How tour merch gets made

01

The merch table is part of the tour

When the show ends there is a short stretch in which almost everything happens: people head out, stop at the table and decide in a moment. What sells there is often what keeps the tour in the black, and what isn't there —the size that ran out, the design that never arrived— doesn't come back the next day in another city.

So tour merch isn't planned like a clothing collection but like stock: how many pieces, in what size split, in which city and on which day. Design matters a lot, but what really hurts is running out of mediums by the third date.

A workshop comes into a tour at three moments: before you leave, when you need to restock halfway, and when the merch has to reach a venue that isn't in Barcelona. Those are the three in the infographic; the rest of the article takes them one by one.

02

The calendar, counted backwards

The starting point isn't the day you write to us: it's the first show, and you count back from there. Our usual lead time is 10–14 working days, counted from when you approve the print proof, not from the first email. Before that come the quote, the final files and the size split.

If the tour starts in Barcelona, the calmest way is to close everything about four weeks ahead (a few days for the quote and the proof, then 10–14 working days of production) and pick up the merch on the day of the show, at the workshop or at the venue. If the design isn't finished yet, we help you close it so the proof is ready sooner. If the dates are fixed but the margin is short, there is a rush lead time of 6–9 days (+10%) and an express one of 3–5 days priced on request, best suited to restocks with the design already approved.

Remember that weekends and public holidays aren't working days: a lead time that runs across a long weekend gets longer. And if the design isn't final yet, the clock hasn't started.

03

How many, and which sizes

It's the question we get most and the one with the least universal answer. What there is, is a common starting point: for an adult crowd, mediums and larges carry the run, smalls and XLs trail behind and XXLs are a handful. Out of a hundred shirts, that's roughly 10 S, 30 M, 30 L, 20 XL and 10 XXL.

What really counts, though, is your own data: what sold out first on the last tour and what was left in the van. If you have that list, bring it. If the band's crowd is very young or very specific, the split changes, as it does if there's a fitted cut.

The minimum is 25 units per design, and within a design you can split the sizes however you like. What doesn't pay off is multiplying designs: each design means new screens, and two designs of fifty are more likely to run out of a size than one of a hundred.

04

One design, several lives

The classic tour shirt has the dates on the back. That's a second position and so one more screen, with a catch: it's the only part that won't work for the next tour. If you restock mid-tour, the date list is already there; if it's a new tour, the back screen gets made again.

The front, on the other hand, can last for years. Screens are always included in the price, and if we still have the ones from a run, restocking the same design is quicker.

The same file can go on totes, on hoodies for the winter dates or on a long sleeve. Each garment has its own positions and sizes, and each position can take up to 6 inks.

05

Black, and what it means for the ink

Almost all tour merch is black: it survives the travel, the sweat and the beer, and it's what people expect to find at the table. For the workshop, a black shirt has one concrete consequence: a light ink printed straight onto black goes dull. For a yellow or a red to read like it does in the file, it often needs a white underbase, which is one more screen and one more pass.

We work with water-based inks. On dark garments there's an alternative with a lovely hand, discharge ink: instead of laying colour on top, it lifts the dye out of the fabric. It works on cotton and not on every garment, so we talk it through before you choose.

And think about how it will look on the table: under venue lights, from three metres, next to twenty other shirts. A design with few colours and strong contrast sells better than a very detailed one that turns into a blur from a distance.

06

When it runs out mid-tour

It happens a lot: one date goes better than expected and by the next there are no larges left. Message us from your phone with the design and the sizes you need. With the design approved and the screens made, a restock can go on the express lead time, 3–5 days, or on the rush one if there's room.

If the band is already far away, there's no need to come back: we ship by courier, with tracking, to the city you play next. To Madrid, Valencia, Bilbao, Zaragoza, Lisbon, Toulouse, Montpellier or Marseille it usually takes 24–48 hours, and within the European Union there are no customs. Outside it, in the UK or Switzerland, there are, and that needs to be factored into the timing and the cost.

For the shipment, what we need is an address where someone can take delivery: the venue's, with the band's name and the date of the show, or the hotel's. We send you the tracking number so you know when it arrives.

07

The tour paperwork

We are a registered company: a written quote before we start and a VAT invoice when we finish, made out to whoever you tell us, whether that's the band, the promoter, the agency or the label. For a tour manager it's the difference between an expense you can account for and one you can't.

Payment is 50% on confirmation and 50% on delivery, or 100% before it ships if we send it. Pickup at the workshop is Monday to Friday, 9 am to 2 pm, and if you play Barcelona we bring it to the venue on the day of the show, at a time we agree.