There were so many amazing shops that launched in 2022! It’s impossible to name them all. That’s why we collected a few of our favorites!

We love seeing the different niches and how people express their passions with merch. The more creative the better. Animal shops dominated, as did TikTokers, podcasters, and other creators.

We want to feature your shop! Make sure to post about your merch on socials and tag Spreadshop to be featured on our many channels. Merch inspo incoming!

Melon and Finn

Melon be smellin’ and Finn’ be sniffin’! After all, they’re two adorable cats with sensitive snoots. They’ve gone viral on TikTok with their reaction to different foods, 180 at this point.

Their merch shop has also been a major success! Melon and Finn have a bunch of designs that feature their likenesses, even some good gag reaction graphics. They’re definitely have a niche area of interest, but they’ve managed to tap into their audience with some cuteness and crude humor.

Soso Swag

TikTok creator Sophia, soso_swag, has found a dedicated following on the platform thanks to her hilarious content. She posts fun commentary videos about what it’s like to be a lesbian in the dating world. We can definitely see her becoming a stand up comedian in the future.

Sophia has formed her own little community with this niche and her merch helps deepen the bond with her followers. Spreadshop has helped empower Sophia as a creator and given her the opportunity to build her brand. Her pride-themed designs are quirky and unique. Check out her shop!

Junkyard Fox

This is a shop for outdoor lovers and adventurers. Junkyard Fox is primarily a YouTube channel that teaches viewers wilderness survival skills and hunting and gathering techniques. Whether you’re an expert explorer or eager beginner, there’s something for you.

Their merch also pulls double-duty as perfect camping essentials. Camper mugs, bandanas, and totes are all multi-purpose items that can be useful when you’re out in the elements.

Lucy Lumen

Lucy is a photographer and content creator that shares her analog adventures up and down the Gold Coast. She documents this on YouTube while also giving tips and tricks to fellow photographers.

We love how she has a cohesive style across her channels and her merch is an extension of that. It’s important to be as distinct as possible with your branding, like picking specific colors and using a graphic style that’s instantly recognizable. Lucy’s shop does that perfectly.

Nikki Connected

It’s never too late to make merch! Nikki has been in the content game for 7 years (!) and she launched her first merch line earlier this year. She’s a finance blogger that helps people make money online. Nikki helps viewers budget their money and gives tips on how they can build their wealth. That’s much needed info right now!

Her merch is designed with girl bosses and hustlers in mind. She took great photos of herself rocking that designs that she blasted out on socials. That’s a fun and easy way to promote your merch shop.

Want to be a top shop in 2023? Launch your own merch today!

The post Top Shops of 2022 appeared first on The Spreadshop Blog.

Don’t miss out on the merch fun this holiday season! Show your customers that you’re in the spirit by adding some festive designs to your shop.

There are plenty of ways to make your merch stand out from the crowd. Need some ideas? Look no further – we’ve gathered up a few inspiring examples from other shop owners. Take a look and get ready for some holiday cheer! 

Classic and Cutesy

Afterglow Vintage Tees has the perfect designs for merch that captures all the spirit of the holiday season. With their pastel, cutesy designs and classic vibes, they add a festive touch to any type of merch – from hoodies to pajamas to stockings! 

Take inspiration from Afterglow and create your own unique vintage-style designs that reflect your shop’s aesthetic. Go for something timeless or give it a modern twist – either way, these designs are sure to leave an impression on your customers! So get creative and make this holiday season one to remember with some special merch.

A Seasonal Spin

For shop owners looking to add a festive touch to their shop, there’s no need to start from scratch! With a few simple tweaks, you can easily put your own holiday spin on existing merch designs.

Take Mila the Chi for instance – all she did was add a Santa hat and festive bow to one of her standard designs, but it makes an impact. Her followers were instantly able to recognize that this design was special and perfect for the holidays!

A Virtual Vegan is another great example of how you can stay true to your brand while spicing up your merch selection with some holiday flair.  They updated their merch with some subtle seasonal touches like snowflakes, holly leaves, red accents, and more. It was just enough to get their customers in the holiday spirit without detracting from their merch’s original identity.

So if you’re a merch-lover who wants to add some holiday cheer to your wardrobe, don’t forget about your existing designs!

Old Saint Nick

From stylish merch designs to holiday characters, this season is all about bringing joy with unique interpretations of old Saint Nick. Whether you prefer a classic Santa Claus or a modern take on the jolly fellow, make sure your merch captures that special holiday cheer!

