The Secret Power of Ugly Merch: Why Your Brand Needs a Bucket Hat
Let’s talk about branded merch. Not the sleek, over-designed kind that gets photographed once and then forgotten. I mean the awkward, questionably stitched, “did-they-think-this-through?” gear that mysteriously becomes iconic.
Case in point: the Fisher & Paykel polo shirt I spotted at a beach BBQ last summer. It was five sizes too big, a faded mauve that should never return to the colour wheel, and yet—everyone asked about it. Where’d you get that? Is it vintage? Are they making more? Nobody cared about the logo. They cared about the vibe: accidental cool.
Here’s what’s happening. In a market saturated with try-hard brand collabs and overly curated aesthetics, the unassuming, even slightly cringe merch item is oddly powerful. It says, "We don’t need to try hard, we’re already in on the joke." The moment a company leans into that energy, the merch becomes culture, not just marketing. Think Bunnings hats, Mitre 10 buckets, or those regional netball team windbreakers that now go for triple figures on Trade Me.
So to any marketer planning your next promo: skip the eco tote with tasteful branding. Give me a brown fleece vest with an off-centre logo. Bring back calico gym bags with drawstrings that barely close. If it makes your creative director flinch but your intern laugh, you’re close. Embrace the slightly off. That, ironically, is how you land dead on.
Case in point: the Fisher & Paykel polo shirt I spotted at a beach BBQ last summer. It was five sizes too big, a faded mauve that should never return to the colour wheel, and yet—everyone asked about it. Where’d you get that? Is it vintage? Are they making more? Nobody cared about the logo. They cared about the vibe: accidental cool.
Here’s what’s happening. In a market saturated with try-hard brand collabs and overly curated aesthetics, the unassuming, even slightly cringe merch item is oddly powerful. It says, "We don’t need to try hard, we’re already in on the joke." The moment a company leans into that energy, the merch becomes culture, not just marketing. Think Bunnings hats, Mitre 10 buckets, or those regional netball team windbreakers that now go for triple figures on Trade Me.
So to any marketer planning your next promo: skip the eco tote with tasteful branding. Give me a brown fleece vest with an off-centre logo. Bring back calico gym bags with drawstrings that barely close. If it makes your creative director flinch but your intern laugh, you’re close. Embrace the slightly off. That, ironically, is how you land dead on.