after her appearance at the game.
The argument of whether merch is dead can be summarized by a single quote from the article — “As a category of consumer goods, merch is undoubtedly bigger than ever.” In terms of sales, merch as a category is doing great. But whether fashion has the exclusive allure that it used to is questionable. Like all things in fashion, especially given the trend-driven environment we live in today, perception of merch can change in an instant.
With fashion, trends, and merch constantly changing, it is hard to make a sweeping blanket statement like ‘merch is dead’ or ‘merch is great.’ It is safe to say the market for merch has changed greatly over the past couple of decades, but it certainly is not ‘the end.’
