Guide
Guide
Gift shop merchandise in your own design, and how to order it a season ahead
Lists of gift shop merchandise ideas tend to agree on the basics: something to wear, something to drink from, something to hold and something to keep. Then they stop, just before the question an attraction asks next. Which of these should we have made in our own design, and what has to happen, and in what order, for them to be on the shelf on opening day? This guide answers that for knit beanies and scarves, throws, souvenir cups and plush.
Your own design
What sells in a gift shop, and what is worth making in your own design
The idea lists share a short core. Of those items, the ones worth having made in your design are the ones a visitor can't buy anywhere else.
Knit beanies and scarves
The design is knitted into the hat, or carried on a leather patch stitched to the cuff, and a scarf in the same yarn sells beside it. See knit beanies with matching scarves.
Throws
Your design knitted or woven in as a jacquard, or your patch on a fleece throw. Use the same patch as the beanies and the two read as a set. See throws with your patch or your design woven in.
Souvenir cups
Your artwork on a stadium-style, colour-changing, aluminium or light-bulb cup, sold at the drinks stand as well as on the shelf. Next year the cup can stay the same and the art can change. See souvenir cups for the stand and the shelf.
Plush
Your mascot, or the animal your visitors came to see. US law treats a plush as a children's toy, so it goes through more steps before it ships than anything else in the shop. See your mascot as a plush.
Keychains and small keepsakes
A keychain carries your logo or mascot in metal with enamel colours, printed acrylic, or soft PVC or rubber, cut to its own outline and carded for the peg wall. See custom keychains in metal, acrylic or PVC. Stickers and postcards usually come as stock from a local printer, and for most shops that is the right call.
Everything an attraction can have made in its own design is on custom merchandise for attractions and venues.
The first decision
Stock with your logo, or made to your design
Decide this item by item before you ask anyone for a price, because the two routes are quoted in different ways.
| The question | Stock item with your logo | Made to your design |
|---|---|---|
| What carries your design | Your logo, printed or embroidered on a stock blank | The item itself: your design knitted, woven, printed or sewn in, in your colours and shape |
| How many | Small quantities, reordered as they sell | A season's run of each design and colourway. Each one is set up once, and that setup is spread across the run |
| When you order | Close to when you need it | A season ahead, worked back from the day the shelf has to be full |
| What you approve | A digital proof | A sample, in hand or in photos, before the run |
| What carries over to next year | The logo file | The signed-off sample, the knit chart, the patch and the pattern |
| Who it suits | A shop trying an item out, or one that needs it soon | A shop that sells its own design every season |
We run the second route, with factories in China.
One design, many items
Carrying one design across the shop
One design can run through the whole shop, but each item takes it differently.
Start from one artwork file
Send one file with your Pantone references. Each factory adapts it to its own item, and you see each version before anything is made.
Knitting wants bold shapes
The factory turns your art into a knit chart and tells you how many colours it can carry. Fine lines and small lettering get lost in the stitch.
A patch holds a fine logo
A leather or faux-leather patch keeps detail that knitting can't, and one patch can go on beanies, scarves and throws alike. A patch made for an earlier order can be used again.
A cup's print stays below the rim
The artwork sits clear of where lips touch the cup, and the proof shows exactly where it goes. The souvenir cups page covers the four cup types.
A plush needs its back drawn too
Draw your character from the front, the side and the back, so the pattern maker isn't guessing at the parts your artwork doesn't show.
Sign off matching items together
Approve the beanie beside the scarf, and the throw beside both, so the yarn and the colours match when they sit together on the shelf.
Your tags and barcodes go on before packing
Send the hang tags and barcodes from your own shop system. They are put on at the factory, and each carton is marked with its design and colourway.
Ordering a season ahead
Ordering a season ahead: the sequence, and the decisions that are yours
Plan the range back from the day the shelf has to be full. The quote names the date each design has to be signed off.
Set the shelf date and the range
Your decision: the day the shelf has to be full, and which items carry your design this season.
Send the brief and get a landed quote
Send the artwork, the colours, the items, how many of each design and colourway, the retail finish (tags, barcodes, packs) and the delivery address. The quote puts each item, the freight and the customs entry on separate lines, with a sign-off date for each design. For a winter season, this is the spring.
Settle each item's paperwork question before you commit
Cups: the material of every part named, and a food-contact test report for the exact cup and decoration. Scarves and throws: the wording of the sewn label. Plush: quoted as a children's toy, with a production sample going to a CPSC-accepted lab and the report in hand before the run ships. Every mark on the artwork authorised in writing by whoever owns it. Which papers come with your order, and in what form, is worked out with you for each order.
Samples and sign-off
The knit chart and a knitted sample, photos of the yarn, a reused patch beside the original, the cup proof (and a decorated sample if the quote includes one), the plush sample and your changes to it. Items that share a design are signed off side by side. For a winter season, this runs over the summer.
The run, checked against your sample
Production is checked against what you signed off. Cartons are packed and marked by design and colourway, and you see photos before they are sealed.
One crossing for the range, or several
Your decision: ship the range together, which means waiting for the last item to be signed off, or let an early item go first. The cartons go by sea, with your other merchandise or, for a light attraction, with the season's lights. We have had a Christmas light attraction's beanies, blankets, cups and plush made and shipped together with its lights. We import the cartons and deliver them unless another plan is agreed with you, and for plush the details of the Children's Product Certificate go in with the customs entry. More on what happens between the port and your shelf.
Check in and shelve
The carton marks let the stockroom check each design in, and the tags and barcodes are already on.