Nothing says happy holidays better than an eye-catching design featuring everyone’s favorite gift giver. So think outside the box when it comes to merch designs and explore different takes on Santa. He can be seen behind the turntables at parties, getting ready for his long journey in a winter wonderland, or even carrying around a sack full of presents! Each design should leave your customers feeling warm and fuzzy.

Open your own shop and start selling this holiday season!

The post It’s Easy to Make Holiday Merch Designs appeared first on The Spreadshop Blog.

The holiday season is a big time for shopping and gifting – and that includes your merch! Start thinking about what your merch marketing strategy will be this holiday season. Tease merch drops and create exclusive, themed designs to generate hype. Drive sales to your shop and make your customers happy when you take time to plan for the holidays!

People Like Promos

One of the best parts of the holidays is all the savings you can get on clothing, toys, and new tech. We have promos every month that your customers can take advantage of. Our Holiday promos are going to be announced soon, but we will have some great ones for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. 

These are the days when everyone starts their holiday shopping. Let your customers know that your merch will make for great gifts and advertise these promos in advance. Make graphics or short videos to tease these offers. Wear your merch or photograph it in front of a seasonal display to make it festive. Get more tips on how to run a promotion on our blog.

Upcoming Promos:

Nov. 2-6: 20% off everything

Nov. 15-20: 20% off everything

Nov. 25 (Black Friday): 35% off everything

Nov. 28-Dec. 4: 15% off everything & free shipping

What’s Your Strategy

Posting on socials is more than just advertising promos and sales, it’s another way to reach your customer. More and more users are turning to social media as spaces for shopping inspiration. These purchasing decisions make it or break it for small shop owners, especially during the holiday season.

Take advantage of features on Instagram like the Instagram Shopping Tab. Upload your products and create listings under different categories so interested parties can find your merch. You’ll be more easily accessible to users who have similar interests and shopping patterns. Now that’s holiday merch marketing made easy!

Did you know that you can sell your merch on YouTube? If you have at least 1,000 subscribers, you can feature your shop products directly below your videos using YouTube Product Shelf. Monetize your channel all year!

Be in Season

It’s important to have the products that are most in-demand out front on your site. We’re talking about the seasonal go-tos: hoodies, beanies, stocking, etc. Bury the tank tops for now.

Spreadshop makes it easy to place the attention on these designs with a feature called design view. Activate this in your shop so people can see what you’re offering the moment they click on your link. This is great for new designs that you want to focus on or related Holiday merch products.

Plush teddy bears are a cute, classic merch option. These cuddly plushes are great for the young ones in your life: nieces, nephews, cousins, the list goes on. The bears wear a t-shirt that you can upload any merch design into. They would look adorable under the tree or in one of our stockings. Look out for that upcoming product announcement!

Add Some Seasonal Touches

Bring seasonal cheer to your Spreadshop with some simple design changes. You don’t need to do a web design overall, just add a few extra touches. Use Canva and other design tools to create Holiday related icons you can add to your logo or header. Canva makes it easy: just set the size dimensions and start designing!

If the “About Me” page on your site hasn’t been activated, then what are you waiting for?! This is the perfect place to tell your customers more about yourself and your journey to becoming a shop owner. Add some Holiday cheer to this part of your website with themed photos. Product shots of new merch whether they are holiday related or not are always a good idea for promotion. And it puts your personality to the table.

You might think it’s too early to start planning for the Holidays, but it’ll be here before you know it! You’ll be ready for the bustling shopping season when you follow these tips.

The post Start Planning for the Holiday Season appeared first on The Spreadshop Blog.

SPOD stands for Spreadshop Print On Demand and it is our plugin that connects to common e-commerce platforms like Order Desk, Woo Commerce, Etsy, and of course, Shopify. Distilled down it allows merchants selling on e-commerce platforms to connect to our POD service.  

SPOD is a great tool for seasoned veterans in the POD (Print On Demand) business with e-commerce sites that have a following. Print on Demand is expected to grow 26.1% between 2022 and 2030. It’s a great time to consider a print-on-demand model for your enterprise.   

So when you see content about it on our blog or on our socials just know we’re super excited about this product and are really pushing for entrepreneurs to have great success with it.  

SPOD is all about helping you – the business owner – gain knowledge and improve your business. Our goal is to create content that motivates you and helps you grow professionally (and personally). The SPOD mission: build a community of business owners who want to learn, develop themselves, and grow their businesses.  

Highlighting and celebrating the successes of these businesses is key to that mission. We want to share shop owners’ knowledge so that you – the merchant – can glean some insight and turn your business into a success!  

