You’re not just looking for things to sell at festivals — you’re planning a product mix that actually makes money, not just memories. From our point of view, the best festival merchandise ideas always fall into two camps: long-lasting staples and highly seasonal hype pieces.
Evergreen items are the backbone of your festival catalog: caps and hats, tote bags, sunglasses, reusable drinkware, umbrellas, fans, and even sunscreen. These work across different events with simple tweaks in design and branding. Seasonal products, like themed clothes and full festival costumes, tend to spike hard around specific dates or lineups, then cool off fast.
In this guide, we’ll break down the best festival merchandise ideas by longevity, so you can balance stable sellers with high-energy seasonal drops — and build a festival merch strategy that lasts longer than a single weekend.
What Are the Top 9 Festival Merchandise Ideas to Sell This Year?
1. Themed Clothes
Themed t-shirts, hoodies, and other apparel make excellent festival merchandise ideas due to their broad appeal. Fans love wearing clothes that express their festival pride and memories for all to see.
When designed well, themed clothes can be your best sellers. T-shirts make affordable and comfortable options to wear for days on end during the event itself. Hoodies and sweaters extend your brands into the colder seasons as fans stay cozy in your designs. Onesies and bodysuits add humor to social media photo ops.
It's important to choose designs that truly capture the essence, lineup, themes, or artwork of your festival merch. Bright colors and bold graphic prints will stand out in crowds and photos. Opt for soft cotton blends for all-day comfort. And offer various styles and fits to include both men and women.
One of the top-selling merchandise examples is the sparkle clothes of Nasty Gal. The brand’s online store has a page dedicated to selling festival merch named “Spring Shop” where shoppers can buy mini dresses, bikini sets, boho outfits, graphic tees, etc. By displaying a variety of festival-themed clothes on a single page, Nasty Gal creates a seamless shopping experience for shoppers, which will result in high sales.
Image source: Nasty Gal
More from experts: Ever wonder what a high-converting online store for themed clothes is? We bet you do. You are even building it, but hear us out, especially if you are launching soon. Why not use a page builder designed for the industry, and in this case, Fashion? We offer a solution to boost your niche conversion and provide the best industry templates. Check out Foxify for Fashion and our design library that amazes you now! And hurry up because the hype is not always there!
2. Festival Costumes
Costumes allow fans to fully embrace the experience and express their inner festival persona. Whether it's fun hats, boas, light-up accessories, or themed onesies, costumes create engagement through playful self-expression.
These festival merchandise ideas let creativity run wild. Consider a wide range of pieces like animal ears, brightly colored wigs, tutus, sunglasses with LED lights, inflatable accessories, and more. Costume items should be portable, reusable, and not restrict movement so fans can dance the night away in style.
When selecting costumes, make sure to choose pieces that coordinate with your festival's themes, headliners, or artwork. This could be anything from flower crowns for a forest festival to glow sticks for an EDM event. Keep sizing inclusive and durability in mind for the chaos of the crowds.
Smiffys brings to customers lots of merchandise examples for festival costumes. These costumes are inspired by history, movies, fairytales, video games, anime, etc. Shoppers can easily filter out costumes to select the best-fit one.
Image source: Smiffys
3. Caps and Hats
Caps and hats are festival merchandise ideas that serve both fashion and function for festivals. In the hot sun or rain, branded hats provide valuable protection while also making strong walking advertisements for your event.
Ballcaps and bucket hats are a staple for any merch lineup. Consider structured or flex-fit caps adorned with your logo or artwork. Bucket hats with wide brims shield faces and come printed with colorful designs. Beanies, knit hats, and sun hats expand the options for any weather or style.
Quality is key in these festival merchandise ideas. Opt for breathable, quick-drying materials like cotton and nylon. Adjustable closures ensure one-size-fits-most accessibility. And don't forget to waterproof hats intended for wet weather festivals.
Hats By The Hundred has a collection of merchandise examples for hats. The brand sells festival hats in a wide range of forms, sizes, colors, materials, etc. This is the all-in-one place that you need to visit if you want to purchase a festival hat.
Image source: Hats By The Hundred
4. Sunglasses
No festival goer's outfit is complete without a pair of shades to protect eyes from the sun. Sunglasses let them see in style while representing their favorite events.
Festival ideas for sunglasses come in all shapes and colors to suit any persona. From oversized round frames to cat eyes, choose silhouettes on-trend. Don't forget polarized lenses for true UV protection. Materials like acetate or plastic withstand crowds and weather.
