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Merch Mob
Merch Mob · Events

Custom Event Merch, Festival Shirts and Staff Apparel

In short

Merch Mob makes event merch for festivals, races, conferences and shows: attendee tees, hoodies and hats sold at the merch booth, and staff, crew and volunteer shirts that make your team easy to find. We screen print, embroider and DTG print, then pack cartons by size and role and ship them to you. Quotes come back within 24 hours.

See the work
Person holds up a black long sleeve tee with a white and neon yellow text print, with screen printing presses behind
Merch Mob production
Merch for events

What good looks like.

Events buy apparel for two audiences with different needs. Staff, crew, security and volunteers need shirts that work as uniforms: a bright, distinct color, a role on the back, and enough of each size for the roster. Attendees buy merch as a souvenir, so their shirt has to be something they would wear again, carrying the lineup, the poster art or a design that captures the year. Mixing the two up shortchanges both.

Good event merch is planned around the date. Attendee designs that carry the year sell mostly during the event, so quantities are a forecast built from ticket sales and past booths. Staff shirts are sized from the roster before the order goes in. Both have a hard deadline, so artwork, proofs, production and shipping work backwards from load-in day, with a buffer for freight.

What gets ordered

What events order, and why.

  1. 01

    Attendee and souvenir tees

    The lineup or poster art on a soft tee, often with the date on the back, sold at the merch booth during the event and online afterward.

  2. 02

    Staff, crew and security shirts

    Bright, distinct colors with STAFF, CREW or SECURITY large on the back, so attendees and other crew can find the right person from across a crowd.

  3. 03

    Volunteer shirts

    A shirt is often the main thank-you volunteers receive, so a soft blank and a design worth keeping helps bring the same people back next year.

  4. 04

    Sponsor-back shirts

    Race, walk and charity event shirts commonly carry sponsor logos on the back. Arrange them in tiers, collect every logo as vector art, and get sign-off from sponsors on the mockup.

  5. 05

    Hoodies, hats and VIP items

    Higher-priced items for the booth and VIP packages: a hoodie for cold nights, an embroidered cap or beanie, or a limited print sold only in the package.

  6. 06

    Conference and summit shirts

    Speaker, organizer and attendee shirts for conferences, often in different colors so roles are clear at a glance at registration and on stage.

Methods that fit

How we make it

Method

Screen Printing

The efficient method for staff and attendee runs at event quantities. Poster art separates into spot colors, and a dated back print is just a second location on the same run.

Method

DTG Printing

No minimum, so it suits a photo-heavy poster design, a small VIP run, or a late top-up of staff shirts after the main order has shipped.

Method

Embroidery

Caps and beanies for the booth and VIP packages, and polos or jackets for the organizing team, with digitizing included and up to 15 thread colors.

Method

Retail Finishing

Folded, bagged and size-labeled stock lets booth staff sell fast at the gates, and cartons packed by role make volunteer check-in quicker.

Garments that work
  1. 01

    Soft cotton attendee tees

    A retail-grade tee people keep wearing after the event, in a color that flatters the poster art.

  2. 02

    Bright staff tees

    Saturated colors that stand out in a crowd. Pick one color per role and keep it the same every year so regulars learn it.

  3. 03

    Lightweight performance shirts

    Moisture-wicking shirts for races, outdoor crews and hot-weather festivals. Polyester dye can tint a light print, so name the exact blank and the spec review confirms the print method.

  4. 04

    Hoodies and crewnecks

    For night shows, mountain and desert events and fall festivals, where evenings turn cold and attendees who did not pack a layer will buy one.

  5. 05

    Embroidered caps

    Caps that shade staff and attendees in the sun and need no sizing, which makes them easy booth stock.

Typical order shapes
  • Staff shirts are usually sized from the roster and ordered first, and attendee merch quantities follow once ticket sales give a forecast.
  • Annual events often keep the staff design the same each year and change only the attendee art, so spare staff shirts carry over.
  • Booth merch tends to lean on a couple of tee designs and one hoodie, plus an undated design that can sell online after the event.
  • Races and charity events often combine a participant shirt with sponsor logos on the back, all printed in one run.
Questions buyers ask first
  • How many shirts should we order for the merch booth?
  • Should staff shirts be a different color from attendee shirts?
  • Can you put sponsor logos on the back?
  • Can you pack staff shirts by size or by department?
  • Will the shirts arrive before the event?
Timing

When to order, by region.

