How Merch Became One of the Most Powerful Tools in Modern Branding
In today’s identity-driven culture, people don’t want to wear a logo, they want to wear their values. The most relevant brands aren’t just broadcasting belief; they’re creating platforms for people to carry, remix and embody the message themselves. That shift — from audience to co-author — is where modern brand momentum is born.
One smart example? Zohran Mamdani’s New York City mayoral primary campaign. Instead of treating merch like collateral, it became a canvas. At volunteer events and pop-ups across the city, they screen-printed free t-shirts, tote bags and hoodies, not just for people, but with them. Supporters brought their own blank items and walked away with something they had a hand in creating. No charge. No strings. Just: Here’s the message. Make it yours.
When Constraints Unlock Strategy
The campaign didn’t start out trying to rethink political branding. He hit his fundraising cap early, which meant he legally couldn’t sell merch. Most candidates would’ve stopped there. He didn’t. He pivoted.
Instead of monetizing the brand, he opened it up. And that small move born from constraint transformed merch from campaign collateral into cultural capital.
It Wasn’t Merch. It Was Media.
Campaign merch is often treated like a souvenir. In this case, merch was treated like a channel — something that carried the campaign’s identity, values and aesthetic directly into the world through the people who believed in him.
This strategy feels simple, but it’s a smart read on how culture moves. In a media environment where trust is low and attention is fractured, what people choose to wear matters.
This wasn’t about logo placement. It was about turning brand affinity into a public signal. The shirts didn’t just say “I support this candidate.” They said “I’m part of something.”
Self-Expression That Scales
Letting supporters bring their own items seems like a small detail, but it flipped the power dynamic. Instead of passively receiving campaign materials, people contributed to the brand themselves. It became an act of identity, not just participation.
The result? More variation. More visibility. More emotion. It wasn’t his brand anymore. It was theirs, and that’s the point.
Customization = Cultural Uptake
This wasn’t just smart. It tapped into a deep cultural truth: people don’t just want to buy things — they want to shape them. We remix playlists, we refinish furniture, we personalize everything. The campaign invited that instinct in, and gave people a role in the message, not just a place in the audience.
He didn’t just create a brand worth wearing. He created space for people to wear it their way.
That’s the kind of equity most brands dream about. And it was built without a media budget.
It didn’t hurt that the campaign identity didn’t feel political. It was clean, minimalist and cool enough to show up in an East Village coffee shop or a GQ editorial. And that matters. When the design is desirable, the message travels further.
What Brands Should Learn From This
Too often, merch is an afterthought. A leftover line item. But this campaign proved it can be something else entirely: a brand’s most powerful form of earned media. Most importantly, they treated supporters not just as consumers of the campaign — but as co-creators of it.
That’s the lesson.
Modern branding, whether political or commercial, isn’t about control. It’s about contribution. It wasn’t about pushing a message. It was about creating a platform for people to carry it and make it their own. Because when someone chooses to wear your brand, style it their way and share it with their world, that’s not just brand affinity. That’s how movements are made.