Our SPOD content team recently had the pleasure to speak with shop owner, Sean Ali, via video chat. Sean has been in the POD (print on-demand) business for seven years. He’s worked in every facet of the POD business: production, design, marketing, all while leading the charge. Sean runs his operation of three (soon to be four) shops through Etsy. Ali talked about all the ups, downs, lefts, and rights of his business with us.   

We faced a roadblock at the beginning of our conversation: we couldn’t mention the names of his shops. While we want to promote our shop owners’ businesses and see that as a positive thing, Sean thought differently. His reasoning made sense after he explained: he’s seen his designs end up in someone else’s shop due to copying or flat out stealing his graphics too many times.  

“It would cost a small business around $1200-$1500 US [to trademark designs].  So, say you have however many designs, it quickly adds up It’s something to consider. Basic wordmarks are easier, but it’s never guaranteed.  You can apply for it, but it’s a gamble. You pay, and it’s up to the USPTO [United States Patent and Trademark Office] to decide if you get it. If they say no, then you’re out of that money.”  

While theft of design is common in the POD marketplace, he does the best he can to protect his designs and creative ideas. As a veteran in the industry, Sean has worked with various platforms, like SPOD, and has found the platform to be easy to use and user-friendly.  

“SPOD’s interface is one of the best and easiest to use. It’s simple. I enjoy using it. Creating the product is quick. Uploading the design is quick. Creating a manual order is so simple and the pricing is a larger factor, not only for myself, but a lot of merchants. Your prices are very competitive, and your shipping prices and methods are competitive and possibly the best in the industry right now.”  

Sean says that the shipping offerings for SPOD are a huge plus. We offer economy, standard, and expedited shipping options.

“Your prints are good, your quality is there, and you have pricing to make it all work for merchants,” he says. 

Sean uses SPOD as his main supplier and partner in the U.S., Asia, and Europe. He has quite an understanding of holidays around the world and is passionate about being there for his customers. He continues to speak about fulfilling orders in Australia and how Father’s Day is coming and will be celebrated there. He is committed to having a place where people can seek out the right gift for that special someone for an important day or moment in their life. If there was one piece of advice he could give himself when he was starting out or to a new merchant, it would be “to focus on one niche per store.”  

“When I first started, I created my first store which was a store with designs all over the place. I was trying to figure out what was selling. It had birthday designs, some Christmas, and Halloween.  So, I was all over the place. When a buyer comes to a store like that, they get flustered and are like whoa, there’s completely different designs here. What should I do? Should I buy this or should I buy that? They don’t know.” 

Sitting back a little at his desk, Sean smirks and continues: 

“The second store that I opened was geared towards birthday designs. I’m finding more success when I concentrate on a specific niche such as birthdays because that’s a year-round thing. Everyone has a birthday. I would tell a [SPOD] user that they should concentrate on one niche whether it be birthdays, kid designs geared towards more kid-focused items, yoga, workout, or anything like that. Concentrate on one niche and have your store be that specific niche. I think that they will find more success that way.”  

Sean elaborated on how he decides what niche is right for him. Like any good business owner, he looks at previous sales, trends, what’s coming up, and relies on a little gut instinct. In a previous role prior to his own enterprise, he was managing Etsy stores for others and has learned how to recognize trends and turn them into successes.  

Another key to his success is keeping things lean and continuing to learn new and difficult things outside of his wheelhouse. Sean creates his own designs and has learned Photoshop along the way. He’s self-taught. He learned by watching tutorials online, reading articles, and YouTube. Sean also wasn’t afraid to ask questions to those that were more skilled.  

“Our in-house designer at my old company helped me a little bit. But watching YouTube videos on how to do designs is what really helped my knowledge and helped boost my Photoshop knowledge. I still maybe only know 15 to 20 percent of Photoshop because there’s so much. It is such a powerful application that everyone who uses it uses it differently, but I think the knowledge I have is great for what I need.”  

While we were on the topic of knowledge, we asked what sort of skills or attributes does someone need to have to be successful in this business? Sean said that when he first started, he was doing basic text designs and he evolved and started using photos or clip art and continued to grow his skills. He said he’d try new things and “level up” each time. His message:  

“Evolve, level up, and learn. If you can’t get out of your comfort zone and evolve, you’ll never get beyond where you are.” 

He’s seen revenue growth since he started in 2015. 2020 was by far his best year due to the closures and limited hours of many retail shops. While revenue has slipped slightly since, it’s still providing him and his business profits. During that time, Sean did a paid ad campaign on Facebook and Instagram. At its height, he was seeing $15-$20k sales per day. In the current market, he’s rolled his ad budget back a bit and now is holding steady with social media efforts focusing on organic likes and interactions, as well as repeat business from existing customers.   

