A recent New York Times article titled Concert Tees? Try Trial Merch. highlights the long-standing and growing interest in Hollywood and its many scandals. From the O.J. Simpson trial in 1994 and Britney Spears’s conservatorship in 2021 to this year’s Alex Murdaugh murder trial and Gwyneth Paltrow’s ski crash trial, these legal spectacles gained quite the following.

So much so that makers and printers, like Jessica Clary, owner of HandleYourScandal Etsy store, have targeted the scandal merch market with T-shirts, mugs, and other fun merch.  

Products listed in the HandleYourScandal Etsy shop.   | Credit: HandleYourScandal

Opportunity in Scandal Merch 

According to a survey done by YouGov, 50% of Americans say they enjoy the genre of true crime, and with the celebrity gossip industry worth billions of dollars, there’s a lot of market opportunity in scandal merch.  

Apparelist pinged merch expert Tom Rauen, CEO of 1-800-Tshirts.com, to get his thoughts on this niche market.  

“The intriguing part about this is that it is hot market and pop culture mixed,” Rauen says. “It is different than if there is something local that is a trial or death, which we’ve done shirts for, but it’s a very select market. When you throw in the pop culture celebrity status of it, it instantly becomes viral and sticky on social media.” 

When that happens, he explains, media consumers come with emotions of either love/hate or agree/disagree — creating polarity and attention.  And T-shirts are just the avenue to voice that opinion. “The messages we wear are an extension of who we are and about us,” he says.  

Understanding the Market

Because pop culture happenings come and go quickly, he says printers need to “act fast, because in some cases, the trend is in and out as fast as the news breaks or the next news drowns it out.” 

In some cases, trials can last longer, but Rauen says in other cases, an opportunity can pass you by in as little as 24-48 hours. He argues that these types of buys are “almost always emotional” and says the buyer gets caught up in the moment, excitement, or emotion and wants to feel connected to the situation. It’s that same emotion that comes over someone when they’re at a concert — allowing them to pay $75 for a concert T.  

“You can take advantage of these situations by paying attention to what is happening in the news, trending on Twitter, or other social media,” he says. “Some things may hit, others just don’t catch on, so sometimes you just have to keep throwing things out there until you get one to stick.” 

When it comes to the printing method best suited for this market, it depends on the popularity of the item. Direct-to-garment (DTG) or direct-to-film (DTF) are quick solutions for short runs and print-on-demand, Rauen says, but if something really catches on and people are buying, screen printing is the best option. And if it’s super popular, he says printers can even pre-print some extras so they’re ready to ship.  

One thing about this market, in particular, is that social media plays a huge role in sales. The news or scandal is likely spreading on several platforms, so Rauen says printers need to dive into the conversation and have an online store built with a straightforward buying option.  

“The other key with social media is getting the shirt out to the customer as quickly as possible,” Rauen says, “so you can let user-generated content take over and create the stickiness and word of mouth to go viral.” 

Because the scandal merch market can be so fast-paced, Rauen says it’s best to keep things simple and just focus on shirts. However, he says, when Tiger King was a household name in 2020, his company made mugs and hats to match items seen in the documentary.  

Cautions 

While scandal merch can be a fun avenue to explore, Rauen cautions printers that there are some ethics to consider.

“Does it align with your values and represent you and your company?” he poses. “Be prepared that if you choose to print scandal merch, because of the polarity of it, there will always be people who strongly disagree with the message, and you could receive backlash because of the messaging or even because they may see it as being capitalist and taking advantage of the situation.”  

More often than not, he says people buying these niche Ts will not be long-term customers but transactional ones who buy one shirt. Either way, it will be an attention-grabber for your brand, and some buyers may just return for additional orders.