A range shipped together moves at the pace of its last sign-off. If one item runs late, the whole range waits for it, or that item travels on its own.
Shelf-ready
What each item carries before it ships
The marking rules change from item to item, and so do the questions to settle before the run.
| Item | On the item | Settled before the run | Where the detail is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knit beanies | A sewn label with the fibre content, "Made in China" and your name or RN number. A hat with wool in it also falls under the Wool Act | The yarn, and where its fibre comes from | Knit beanies |
| Scarves and throws | A sewn label with the fibre content, the country of origin and your name or RN number. Scarves also carry care instructions | The label wording, written on the spec sheet before the sample | Knit beanies and logo blankets |
| Souvenir cups | "Made in China" on the cup itself, moulded into or printed on the base | The material of every part, and a food-contact test report for the exact cup and decoration | Souvenir cups |
| Plush | Three sewn labels: a tracking label, "Made in China" and the law label some states require | A production sample to a CPSC-accepted lab, and its report before the run ships. The Children's Product Certificate comes from whoever imports it | Custom plush and the plush toy testing guide |
| Anything with your town or state on it | "Made in China" where a buyer will see it, often right beside the place name | Where the marking goes, shown on the sample | The customs broker confirms it |
This is general information. The customs broker or your counsel confirms what each item needs.
After opening
After the season: reorders and season editions
Keep everything you signed off: the sample, the knit chart, the patch, the cup artwork and the plush pattern. A reorder then starts from approved work, and the quote says whether it can run from the approved sample or needs a new one.
A season edition is the same cup or beanie with new art or a new colourway. Plush works differently: if its fabric, fill, eyes or factory changes, it goes back to the lab.
Before you ask for next spring's quote, go through your own sales by design and colourway. They show what to reorder, what to drop and where a new edition would earn its place.
Where this applies
The products this guide covers
Each product page has what to specify, what sets the price and the quote form for that product.
Custom knit beanies
Beanies knitted to your design for the gift shop of an attraction or venue: your artwork and yarn colours knitted in, a pom-pom, a leather or faux-leather patch on the cuff and your own sewn labels, with scarves to match. You approve a sample before the run, and the order is planned back from the day the beanies have to be on your shelves.
See the knit beanies
Custom souvenir cups
Souvenir cups in your own design for an attraction's gift shop or concession stand: stadium-style cups with lids and straws, colour-changing cups, one-piece aluminium cups and bottles, and light-bulb cups with a silver cap. Every part's material is named before you commit, each cup is marked with where it was made, and the order is planned back from your season's first day.
See the souvenir cups
Custom logo blankets
Throws with your logo or design for the gift shop of an attraction or venue: knitted or woven into the blanket as a jacquard, or carried on a leather patch sewn onto a soft fleece throw, with your own sewn labels. You approve a sample before the run, and the order is planned back from the day the blankets have to be on your shelves.
See the logo blanketsWhere to go next
- Custom plush toysYour mascot or your animal as a plush, and the steps it goes through before it ships.
- How we workWho does what between your artwork and your shelf.
- Landed cost calculatorAdd up the goods, the freight and the entry for the whole range.
- Commercial Christmas lightsFor a light attraction, the shop's range can travel with the season's lights.
More guides
More guides: Custom merchandise for attractions and venues
GuideHow a stuffed animal is made, from your mascot drawing to your gift shop shelf
The steps from your mascot drawing to a plush on your shelf: the pattern, the samples, the lab report and the run, and what the factory needs from you at each one.
Read the guide
GuidePlush toy testing, paperwork and labels for your gift shop's own design
Who does each job when your own plush is made in China: the lab report, the importer's paperwork, what the broker files at entry, and the sewn labels.
Read the guide
Questions
Questions buyers ask
What sells well in a gift shop?
Most idea lists come back to the same few things: clothing and hats, drinkware, something soft to hold, and a small keepsake. What sells in yours depends on who visits and why they came. At an attraction, the items with your name and your design on them are the ones no other shop sells.
What are some unique ideas for gift shop merchandise?
Take the familiar items and make them yours: your mascot as a plush, your pattern knitted into a beanie, a cup with this season's art, a throw carrying the same patch as the hats. Knitting is the strictest of the four on colour and detail, so a design that works on a knit beanie usually works on the rest.
What is usually sold in a gift shop?
Clothing and hats, drinkware, plush, home goods such as throws, and small keepsakes like stickers, postcards and pins. At an attraction, most of it carries the venue's name.
Should a gift shop buy stock or have merchandise made in its own design?
Buy stock with your logo when the quantity is small or the need is urgent, or to try an item out. Have it made to your design when it is a season's run you can plan ahead and the item itself is the souvenir. The table under "Stock with your logo, or made to your design" sets the two routes side by side.
How far ahead should we order merchandise for next season?
Count back from the day the shelf has to be full. Every item has its own last sign-off (a knitted sample, a cup proof, a plush lab report), and a range shipped together waits for the last of them. The quote names each date. For a winter season, the quotes tend to come in spring and the sign-offs fall over the summer.
What has to be on a souvenir that carries our town's name?
Every imported item is marked with its country of origin. When your town or state appears on the item, "Made in China" goes where a buyer will see it, often right beside the name. The sample shows where it sits, and the customs broker confirms the placement.
Request a quote
A landed quote for your gift shop's range
Send your artwork, the items, how many of each design and colourway, and the day the shelf has to be full. The quote puts each item, the freight and the customs entry on separate lines.
- Reply within 1 business day
- Landed cost, itemised
We take on the orders we can do well, and we will say so if yours isn't one of them.