He reminds his existing customers to come back and buy with an email drip campaign offering specials to his existing clientele. He also answers the customer service emails and maintains an extremely high regard for customer service.  

“Because of my experience, I know customer service and am able to quickly manage any issues a customer may have. I’m quick to answer and resolve their needs.” 

So, what’s the future look like for Sean Ali and his shops? He’s had a few offers to buy his company, but right now he’s enjoying what he’s doing. It’s his main source of income and something he is truly passionate about right now. He’s also been offered opportunities to purchase production equipment/facilities and bring production in-house.  

For Sean, that just isn’t in the cards right now. He’s been in the throes of production and is happy to let SPOD be his production and shipping partner. Ali wants to continue to learn what he can do to make the business better, get more customers, satisfy more customers, and increase repeat purchases.

Are you a SPOD merchant? Would you want to share your story and be featured? Let us know at talk2us@spod.com or reach out to Terrille Horton at terrille.horton@spod.com We’d love to hear from you and feature you and your business.

The post How A Shop Owner Finds Success with SPOD appeared first on The Spreadshop Blog.

Today we are introducing five examples of YouTubers who are taking advantage of Spreadshop’s print-on-demand merch. Their channels come in all different sizes – from 11k subscribers to 2.5 million – but what they all have in common are dedicated followings, well-defined niches, and high-quality content. They take their core messages, iconic imagery, or community memes and use those to create desirable, well-loved viral merch.

Inspired to fire up your Shop and make money with merch? Keep reading for more ideas.

Canada: Captain Sauce

Captain Sauce is a self-described tomato-based superhero, bringing light gaming entertainment to a world shrouded in the darkness of… well, everything. On his YouTube channel he plays indie, VR, mobile, and all sorts of other games, focusing on the weird, the outrageous, and the just plain dumb. You can find him on Twitter and Facebook and join his absurd adventures and his comedy commentary.

On his Captain Sauce Spreadshop you can find various products displaying his instantly-recognizable name and logo, like this “Captain Sauce” unisex baseball tee with his name rendered in the proud tradition of sauce.

There’s also a physically accurate representation of the tomato-headed man himself, shown here on a trucker hat in his signature red, yellow, and green.

Germany: Holzkunst Scholz

Holzkunst Scholz is a YouTuber who was born when his mother carved him, fully formed, from a thousand-year oak. This artist’s preferred medium is the chainsaw, and his YouTube channel is full of chopping, chipping, carving, and – for good measure – chatting and chargrilling. You can follow him on Facebook and Instagram, or even sign up for a wood carving course on his website.

The designs in his Spreadshop are rustic, jagged, and look like they’ve been carved into the products themselves – like this tote bag featuring his iconic chainsaw logo.

Or this skull-and-chainsaw sawblade design, bringing a bit of hardcore German woodwork to the back of your iPhone.

Poland: Polish Dr Dolittle

Gosia is an animal rescuer and hero to our furry friends, volunteering for years at wild animal rehabilitation centers and orphanages. Dubbed “The Polish Dr Dolittle”, her YouTube channel  showcases her work saving, rehabilitating, and caring for over 100 species of mammals. You can follow her efforts on Facebook and Instagram, or – if you speak Polish – find out more about her educational outreach programs on her website.

Her Polish Dr Dolittle Spreadshop helps fund animal rehabilitation efforts by selling designs of cute animal cartoons. These are based on photos of actual wild animals she helped care for – like these coasters featuring a group shot of the Doctor herself and a menagerie of rescued animals.

She also features individual animals – like this golden gibbon from the group shot, now starring in his own design on a pillow.

France: AstronoGeek

AstronoGeek’s YouTube channel is a home for all you French and Quebecois astronomy nerds, or just for anyone who loves staring at the sky. You’ll find AstronoGeek talking about black holes, crop circles, tech, space missions, and occasionally Ronald Reagan. You can find all the latest gossip about what space is up to these days on his Facebook and Instagram, or head over to his website and get in depth analysis about the earth, the stars, and the future. Join him as he fulfils his mission – to spread knowledge about astronomy, while swearing.

The AstronoGeek Spreadshop collects logos, slogans, and cool designs from his channel and offers them to his viewers on a wide range of different products – like this “I can’t, I have astronomy” T-Shirt on a plain black background.