Customization options like colored or mirrored lenses add a unique flair. Engrave logos subtly on arms or legs rather than overwhelming the design. Sunglasses make an impulse purchase that fans will enjoy all season long as a fashionable accessory.
iHeartRaves sell lots of merchandise example for glasses and sunglasses. From LED glasses, fairy wings glasses, and flower glasses to summer sunglasses and adventure sunglasses, shoppers can surely find their favorite glasses that fit with each festival’s vibe.
Image source: iHeartRaves
5. Tote Bags
Tote bags are one of the most practical festival merchandise ideas. Durable and roomy, they provide the perfect way for fans to haul their multi-day essentials in style.
Choose bags made from heavy-duty canvas, nylon, or recycled polyester for resilience through any weather or amount of gear. Decorated totes can hold blankets, clothes, towels, picnic items, and more. Dimension options suit personal items or full camping kits.
Customize totes with large-scale screen prints or embroidery that won't fade over time and washing. Reinforce seams and handles for longevity. Be sure to accommodate optional shoulder straps for comfort during long festival days and nights.
Glastonbury is one of the most popular festivals in England that is held from June 26th to June 30th every year. However, organizers have multiple festival merchandise ideas to sell around the year including clothing, posters, books, bottles, cups, tote bags, etc. Amongst them, tote bags are one of the best-selling items because of their aesthetic design and functionality.
Image source: Glastonbury Festival
6. Reusable Drinkware
With an increased focus on sustainability, reusable drinkware has become one of the must-have festival ideas for merchandise. Fans appreciate being able to stay hydrated while reducing waste.
Stainless steel water bottles, insulated coffee tumblers and can koozies come printed with vibrant artwork. Choose BPA-free plastic or acrylic for lighter options. Durable double-walled vacuums keep drinks hot or cold during long festival days and nights.
Customizable options include sleeve colors, cap styles and carry straps. Etch or silkscreen logos that won't fade over time. Pitch products as eco-friendly festival essentials that can be enjoyed all season.
Survive Your Festival is an online shop that specializes in selling festival merch. It offers a wide range of festival bottles in different sizes, materials, and colors. Moreover, the shop also has a customized service that allows shoppers to print words or small images on the bottle they purchased.
Image source: Survive Your Festival
7. Umbrella
With unpredictable festival weather, a portable umbrella provides valuable protection against rain and sun. Mini foldable umbrellas especially make for eye-catching advertisements as fans wander festival grounds.
Choose compact umbrellas no bigger than 16 inches for optimum portability. Materials like nylon taffeta or polyester repel water well without added weight. Customize with large-scale prints or silkscreen logos that won't fade.
Opt for sturdy yet lightweight construction including fiberglass ribs for resilience against winds. Convenient wrist or handle straps keep umbrellas handy on the move. And don't forget color options to suit every style!
If you are looking for eye-catching festival merchandise examples, let’s take a look at umbrellas from One Stop Rave. The brand brings to customers 17 different umbrellas which are designed by following festival and maximalism style. The most special thing about these umbrellas is they get the reflective effect in the dark.
Image source: One Stop Rave
8. Fans
Folding fans and hand fans make perfect festival accessories to combat the heat. Not only do they keep attendees cool, but they're a subtle yet effective walking advertisement for your event.
Choose durable materials like paper, plastic, or wood for folding fans. Opt for designs that can be easily folded or opened with one hand. Hand fans come in a variety of sizes - mini versions fit easily in pockets while larger styles become a fun prop.
Customize fans with your festival's artwork, lineup, or themes. Vibrant colors and visuals will stand out in the crowd. Be sure prints can withstand heavy use without fading. Consider bundled packages including sunscreen for a practical combo.
One of the standout merchandise examples for fans is from The Rave Cave. This online store focuses on selling folding fans in big sizes with eye-catching graphics on them. As the brand said, keeping these oversized folding fans will make festival goers look cool and stylish any time.
Image source: The Rave Cave
9. Sun Cream/ Sunscreen
With sun protection top of mind, branded sunscreen makes for a practical merchandise option. Festivalgoers will appreciate the UV protection that branded formulas provide.
Choose mineral or chemical sunscreens in travel-sized tubes or spray bottles. SPF 30 or higher offers serious protection for long festival days in the sun. Bundle formulas with complementary items like lip balm and bug spray for a convenient sun safety kit.
Customize packaging with your event's logo and colorful artwork. Focus on natural, eco-friendly ingredients for sensitive skin. Portion kits attractively so fans feel good about the purchase.
Sun safety items are a staple for any festival merchandise lineup. Sun cream can be found in almost all skin care online stores. Let’s take Boots as an example. This marketplace is where you can find all sun cream brands and choose the best products or bundles based on your needs.
Image source: Boots
Last but not least, sun cream and other merchandise ideas like sunglasses and tote bags are not only in high demand during festivals but also are the best summer products to sell.
