Brand merchandise - do you buy it and why? Discuss...

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Being a big Darkglass fan, not wanting to put their stickers all over my precious 'wicks, but still wanting to share the love, I looked at their merch section of their website and they have some really cool graphic art shirts. IMO they are actually quite appealing and interesting.

Then, looking for a carry case for my new VT bass amp, I looked on the Tech 21 website... all their shirts are just their logo in plain writing, no designs, just plain.

I am also trying to find out if I can get a special set of warwick plugs made with the "W" logo (for those who don't know what they are, basically large round earrings for people with stretched ear lobe peircings) and I also noticed my dealer has a black denim vest with "W" on the the metal buttons. Really cool in my opinion.

It made me wonder, I don't see many people chosing to wear brand merch/shirts unless they are endorsed, or a dealer, and they have to... and only the endorsing artists/dealers seem to get the really cool options for repping the brand and the public are left with boring plain logo shirts most of the time.

So my question is, personally do you have an interest in band merch, why or why not

if no,
Is it because the designs are more often than not just plain brand logo's with no nice art/designs?

Is it because you do not want to wear a brand name of gear they like at all, even if it is subltle or creatively incorporated?

Don't want to waste money on it?

It suprises me brands don't put more effort into their merchandise to make people actually want to buy it and promote their brand more, offline, in the real world and off stage..... imagine the promotion a person walking around wearing your brand at a gig/event could give you, even if they themself are not onstage playing the gear they are usually in proximity of other musicians.

I dunno, food for thought I guess :)
 
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I feel that the trend is very much cyclical. With that being said you do not see many companies produce much merchandise outside of basic tshirts and accessories. I imagine the profit margin is minimum which is why it is this way as they rather focus marketing dollars elsewhere. With that being said, I would rock some wick gear but the last time I was at the custom shop they were carrying any tees.
 

Nachobassman

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I wear my Jack Daniels t-shirt loud n´ proud, and I love to drink "Lemmys" every now and then. 8:

I´m not sponsored by JD, btw.
 

DiMarco

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I have a W shirt I never wear since it is two sizes too large. Was gonna hang it on the wall as decoration but never did. Ordered it along with some hardware I needed from the webshop a couple of years ago.
 

Henrythe8

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Yes I do.
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Because 20€ for a Warwick Denim Jacket is a steal. And a BassCamp 2014 T-Shirt because it was free ;-)

For the rest... I have half a ton of "special" T-shirts, mostly HardRock Café (plain or special editions), a very old vintage Guns'n'Roses T-shirt, a Lathon "BassDude"... but no gear branded.
 
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I have a couple free Warwick shirts. I wear them because I get extreme pleasure out of playing their instruments.

Other than Warwick, I'm not going to be a walking advertisement for anyone unless they pay me.

That's what stickers on road cases are for :)
 

PaulS

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I do have a couple of Warwick shirts I wear, along with an Ibanez shirt. I like it, opens up conversations with other musicians
 
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Interesting replies :)

I haven't ever got "free" shirts from an instrument brand, but if I did I'd wear them if it was something I actually played and wanted to talk about if somebody where to approach me about it...

You won't catch me in a Fender shirt if they gave me the shirt free AND paid me to wear it haha, but for brands I enjoy (anything from alcohol, to venues and instruments/gear) I would wear a free shirt even if the design was boring, but I wouldn't buy it for full price unless I was ordering other stuff anyway.... or the design looked really cool :D

Nice Warwick Jacket though! What a score!
 
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I typically don't buy/use branded merch unless it's an accessory that I can't get anywhere else (such as a case in a specific size) and is REALLY use(said case has good pockets/very ergonomic/good quality/etc).

as for clothing...never.
 
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I've got a couple of warwick 30th anniversary tee shirts that I wear, and a freebie d'addario tee that get used as an undershirt for hoodies etc. apart from that, nope.
 
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I have Framus / Warwick shirts because I work there.

Otherwise I got some other brand shirts when I went to NAMM and they just give them out. I usually just use them as cloths to clean my instruments.
I was never a big fan of wearing Brand shirts or having their stickers. Bands on the other hand, if I really love them, I would.

Unless the Brand has a really cool design. I have two UFC shirts that I bought just because of the design and I don't care for UFC.
 

Augie

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Brand merch, typically no.
Band merch, hell yes!

What he said. I have a bunch of band shirts, particularly local bands. I figure I get a cool shirt and maybe they get another 10 kms down the road on their next tour. Win Win, band I like gets to do their thing a bit more, and no one has to see my unclad flabby torso!

The only brand shirt I have is from a drum shop, that I only got because my drummer got it free with his mandalas and he is a medium and I'm.......well lets say an extra-medium. Plus it lets me go undercover in the dark and terrible world of drummers. I tells ya its very weird down there...
 
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I wear HEAPS of band shirts, but music gear brands, none (so far) I like to support local bands as much as I can. I know first hand that merch sales are basically the only way bands make any money back or break even.

Blending in with drummers sounds awful....but I guess I could blend in with them too easily enough - just take 3 hours to set up before a gig :p
 
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I've only ever once tried buying a band shirt and it was sold out in my size, and I don't have any brand merchandise...
 

Curtis

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I wear Gretsch, Souldier Straps, Hiwatt and Orange shirts. I got a lot of Warwick stuff: A gazillion shirts from the bass camp and some workers from the NAMM, a jeans jacket and a black jacket, a hoodie. I do some stuff for them, so I have a lot.

And now for the ear plugs, Shelbey. Nicolas, Hans-Peters son, made some for the boyfriend of an employee. The thinks about making more!!! I will try to find a pic on facebook and tag you:)
 

Curtis

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You have a PM on facebook, Miss Shelby :)
 
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No brand merch here. Often I find it just not very appealing, otherwise I might wear some every now and then.
 
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