There’s also the slightly more aggressive slogan, here on a green sweatshirt – “The Earth is flat, according to some imbeciles who never passed physics”. Somehow it sounds nicer in the original French.

UK: Foxes Afloat

Colin, Sean, and Otis are two dudes and a dog who sold their house and quit their jobs to travel around the UK on the narrowboat Silver Fox. Their channel built a community who were interested in the content and invested in the lives and lifestyle of the intrepid adventurers. After years of making videos afloat, they have now moved on to building a self-sufficient lifestyle in the Scottish highlands and documenting the experience, which you can follow on their Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or on their website.

The top comment on one of their recent videos says ‘ “I am under no obligation to make sense to anybody” needs to be on a T-Shirt’. Well, the commenter might get their wish, as the Foxes Afloat Spreadshop is full of memorable quotes from their channel, like this “You CAN’T say that!” thermal mug.

They also have cute designs based on their boating and self-sufficient adventures, like these cute cartoon chicken mousepads.

Spice up your logo, theme some designs around your core content, collect a few of your most memorable quotes, and you’re good to go! YouTube merch is a great way to connect with your viewer community and to give them the opportunity to grab some swag and show their love for your channel.

It’s now easier than ever, with YouTube opening up their MerchShelf function to channels with only 1k subscribers. This lets you showcase products right below each video, letting your viewers buy them in only a few clicks. This is a huge opportunity for niche YouTubers and smaller channels, so what are you waiting for?

Open Your Spreadshop

The post Youtuber Merchandise: 5 Shops from Video Creators appeared first on The Spreadshop Blog.

Daialune (Dee) is a streamer and digital artist. And they just launched their merch shop! Merch is a great revenue stream for artists/creators. See what advice Dee has for other artists in our Q&A below:

Where do you get inspiration for your art?

I get inspiration from songs and nature around me! I love going to new coffee shops to explore what inspires me.

What does “comfort art” mean to you?

Comfort art means warmth in an artistic form, like a hug but drawn! I always make that a priority when I draw.

What’s a misperception people have about being an artist?

That inspiration doesn’t come from anywhere, when in reality, it comes from where we go. It’s all in the matter of perspective.

What advice would you give to other artists trying to build a following on socials?

Hashtags and the timings are your best friends!

How has your Twitch channel affected your art?

It affected it greatly! I think the mixture of it being a podcast and an art speed run is what made lots of people stay and become fans.

How did you hear about Spreadshop?

My friend Neph (Nephyrus) has a shop with Spreadshop!

How did you decide on the merch designs for your shop?

I knew ever since I though of merch being part of content creation that I wanted my cat, Puma, to be a part of it. So I made her the mascot of my merch.

Why do you think it’s important for creators to have merch?

It helps them with silent marketing. The more people wear a creator’s merch, the more people would ask and know about them!

What plans do you have for your shop this year?

Maybe a Holiday merch line would be nice! I have many sketch ideas waiting for me to explore.

Make art? Want to connect with your audience? Start making and selling merch! Open up your own shop for FREE!

The post Shop Spotlight: Daialune appeared first on The Spreadshop Blog.

It’s officially summer! And with a new season comes a whole new wardrobe. We have merch for whatever you’ve got planned this summer: camping, baseball games, or even just lounging by the pool.

There are some pretty amazing people that use Spreadshop for their merch needs, so we thought we’d give them a shoutout! Here are some shops selling some of the must-have merch items for summer 2022:

CFL Plants

You can’t go wrong with a classic white tee – it never goes out of style! Cayla is a passionate plant mom that runs CFL Plants, a plant swap business. She cares about the impact plants have on her community and wants to educate others on how they can be the best plant parents. Her merch is clean and aesthetically pleasing. She has different phrases she uses and logos that reflect her social handles and look of her business.

We love how her logo looks with the different plant leaves. This would be perfect for other plant parents to wear while they tend to their garden; white is the most breathable option, after all. We also like the idea of wearing a white tee over a swimsuit, by the pool or on the beach.

Windy’s World

If you’re into Minecraft or pixelated art in general, Windy’s World has some summer merch for you! They create original pixel art designed to brighten your day, like this super cute cinch backpack (cat not included, unfortunately).

This type of backpack is perfect for a day where nothing’s set in stone and you need room for all your essentials. Throw one of our reusable water bottles in there and same protein bars if you’re going on a hike. Taking a day trip to the beach? Store your bathing suit, sunscreen, and a book perfectly in this backpack. You can even personalize it with buttons or patches, like Windy’s World did with buttons they also sell in their shop.

