2. Mugs, water bottles, and housewares

Many print-on-demand companies offer printing on housewares and décor items like mugs, pillows, beach towels, and blankets. These are perfect options for TikTok designers, illustrators, and photographers looking to offer affordable versions of their art printed on home goods.

Devin Kane is the creator behind Dev’s Doodles. She uses TikTok to take her audience inside her life and creative process, selling her “good vibes” merchandise to fans through her Shopify store. Among these items, she sells housewares like mug sleeves, hanging air fresheners, and candles.

If you’re a maker, consider a DIY approach to creating home goods. You can make your own branded candles from scratch or stitch your catchphrase onto a pillow sham. 

3. Stickers, pins, tattoos, and patches

You can make and sell stickers, sew-on patches, temporary tattoos, and pinback buttons as low-cost items that fans can buy to support you. These also work as free merch giveaways at in-person events and gift-with-purchase items to accompany other merch sales. 

Creator Linh Truong prints her designs on stickers to sell to her fans across TikTok and YouTube. 

Consider other small items that you can make and sell as merch for TikTok. Keychains, enamel pins, earrings, and pencils are all inexpensive items that can be printed, handmade, or hand-customized.

4. Art prints

This is another ideal merch option for artists, illustrators, and designers. Many of your fans will be unable to afford original work, but you can sell art online through reproductions (or prints). 

5. Phone cases and tech accessories

Making your own phone cases is easy with print-on-demand companies that do the work for you. This is a common merch item used to showcase artwork and branding that fans carry with them everywhere. The only downside is the number of phone models on the market. If you’re looking to make and sell phone cases, research the top phone models to keep your offering focused.

Consider other tech accessories like watch bands, luggage tags, laptop cases, keyboard covers, iPad skins, and gaming console stickers.

5. Niche products for a niche audience

The sky’s the limit when it comes to selling merch on TikTok. Your merch store should be a reflection of your account’s content and your own interests. If you do magic tricks on TikTok, consider selling branded playing cards. If you manage a petfluencer (the true star), try making and selling pet accessories like leashes and bandanas. 

How to make merch for TikTok

You can approach making merch for TikTok in a number of ways, with varying levels of effort and cost. Here, we’ll outline three ways to turn your persona into TikTok merch for your fans.

1. Use a print-on-demand (POD) company

The easiest way to get started is to find a print-on-demand provider that can turn your designs into physical products like hoodies, water bottles, pillows, stickers, and hats. There are plenty of these companies, all offering slightly different products and services. The Shopify App Store has several options that integrate directly with your store.

How it works:

1. Install the print-on-demand app in your Shopify store.
2. Submit your designs to the POD company per the instructions they provide.
3. Add your new designs using mockup photos to your store as products and set prices.
4. When a customer places an order in your merch store, the POD company prints and ships that product directly.

💡 Tip: If you aren’t a designer or artist or don’t already have branding, hire a professional to help you develop a branding package along with some designs specifically for merch. You can find design pros like a freelance graphic designer through sites like Shopify Experts, Fiverr, Dribbble, and Creative Market.

2. Create your own merch by hand

Julia Roblin took a different approach for her merch: making it herself. While print on demand is available for stickers, Julia chose to create merch at home using a specialized printer and ship the items herself. You can also work with local printers to print your own merchandise like stickers and art prints and order them in bulk. In this case, the onus is on you to manage inventory and shipping.

The advantage of making your own merch is you have more control over the creative process and the quality of the final product. On the other hand, there are more upfront costs and this process requires more of your time.

3. Collaborate with existing brands

Another way to create unique merch for your TikTok followers is to team up with a complementary brand already making great products. If you have influence (a larger engaged following), it will be easier to approach brands for a partnership—especially if your audience aligns with the brand’s target audience. 

In a triple-threat collab, artist and TikTok creator Shema Love teamed up with basketball star Britney Griner and sports brand round21 to create custom merch.

Influencer Nick Cho, better known as @YourKoreanDad, partnered with Korean streetwear brand Joseon to produce a collab garment collection.

Selling merch on TikTok

Now that you’ve created branded products, it’s time to sell merchandise! Since you’ve already built a loyal following, you know how important it is to engage them. The same is true with getting your merch in front of your target audience. Success in selling on TikTok relies on actively promoting your merch store to fans. Follow these steps to start selling your merchandise on TikTok.

Step 1: Set up your TikTok shop

TikTok’s shopping features allow you to sell directly on the platform. But the best way to get full ecommerce features is to set up a Shopify store, then add the TikTok sales channel. This will allow you to sell places other than on the TikTok app—and sync sales and inventory too. An owned website means you’ll be able to build a mailing list that you own.

Step 2: Add your merchandise

Add products to your Shopify and TikTok stores manually or by importing them from your print-on-demand app.

Step 3: Promote your merch 

Letting your followers know you’ve added products for sale is an important step in selling merch on TikTok. The best way to do this is by creating TikTok videos to announce the launch of your merch store and more videos for subsequent merch drops. These videos from Emily Kinney, Niall Horan, and Julia Roblin are great examples of how to promote your merch:

💡 Tips: 

• Hype the launch of your merch shop before it’s live. Start promoting your merch in advance to get your audience excited for the launch.
• Add a link to your bio. Link your store in your bio or use a link-consolidation tool so TikTok users can easily find your custom merch.
• Try limited-time and limited-quantity drops to create a sense of scarcity and urgency, creating demand for your TikTok merch. Or try exclusive drops only for loyal followers who have subscribed to paid content.
• Consider livestreaming an unboxing after you order samples or when you have physical inventory in hand.
• Promote your branded merchandise on other social media platforms, too.

Monetize your TikTok account with merch

Julia Roblin now sees a direct link between her views and her sales. “It didn’t take me long to start getting orders every day,” she says. For creators looking to make a living on their art or personal brands, adding ecommerce for TikTok is a no-brainer. Selling branded merchandise like tote bags or t-shirts is a great way to have ownership over your brand and revenue streams.