Music Merch Design
Custom merchandise for bands, labels, and artists who care about how the work looks on a body, a wall, or a hand. Designed and screen printed in-house.
What we make
We design merch the way we direct music videos: as part of the artist's visual story, not as a generic product slapped with a logo. Apparel, vinyl packaging, posters, patches, hats, accessories, tour merch, label merch.
Apparel — t-shirts, longsleeves, hoodies, sweats, totes, caps. Cut and color spec'd, art-directed, screen printed in our shop.
Print — gig posters, tour posters, lookbook prints, lyric sheets, zines, lino-cut feeling work, type-driven minimal work, full bleed photography work.
Packaging — vinyl jackets, CD packaging, cassette J-cards, lyric inserts, sticker sheets, band photo prints.
Label/imprint — full design system for indie labels: logo, palette, type, sleeve template, social grid, web kit.
Tour & live — backdrops, lighting cues, custom band merch for tour runs, signed-edition print runs.
How we work
Most band merch fails one of three ways:
- It looks generic. A logo on a Gildan blank reads as fan-made or fundraiser tier. Bands lose merch margin to mediocrity.
- It misses the visual story. The merch contradicts the album art and the music video. The artist's world feels inconsistent.
- It's printed badly. Wrong cut, wrong color, wrong placement, wrong substrate. Looks great in the file, looks cheap on the body.
We solve all three. Visual identity locked first — palette, type, treatment, motifs — then merch is designed into that system. Color separation done right. And because we run our own screen printing shop, design and production happen under one roof: no file handoff, no vendor finger-pointing when the print misses, tighter color control, faster turnarounds.
Design + print under one roof
We screen print apparel, posters, and most paper goods in-house. That means your art director and your printer are the same shop. We catch issues at the press that file-only designers never see — ink density on dark garments, halftone dot gain, registration on multi-color, substrate behavior — and we adjust before it ships.
For categories we don't run ourselves (vinyl pressing, structured caps, certain packaging substrates), we coordinate with trusted specialty vendors and keep the design integrity intact across the handoff.
Pricing
| Scope | Design starts at |
|---|---|
| Single piece (one t-shirt design, one poster, one sticker pack) | $750 |
| Tour run (3-5 pieces unified by visual system) | $3,500 |
| Full release pack (apparel + print + packaging + sleeve) | $7,500 |
| Full label system (identity + sleeve template + 5+ artist merch packs) | Custom quote |
Includes art direction, design, color separation, print-ready files (CMYK + spot), mockups, two rounds of revisions. In-house screen print runs quoted alongside design — apparel, posters, stickers, patches. Specialty production (vinyl, structured caps, etc.) coordinated with our vendor network.
[See our 2026 pricing guide for how merch fits into a full release campaign.]
Recent work
We've designed merch and visual systems for artists in punk, post-punk, hardcore, industrial, indie rock, and shoegaze — including A Place to Bury Strangers, Bootblacks, Kevin Moan + The Howling, and others.
Who this is for
- Bands releasing albums, EPs, or singles who want merch that matches the music
- Labels and imprints building visual systems for their roster
- Artist managers coordinating merch for tours, releases, or special editions
- Festivals and venues commissioning custom merch for events
We work with artists across the U.S. and internationally. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon — that's where our print shop is. Local clients can come by; remote clients ship the boxes wherever fulfillment lives.
FAQ
What's a realistic budget for band merch design?
Single high-quality piece (one t-shirt or one poster): $750-2,000 design. Tour run of 3-5 pieces: $3,500-7,500 design. Full release merch package (apparel + print + packaging): $7,500-15,000 design. Full label visual system: custom quote, typically $20,000+. In-house print runs quoted on top of design — pricing depends on garment, ink count, and quantity.
Do you handle production, or just design?
Both — that's the point. We screen print apparel, posters, stickers, and most paper goods in our own shop. Specialty categories like vinyl pressing or structured caps go through our trusted vendor network. Either way, design and production stay coordinated under one roof.
What kinds of artists do you typically work with?
Punk, post-punk, hardcore, industrial, indie rock, shoegaze, electronic, and adjacent scenes. We've also worked with labels and imprints in those spaces. We don't take on country, mainstream pop, or commercial-pop projects.
Are you based in Portland?
Yes — headquartered in Portland, Oregon, where our screen printing shop is located. We serve clients nationally and internationally. Local Portland clients can stop by the shop; remote clients get the same quality and we ship the printed goods wherever your fulfillment lives.
How does merch design fit into a full release campaign?
In our Tier 2 ($15K+) and Tier 3 ($40K+) release campaigns, merch design is built into the same visual system as the music video, photography, and web. That coherence is what makes the release feel like a campaign instead of a stack of disconnected files. See the pricing guide for the full breakdown.
How long does a merch project take?
Design timelines: single piece 2-3 weeks, tour run 4-6 weeks, full release pack 6-8 weeks, full label system 8-12 weeks. In-house print runs typically ship 1-3 weeks after artwork approval depending on quantity and ink complexity. Rush available for an extra fee.
Ready to talk?
Start a project → (5-minute questionnaire)
Book a discovery call → (15 minutes, no pitch)
Or email Davy directly: dp@davy.agency