Junkyard Fox

Junkyard Fox has a pretty great shop motto: for those that go out and get their boots dirty. If you’ve got any hiking or camping trips planned this summer, they’re gonna help fulfill your merch AND survival needs. Their Youtube channel teaches viewers how to adapt to the wilderness through hunting, gathering, and other survival tips.

Camper mugs are an essential merch item for the summer in more ways than one. Use them for hot coffee in the morning, or for mixed drinks at night. We even like the way they look as decor on shelves. But camper mugs can also come in handy if you need to boil water over a fire and don’t have a pot or larger container. We love a multipurpose item!

Soso_Swag

The best thing about merch: seeing your fans, friends, and family wear it. TikTok creator Sophia, soso_swag, has found a dedicated following on the platform thanks to her hilarious content. She posts fun commentary videos about what it’s like to be a lesbian in the dating world. And it’s resonating with her audience! We love this photo one of her followers snapped in her merch.

Tie dye is a summer staple. It’s timeless like the white tee, but in a different way. There’s a fun, hippie sensibility to it and it really makes different merch designs pop. Tie dye is perfect attire for whatever you’ve got planned this summer.

 Nikki Connected

Nikki Connected has been a content creator for 7 years and just dropped her own merch for the first time! Designed with girl bosses and hustlers in mind, her shop is a perfect representation of her brand as a finance blogger. And she’s got some fun merch items to bring out your inner girl boss this summer.

Also available in red, navy, and heather gray, this baseball cap is perfect for shielding your face from the sun. Put a logo or a fun design on the front. If you’re looking for cute summer graphics to design with, Canva has plenty of options to choose from. Make merch that your friends and family will envy!

We hope this inspired you to get some summer merch essentials. But why not sell them in your very own shop? Launch your Spreadshop for FREE today!

The post Merch For Summer appeared first on The Spreadshop Blog.

TikTok creator Sophia, soso_swag, has found a dedicated following on the platform thanks to her hilarious content. She posts fun commentary videos about what it’s like to be a lesbian in the dating world.

Sophia has formed her own little community with this niche and her merch is helping her form a connection with her followers. Spreadshop has helped empower Sophia as a creator and given her an opportunity to build her brand. See what advice she has for other creators and what Pride month means to her in our Q&A below!

How did you wind up making videos on TikTok?

I started filming videos making fun of my experiences as a lesbian, and not really thinking that I would end up creating content as much as I do now. I quickly realized the community that I could build as we all go through similar struggles and have similar experiences as queer women and that is what has made me want to keep up with it.

Where do you get your sense of humor from? You’re hilarious!

I am a pretty sarcastic person and enjoy making light of challenging situations. I would consider myself to be pretty witty and just sort of say what’s on my mind. A lot of the humor in my videos just comes to me in the moment, I don’t plan it all out or anything like that.

What’s something people get wrong about being a content creator?

People don’t realize that your social media persona isn’t representative of who you are holistically. People see one side of you and think that encompasses all of who you are, which can be damaging and hurtful. I show certain aspects of my life on the internet that I choose to show, many of which are over dramatized and embellished. There is a lot more to me that people don’t see, and it can be challenging to just overlook negative comments or bullying from people.

What advice would you give to other people trying to make it on TikTok?

Be yourself! I truly feel like the best creators don’t have to try to be anybody that they aren’t. Show your passions or show what you love in a creative way.

How did you come up with the merch designs for your shop?

It was all Spreadshop! They truly crushed the game. I had some ideas in mind and they came back with so many designs bringing those ideas to life. I was so impressed and I’m happy to be working with them.

Why do you think it’s important for creators to have merch?

Having merch is just another way to connect with your community. It’s a special way your followers can support you and become a part of the community that you are building.

What plans do you have for your shop this year?

As of right now I have launched four designs, specifically during pride month so that people could have cute options for pride parades, etc. I am hoping to continue to work with Spreadshop in the coming months and see what new ideas we can bring to life.

We’re proud to celebrate Pride month here at Spreadshop. What does being part of the LGBTQIA+ community mean to you?

Being part of the LGBTQIA+ community means being undeniably myself and loving myself for who I am at my core. Although being a queer woman is not my whole identity, in a lot of ways it has become a lens in which I see and experience the world. My queer experience has provided me with a sort of love and compassion that makes me hyper empathetic to the world and the people around me.

Sophia proves you don’t need to have millions of followers to launch your own merch. TikTok creators and people with niche hobbies all have their own unique audience that would be willing to show their support by buying merch.

