The holiday season is coming in hot, and merch sales are getting ready to take off with holiday orders. Looking to create some eco-friendly merch for your fans? Look no further. Here are some badass, environmentally conscious merch ideas for the holidays…
Eco-Friendly Merch for Musicians That’s Good for the Planet and Your Fans
Reusable Water Bottles
Why add to the single-use plastic problem when you can provide something that is more durable, practical, and helps the planet at the same time? Reusable water bottles can be customized however your heart desires, from colors to logos to intricate designs and styles. — Lots of artists offer reusable water bottles as merch, but yours doesn’t have to be a run-of-the-mill design.
DesignCrowd lets you choose from over a million (1,250,808, to be exact) designers to help you create one-of-a-kind products.
Even if you’ve hit a creative roadblock when it comes to what style or design you want, you can get help from amazing designers in real time, so you can create something truly unique.
Sustainable T-Shirts
Everybody loves a good band tee. However, the rise of fast fashion has put a strain on our planet’s resources. Not to worry, there are a bunch of eco-friendly merch sites available for the eco-conscious artist looking for more sustainable options.
Realthread.com offers custom t-shirts made of organic, recycled, and eco-friendly materials like organic cotton, hemp, and bamboo. Not to mention, these shirts are printed with water-based inks, making them last longer than your typical t-shirt. That way, your fans can wear your merch again and again and feel good about their contribution to a sustainable future.
Upcycled Stage-Worn Collectibles
If you want to offer something that feels personal and planet-friendly (and go beyond the classic band tee), upcycled stage-worn items are a great place to start. Old setlists, bandanas, or worn-in clothing can get a second life as framed art, reworked apparel, or keychains made from retired drumsticks. Fans love owning a physical piece of your journey, and since you’re repurposing items you already have, it’s one of the most low-impact merch options out there.
You can make this happen by combining a bit of DIY (cutting, framing, or repurposing items yourself) with help from local artisans or small custom shops who can turn your stage-worn pieces into polished, sellable merch. You can find these local makers by searching Instagram, Facebook groups, or even Etsy. Just reach out and explain your project to see if they’re down to bring your vision to life.
Upcycled Stage Banner Items
Speaking of upcycled goodies… If you use backdrop banners, flags, or stage fabrics on tour, don’t let them sit in storage (or worse… end up in the trash). Turn them into limited-edition wallets, pouches, tote bags, or tech sleeves. Fans love owning something that literally traveled with you, and it’s one of the easiest ways to give old tour materials a second life.
Rareform has a custom division that can transform used vinyl banners into one-of-a-kind bags, pouches, and totes, giving your old tour materials a second life and creating unique merch your fans will love.
Recycled Vinyl Records
Vinyl records are not typically eco-friendly because they are made from PVC (polyvinyl chloride), a plastic derived from non-renewable fossil fuels, and their production involves releasing harmful chemicals into the environment. Plus, the processes used to manufacture and dye vinyl contribute to waste and pollution, making it challenging to recycle or dispose of sustainably…
Although limited, there ARE eco-friendly options out there offering vinyl made from 100% recycled materials!
Precision Record Pressing offers a sustainable solution with their “Eco-Mix” vinyl, which is made entirely from 100% recycled vinyl. This approach reduces waste while maintaining sound quality. Another great option is Intakt! Vinyl. They produce vinyl records using 100% recycled PVC, both for black and colorful records. Their recycled colored records are unique, featuring marbled patterns from mixed recycled PVC.
Seedball Matchbox
A Seedball Matchbox is a little matchbox full of little seed clusters that your fans can scatter around their community to add beautiful wildflowers to their area. If you’re looking to make a difference in the communities you visit on tour, bring these along! On their website, you can add your logo and order as many as you need in one go. And if you want other options for plantable items, posters, lyric sheets, or holiday cards can all be printed on seed paper, and look just like regular prints. Once fans are done enjoying them, they can plant the whole thing and grow wildflowers. Brands like Sheedo Studio and Growingpaper all offer customizable seed-paper posters and cards.
It turns your artwork into something that literally lives on, which makes it feel meaningful in a way most paper merch doesn’t.
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📚 Feed your brain…
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Tote Bags
Oh, the dreaded question… “Paper or plastic?” I try my best to bring my reusable bags on every grocery trip, but it’s easy to forget a boring canvas tote at the door. Maybe if I had a badass tote bag with my favorite artist’s logo on it, I’d be more excited to bring it every time… Jokes aside, I think I really would remember to grab it more if it repped my favorite artist. I think you would, too.
Solid Merch has a great selection of tote bags on their site, ready to be customized to your liking.
Eco-Friendly Band Poster Notebooks
Dave Matthews Band dropped a set of eco-friendly notebooks with recycled band posters on the covers, and they sold like crazy. What a perfect way to repurpose something old into something useful and new! Whether you can swing using real band posters or just want to make the notebook itself out of recycled materials, it’s still a unique idea with great potential.
Swag.com offers customizable notebooks made from 100% recycled materials and organic, soy-based inks.
Stickers (of course!)
Stickers are a staple of every artist’s merch collection. You’d think every sticker is made eco-friendly, so I was surprised to find otherwise just as much as you are. Luckily, there are a bunch of sites that use eco-friendly methods and offer compostable material for their stickers.
Sticker It, Jukebox, and EcoEnclose are a couple of good ones to consider.
Used/Signed Guitar Picks
If you’re a guitarist or have one in your band, this is a great personal item you can offer! Recycle your old picks by signing them and throwing them up for sale. One of my most prized possessions is a signed guitar pick from my childhood favorite band. Plus, it’s something you probably already have and can easily offer as an exclusive item for the holidays.
Solar-Powered Keychain Lights
This is one of those small items that fans end up using constantly. Solar-powered keychain lights charge on their own, don’t rely on batteries, and make perfect little stocking-stuffer items for the holidays. Add your logo or artwork, and you’ve got a practical piece of eco-friendly merch that feels fresh and fun without being wasteful.
In Conclusion…
Eco-friendly merch makes a great gift for anyone looking for cool shit that makes a positive impact. These days, it’s more important to be environmentally conscious than ever. Making sure your merch store offers eco-friendly items is a big step in the right direction, environmentally and sales-wise. Alongside offering an even greater incentive to make a purchase that helps the planet, products like these are just plain cool.
Start the new year by doing something good… for your fans and the planet. ❤️🩹 🌎
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