Don’t limit their potential only to festival events. Let’s prepare well to boost their sales in this upcoming summer season.
How to Build A Sales Strategy for Festival Merch That Actually Lasts?
1. Start with the right goal: Hype vs. Long-Term
This is where most people start: you design hyper-specific pieces for one event — a capsule of themed clothes, costumes, maybe a few limited caps or tees tied to a date, lineup, or location.
Pros
- Big spike in sales if you nail timing and theme
- Great for social buzz and “I was there” FOMO
- Works well for influencers, artists, or brands with a loyal audience
Cons
- Sales die as soon as the event passes
- High risk of leftover inventory you can’t reuse
- You’re always starting from zero for the next festival
Best fit for:
Creators, small brands, or print-on-demand sellers who are comfortable running short, intense campaigns and don’t mind that revenue is “spiky” rather than stable.
How to make it work better
- Keep hype pieces lean: focus on festival costumes and very themed apparel.
- Pre-sell or use pre-orders to validate designs before overstocking.
- Pair hype items with 1–2 evergreen add-ons (fans, reusable drinkware) to lift AOV.
2. Map your product mix: Evergreen vs. Seasonal
We don’t start with designs – we start with the role each product plays in the business.
Evergreen staples – your cash-flow anchors. See them as a safety net. These long-term merchandise will continue to sell at festivals that still make sense at the next event or online later:
- Caps & hats
- Tote bags
- Sunglasses
- Reusable drinkware
- Umbrellas
- Fans
- Sunscreen
Note: We keep these consistent and simply refresh colors, graphics, and slogans to match each festival’s vibe.
Seasonal hype pieces – your spike products. We see this category as the sales booster. It can be:
- Themed clothes
- Festival costumes
- Event-specific prints
These create buzz and higher AOV, but demand collapses once the date or lineup is over.
In practice, we rarely let brands go all-in on hype. For most stores, a healthy balance is 60–70% of units in evergreen and 30–40% in seasonal. If you wouldn’t confidently sell a design at three different festivals with minor tweaks, treat it as seasonal and order tighter.
3. Design once, refresh often
When we work on the best festival merchandise ideas, we don’t reinvent the catalog for every event — we keep the structure and refresh the vibe. Your core categories stay the same (caps, totes, drinkware, fans, etc.), but each festival gets its own look through:
- New color palettes
- Tweaked typography
- Event-specific graphics or slogans
The easiest way to do this is to build design templates for each product type, then swap in festival themes instead of starting from zero. That way, you move faster, stay consistent as a brand, and can roll out “new” things to sell at festivals without rebuilding your whole line every time.
4. Remember that price for profit, not just impulse
When we review festival brands, the pattern is common: decent sales, weak profit. The fix is to price from cost up, not from “what feels reasonable.”
-
Basics (caps, tote bags, drinkware, fans, sunscreen)
We usually price at around 3× landed cost. For small DTC brands, that often means ~60–70% gross margin; for larger or marketplace-heavy brands, ~50–60% is more realistic.
-
Premium pieces (costumes, heavily themed clothes, limited drops)
We aim for 2.2–2.5× cost, which typically lands in the 50–60% margin range.
Then we use bundles (e.g., costume + fan + sunscreen), so high-margin essentials quietly lift the profit on every cart, not just the hero product. Yet, keep in mind that there is no "hard rule" for margins, and your niche, channels, and discounts will move the numbers.
5. Align sales channels: On-site, online & pre-orders
When we plan festival merch with brands, we treat all channels as one system, not three separate projects.
We use pre-orders as paid market research for seasonal pieces (costumes, event prints):
- Drop designs online and on social first
- Set a clear ship date and pre-order window
- Only commit to bigger print runs on styles that hit your target order count
Then we align everything around a single lineup:
- Your online store mirrors what you’ll actually have on-site
- Social posts push the same hero products and bundles
- On-site teams know which items were pre-order hits and stock them front and center
The goal: one coherent festival story, everywhere your customer sees you.
Note: Don't forget to track your sales channels and round up data for insights. Check them from all the tools you use, such as GA4 and your seller dashboard.
Bringing Your Festival Merch Strategy Together
If there’s one thing we’ve seen across brands that win with festival merch, it’s this: they don’t chase random things to sell at festivals — they build a system.
You start by picking the right role for each product: evergreen staples vs. seasonal hype. Then you design once, refresh often, keeping categories steady while changing the vibe for each event. You price from cost up, not guesswork, and use bundles so essentials quietly carry your profit. And finally, you align channels — on-site, online, and pre-orders — around one consistent lineup.
Do that, and your best festival merch ideas aren’t just cute concepts. They become a repeatable, data-backed engine you can roll out every season, not just for a single weekend or occasion!