Start building your brand when you launch your Spreadshop today. It’s FREE!

The post Shop Spotlight: TikToker soso_swag appeared first on The Spreadshop Blog.

If you’re looking to grow your small business, there’s no better tool than merch! At Spreadshop, we have thousands of shop owners that run their own small businesses and side hustles. And they all have unique merch to match their mission.

It’s easy to slap your logo on a t-shirt and start selling, but it’s not as effective as other design strategies. Why not create a likeness of yourself, or design a fun graphic to use as a symbol for your brand? Merch has the potential to connect you with new customers and partners. If it’s done right, there’s no telling how far you can take your business.

Check out what some of our shop/business owners are doing to promote their brand and make a profit in the process!

Make Your Brand Feel Like You

Your personality and overall presence are key factors in selling your brand AND merch. Having that personal connection with others is going to set you apart from competitors. It also shows you don’t take yourself too seriously.

Bake It Out Witch is a one-woman (or one-witch, we should say) show run by Payton Stantis. Payton is a boutique baker from Biringham, Alabama who concocts delicious and spooky creations. She claims her “witchcraft” is just combining the right ingredients, but her appropriately designed logo suggests otherwise. A pastel hair-colored witch winking and wielding a whisk is on brand and a cute, cartoon take on her likeness.

When you see that design, you instantly get a sense of who Payton is and what her business is about. This is a logo that would look just as great on t-shirts as it would on delivery boxes or bags. It translates in all areas of her business. The likeness also doesn’t need to necessarily be associated with her business – it can stand on its own.

Grab Attention With Key Symbols

Text alone sometimes isn’t enough to engage people and bring them into learning more about your business. Strong graphics or symbols can help to catch peoples eye and make it easier for them to form an association with you. It’s a more engaging and visual business card. Take something that is obvious or more of a play-on-words depending on what you want the vibe of your brand to be.

Kimberly runs Born in a Barn Boutique, a business that specializes in restoring old furniture and giving it new life. She’s all about the rustic, homestead look, so having a barn as part of her logo makes perfect sense. Symbols like that are great to help attract people with similar interests. A barn conjures up different images than a log cabin would. What’s a graphic that would work well with your brand? There’s got to be something that can easily connect you to your audience. These kind of symbols stand out on tote bags, water bottles, and more.

Sell Your Name Multiple Ways

You might have a classic logo that feels tried and true that works for you. But what about changing it up for your Spreadshop? Different fonts can attract different people and help diversify your brand. Your business doesn’t have to feel static – it can be ever-changing.

CFL Plants is a plant swap business run by Cayla, a passionate plant mom. She cares about the impact plants have on her community and wants to educate others on how they can be the best plant parents. Her merch is clean and aesthetically pleasing. She has different phrases she uses and logos that reflect her social handles and look of her business.

Cayla takes some awesome photos that showcase her merch and plant progress. The large leaves resemble one of the icons you can find in her logo. Having merch available is one thing, but you’ve got to promote it. Take advice from some of our favorite content creators and see how you can use their strategies for your business.

Think Outside the Box

Maybe logos and symbols are too ordinary for your business. We love to see the creative ways shop owners interpret their brand, like Emily and the Kind Mind. The Kind Mind Project is a podcast Emily launched to help women achieve personal growth through a better mindset. One of the podcast’s mottos – To put more honey in my head, one drop at a time – has made it’s way into Emily’s merch line for her business.

This type of merch is ideal for people who have been following your brand because they’ll know what these insider phrases mean. It also forms a deeper connection. For those that don’t know, it provokes conversation and creates and opportunity for you to talk about your business. Making this extra effort emphasizes your creativity, too. You’re able to look at your brand from a different point of view that feels fresh. Merch is a fun way to promote your small business and help take it to the next level.

We hope these shop owners inspired you to come up with your own merch ideas for your small business. Making and selling merch is easy when you use Spreadshop. You upload the designs and we take care of the rest. Plus, it’s FREE!

Start designing your own merch line today!

The post How to Grow Your Small Business With Merch appeared first on The Spreadshop Blog.

TikTok creator Taryn only launched her Spreadshop a month ago, but is already getting amazing feedback and engagement from her followers. After all, they were the ones that convinced her to design merch in the first place!

Taryn, better known as Tiktoktare, specializes in making fun fashion content with sleek transitions. She gives fellow creators tips on how to make similar looking content and grow their channels. She has a story not unlike many content creators today: leaving an established career to pursue a lifelong passion. Learn more about Taryn’s journey to becoming a creator and how merch creates a connection with her audience.