  • Desert Southwest. Outdoor events cluster in the cooler months from October to April, when festivals, races and fairs fill the calendar. Summer heat calls for light tees and caps, and desert nights turn cold, so keep a hoodie at the booth.
  • California. Festival and race season runs from spring through fall, and mild weather keeps events going in winter too. Desert festivals in spring swing from hot days to cold nights, which is when a hoodie earns its booth space.
  • Texas and Oklahoma. Spring and fall are the event peaks, with big music and tech festivals in March and outdoor festivals in October. Summer heat pushes events into evenings and indoors, so plan breathable staff shirts for those dates.
  • Florida, the Gulf Coast and the Deep South. Carnival season in late winter, spring festivals and fall events bracket a hot, humid summer and the hurricane months. Staff shirts should be light and breathable, and booth merch favors tees and caps over fleece.
  • Upper South and Mid-Atlantic. Spring and fall festival seasons are busy, with summer outdoor concerts between them. Late-fall events bring the first cold nights, so add hoodies to the booth from October.
  • Mountain West. Summer is festival and race season, from June to September, and cold mountain nights put hoodies in demand at the booth. Winter brings ski-resort events where beanies and fleece are the souvenir.
  • Pacific Northwest. The dry summer from June to September holds most outdoor festivals and races, and evenings stay cool, so pair tees with a hoodie at the booth. Wet-season events move indoors.
  • Midwest and Plains. Summer is packed with festivals, county and state fairs and races from June to August, and fall brings harvest festivals and Oktoberfest events. Hoodies earn booth space from September.
  • Northeast. Summer festivals and races run from Memorial Day to Labor Day, followed by fall foliage-season events. Cool evenings arrive early, so hoodies and long sleeves suit autumn booths.
  • Hawaii. Events run year-round in warm weather, so light tees, tanks and caps carry booth sales. Ocean sports contests and cultural festivals give designs a clear local story, and freight to the islands needs lead time.
  • Alaska. Most outdoor events fall in the short summer under long daylight, when visitors buy souvenirs. Winter events need fleece and beanies, and anything shipped north needs extra freight time.
What Merch Mob does

For events

  • Screen printed staff, volunteer and attendee shirts, including dated back prints and sponsor backs.
  • DTG with no minimum for VIP runs, photo-heavy art and late top-ups.
  • Embroidered caps, beanies, polos and jackets for the booth and the organizing team.
  • Folding and polybagging, with cartons packed by size and role to your spec.
  • Bulk ship-out of packed cartons, or pick, pack and ship for online sales after the event.
  • A production timeline committed in the quote and planned back from load-in day.
How an order runs

Six steps, nothing skipped.

Minimums and turnaround depend on the method, the garment and the run. The quote spells out both within 24 hours. DTG printing has no minimum, so a run of a few pieces is welcome.

  1. 01

    Quote & discovery

    Send the details and artwork. Within 24 hours you get line-item pricing for garments, decoration, finishing and quantities, with a committed timeline.

  2. 02

    Specs & approval

    Artwork is reviewed, a spec sheet is issued and a digital mockup is approved before anything runs. Sizes and colorways are confirmed here.

  3. 03

    Sourcing & setup

    Blanks are sourced and checked on arrival. Screens are burned or embroidery digitized, files are prepped and a strike-off is run.

  4. 04

    Production

    The first pieces are checked and signed off before the full run, with color and registration checks along the way.

  5. 05

    Finishing & packaging

    Labels applied, folded, bagged, tagged and packed to spec, then a final QC pass.

  6. 06

    Delivery & fulfillment

    Bulk shipped to you, your warehouse or a retailer, or picked, packed and shipped order by order to your customers.

The work

From the production floor

Recent Merch Mob production.

Person holds up a black hoodie with a red and white snarling dog print, with coated screens, folded stacks and presses behind
Merch Mob production
Black tee on a form with a front print of chrome-effect lettering over a blue starburst with a cute creature
Merch Mob production
Person holds up a white tee with a large raised orange circular text and maze back print on a busy apparel shop floor
Merch Mob production
Navy tee laid on concrete with a large multi-color print of a sports car at night under palm trees and script text
Merch Mob production
FAQ

Merch for events: questions

How much event merch should we order?

Build the attendee number from data: ticket sales, past booth sales if you have them, your prices and how many designs you offer. Put most of the depth into the middle sizes. Staff and volunteer shirts are simpler, because the roster gives you exact sizes, so add only a small cushion for late sign-ups. Undated designs reduce the risk of leftovers.

What should event staff shirts look like?

Easy to spot from a distance. Use a bright color attendees will not be wearing, put the role in large letters on the back, and keep the front simple. Give each role its own color if you run security, medical, production and volunteers on the same site, and keep those colors the same year to year.

What does custom event merch cost, and is there a minimum?

DTG has no minimum. For screen printing and embroidery, the minimum and price depend on quantities, ink colors, the number of print locations (a sponsor back is one more), the garment and finishing such as bagging and labeling by size. Expect line-item pricing and a committed timeline in the quote, sent within 24 hours.

When do we need to order shirts for our event?

Start from load-in day and work backwards: shipping time, production, then artwork approval and roster sizes. Sponsor logos and final rosters are what usually run late, so set deadlines for both. The quote commits to a production timeline within 24 hours, which shows exactly when everything has to be locked.

Can you add sponsor logos to our event shirts?

Yes. Sponsor logos usually go on the back as a second print location, grouped by tier. Ask every sponsor for vector art (AI, EPS, PDF or SVG). File prep and spec review catch low-resolution logos before anything prints, and you get a digital mockup to share with sponsors for approval.

Can we sell leftover event merch online after the event?

Yes, especially undated designs. We can hold the stock, then pick, pack and ship orders from your Shopify or direct-to-consumer store from our So Cal facility. Dated designs are harder to sell later, so many events keep the year off one design specifically for online sales.

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Events merch by city

Local Census figures for each city, and how ordering works from there. Every order is produced in Southern California.

Ready when you are

Let’s build
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Tell us what you are making. You get a line-item quote, an honest timeline and production advice within 24 hours.

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