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Olympic Games, royal weddings, stadium-filling world tours, much-hyped TV series – some events capture the world’s attention. Even when they’re happening thousands of miles away, today we can experience them as if they were on our doorstep by hopping on a plane or streaming on our devices.
And there’s something else that enhances our enjoyment of these events, something physical in our digital age: merchandise!
Our hunger for merch is greater than ever. Which is why today we’re serving a smorgasbord of souvenirs from the biggest events of the last decade: from Olympic mascots to Taylor Swift friendship bracelets, from King Charles dolls to Friends Lego sets.
Merch is dead. Long live merch!
The royal family: a souvenir seller’s dream
Royal events are always eagerly anticipated occasions. And the last decade has given us plenty of new episodes in the saga that is the House of Windsor: two royal weddings, a funeral and a coronation. Each one sent the merchandise machine into overdrive.
A coronation in the world’s most famous monarchy doesn’t happen every day. Which is why when King Charles III was crowned in 2023, tourists and royalists scrambled to get their hands on a slew of souvenirs specially produced to mark the event.
The Centre for Retail Research estimated that more than £245 million was spent on royal merch. But what exactly were people buying? Here’s a selection.
Official socks commemorating the coronation.
A very British teddy bear, complete with crown.
And the obligatory mug with a portrait of His Majesty King Charles III.
The marriage of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle in 2018 was no less merchtastic: the usual mugs, flags an T-shirts flooded the market, as well as racier accessories, like condoms and sex toys. Because savvy entrepreneurs know that for a once-in-a-lifetime event like a royal wedding, a souvenir is a simple and tangible way of saying ‘I was there!’
Merchandise for Taylor Swift’s world tour
Across the Atlantic, a totally different type of royalty reigns, but with a no less astonishing ability to shift merchandise: pop queen Taylor Swift.
Swift’s Eras Tour has been a global phenomenon. Some have claimed her shows have caused mini earthquakes, while others have calculated that the economic impact will exceed some countries’ GDPs.
Whether or not these claims stack up, one thing is for sure: the Eras Tour is the biggest grossing of all time. And, of course, it has spawned all manner of merchandise aimed at swifties, as the singer’s hardcore fans are known.
Taylor Swift has single-handedly brought back into fashion an accessory that was ubiquitous at the end of the nineties: the friendship bracelet. These colourful strings of beads can be easily customised with phrases, names, dates and more, making them a merchandiser’s dream. The result? eBay has seen a 15,200% (you read that right, 15,200%!) jump in sales of friendship bracelets.
But Eras Tour and Taylor Swift merch doesn’t end there: everything from mugs, cushions and keyrings to phone cases, T-shirts and stickers are being emblazoned with lines from her most famous songs.
Of course, Taylor Swift isn’t the first and won’t be last popstar to inspire her own merchandise industry. Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and One Direction did too. The latter even have their own duct tape – perfect for decorating school desks and secret diaries. And here we have to mention the custom version of the board game Monopoly created by Metallica for their 2022 world tour.
Merchandise for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
Few international events can count viewers in the billions, but the Olympic Games is one. Every four years, the whole world watches as the greatest athletes on the planet battle for gold, while audiences engage in an equally fierce fight to grab the best Olympic merch.
Attending an Olympics in person is a rare opportunity, so taking home some official merchandise is a must for any self-respecting sports fan.
And not just IOC merchandise either. Most nations have their own ranges of official merchandise too. Some items are highly coveted, like the Team USA waist pack from Ralph Lauren.
Team GB offers fans all sorts of merchandise, including flags, bottles, boxers, mugs, stickers, pin badges, wallets and socks. Stand out items from other Olympic teams include France’s cute cuddly cockerel and Jamaica’s fashion-forward bucket hats.
Merchandise from TV series
There are some global events that only take place on the screen, like the cinema release of the latest blockbuster film [we explored movie merch in this article] or the airing of a much-hyped new TV series.
A prime example is Stranger Things, Netflix’s nostalgia-soaked homage to all things eighties. Fans of the show can buy branded playing cards, figurines, jigsaw puzzles, T-shirts, skateboards and posters. There are also official Stranger Things stores in Las Vegas, Sao Paolo, Paris and New York.
In Italy, walk down the streets of Naples for five minutes and you’re bound to come across shopkeepers and market traders flogging merchandise for The Sea Beyond, the hit TV series set in a Neapolitan young offenders’ institute. Popular items include cushions printed with famous faces and lines from the show. It remains to be seen whether demand for The Sea Beyond merch extends beyond Italy.
People buy merchandise to show they’re part of a tribe, a community united by a common passion for, say, a popstar or TV show. One series that has inspired a huge following over the years – and shifted an equally huge amount of merch – is Friends, the phenomenally successful late-nineties/early noughties sitcom. Today, you can still find every type of Friends-branded souvenir imaginable: wooden spoons, coasters, pens, mugs, cushions, mats, pencil cases and key holders, to name but a few. There’s even a Lego version of Central Perk.
What about you? Do you have any cherished souvenirs from major sporting events or pop-culture phenomena? Are you planning to create custom merchandise for your own event?