What inspired you to become a full-time content creator?

I’ve always been an artsy soul. Come undergrad, I ended up talking myself out of the creative field to pursue a more stable career with the Department of Justice (DOJ), instead. I spent the past decade on that path up until the last year or so, which was pretty life changing for me. Without going into too much detail, I survived a shooting where I witnessed 2 people very dear to me get shot to death and saw my other friends get severely wounded. Since then, I’ve lost a lot of close friends, my job became unbearable, and PTSD is now something I battle everyday.

With that said, thankfully I had the support of my family and TikTok become even more of an outlet for me. Although I’d only been on TikTok since 2020, it was incredibly therapeutic to create, connect with, and inspire others through my journey. It reignited my childhood love for acting, film, and photography and was the exact creative space I had envisioned for myself growing up. I felt like I had given my best to my career in law enforcement and just couldn’t bear anymore after the trauma I endured. Ultimately, I decided to take a leap of faith in choosing myself, pursuing something that has always set my soul on fire, and become a full-time content creator.

If there was one piece of advice you could give to other creators, what would it be?

My biggest piece of advice to other creators is to remember WHY you started when you feel like giving up. Regardless of all the struggles we encounter as creators, whether it’s getting caught up in the numbers, feeling discouraged seeing others succeed, spending hours on a video for it not to perform, or receiving hate comments, I always come back to why I began in the first place.

I think the reason is the same for most of us: we love creating! We all found a safe space where we could be ourselves, have fun, and connect with others along the way. Had it not been for that, I would’ve given up a long time ago. Being a content creator can be exhausting, overwhelming, and downright discouraging. But if you’re willing to acknowledge and overcome those challenges and allow your love to outweigh all of that, then you’ll be successful no matter what.

What does fashion and dressing colorful and fun mean to you?

Growing up, I was the “quiet kid” – very introverted and shy – which made public speaking and articulating myself quite the challenge. However, I’ve always had a passion for fun fashion, colorful clothing, and anything saturated in sparkles simply because it makes my heart happy. You know how you always hear that fashion is another form of self-expression? Well, that’s exactly what it is for me, an outlet for my personality to shine through and connect with others in ways that my words rarely ever could. So much so that my colorful closet is now something I’m known for on social media.

How did you hear about Spreadshop?

Spreadshirt came highly recommended to me by the same friend who created my logo. It wasn’t until after that that I started seriously researching merchandise and came across Spreadshop, which was perfect since I’d already had a great experience with Spreadshirt. As much as I hoped to do merch myself so I could personalize the packaging, not having to worry about the inventory, printing, handling, and shipping was huge for me.

Spreadshop not only allowed me to use my custom design and create a customized shop for FREE, it removed the time, stress, and money that I would’ve encountered otherwise. Best of all, I’m able to provide a variety of high-quality products for my audience to choose from and still make money selling my designs.

What inspired your merch designs?

My merch design was inspired by “Queen T”, a nickname my audience created for me since I wear a tiara in some of my transition videos. I knew I wanted to incorporate the letter “T” and a tiara, so I created a rough draft of my idea and then passed it along to my fellow artist friend to refine and design my official logo. I jokingly suggested that it would be cool if she could incorporate my TikTok tiara used in my videos. Little did I know that she would later design an exact replica down to the sparkling gemstones. We almost stopped there, but I felt like it was still missing a splash of color. That’s exactly what we did with the background by incorporating some of my favorite magical colors.

How do you think merch helps content creators?

Merch is a great way for content creators to promote their brand and begin monetizing their platforms. But more importantly, it’s a great way for us to continue building a relationship with our followers. If my audience hadn’t repeatedly requested merch, I probably would’ve waited until I was a large creator to do so, but I’m so glad that I did because it has only made our TikTok family stronger. It’s been about a month since I launched my Spreadshop and they still tag me in their merch unboxings which is so exciting to see!

Do you have any merch designs in the works? Give us all the deets!

Without giving too much away on future designs, I do have a few ideas in the works that may or may not include elements of my well-known TikTok transitions. Possibly uneven some special limited-edition products for when we hit our 100K milestone. But for now, I’m really excited just to share my official logo and focus on incorporating more summer pieces and fun accessories. My audience has been incredible at providing feedback on what they’d like to see in the future, so my priority right now is them and releasing some new products each month with variations on my current logo.

Are you looking to make and sell your own merch like Taryn? There’s no better time than right now. Open a Spreadshop for FREE today!

The post Shop Spotlight: TiktokTare appeared first on The Spreadshop Blog.