The Art of Merchandise Collections

The Art of Merchandise Collections

THE ART OF MERCHANDISE COLLECTIONS

PRODUCT WITH PURPOSE

a b o u t

FAIRWARE

Fairware helps you to better engage your customers, employees and partners through the creation of sustainable, custom branded products. We ensure your promotional merchandise helps tell your story and animate your brand.

Our mission is to change the world through the simple act of buying. We’re committed change makers and we’re serious about sustainability.

We bring emerging retail, consumer and sustainability trends to the forefront of promotional campaigns and product assortments. We’re sustainable brand strategists and merchandise is our medium. We do the homework on ethical sourcing and sustainable materials so you can rest assured that your marketing merchandise lines up with your values.

Thanks, Team Fairware

THE ART OF MERCHANDISE COLLECTIONS

Branded merchandise is an important piece of any promotion, and if done right, you’ll be sure to leave a lasting impression on your audience. To make the most of your marketing budget, make sure your branded merchandise is a core part of your overall marketing strategy. Amplify your marketing campaigns by creating a well curated collection of products that will set you apart from your competitors, keeping you differentiated in a sea of sameness. Custom merchandise that is crafted to support your company’s mission or your campaign goals will help make you and your strategy memorable.

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MERCHANDISE COLLECTIONS ARE MADE UP OF A HANDFUL OF PRODUCTS THAT WORK TOGETHER

COHESIVELY AND ARE ALSO IMPACTFUL ON THEIR OWN

The best collections are made from a variety of products that are useful and tastefully branded, with a key theme and colour palette tying each piece together. Each product should be strategically distributed throughout the life of your campaign or client journey to ensure your brand stays top of mind. We recommend creating your merchandise collection using a tiered approach. By including products at various price points, you can leverage your promotional merchandise to share your message with different segments of your client base. For

example, while you want to show all your clients that you care, some clients deserve more than others. If you incorporate a range of low cost and valuable products in your merchandise collection, you can touch every segment and provide your audience with something tangible they can connect with and relate to. Custom branded merchandise collections allow you to mix and match products to ensure you have the right selection for right recipient.

THE FAIRWARE COLLECTIONS

At Fairware, we created four merchandise collections, each touching on our values and origins as a company. We want to share the story behind each assortment to inspire you to build your own merchandise collections to celebrate your values and campaign goals. Our collections are built to support our own marketing efforts at Fairware. They showcase our capabilities and our values, and we hope they’re loved and used by our clients and prospects. We distribute our own ‘self-promo’ merchandise as a way to thank our core clients and to introduce ourselves to top prospects and brands we’d like to work with.

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CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL

Our Climate Change Is Real Collection was inspired by our belief that businesses have an important role to play in addressing the issue. This theme is part of our roots, as a company that was created with a mission to source sustainable and ethically made products, always keeping planetary health top of mind. We urge our clients to carefully consider what products they choose and how they’re transported. But most of all, we aim to sell products that will create behavioral changes so that our clients have the tools they need to lighten their footprint. At Fairware, we measure our carbon footprint bi-annually and work to reduce our environmental footprint because it’s part of our DNA as a brand. By working on our own in-house programs, we gain valuable insight on what our clients are going through in implementing their own sustainability programs.

Our CEO and co-founder, Denise Taschereau, is an active member of The B Corp Climate Collective , a group of Certified B Corporations working together to take action on the climate emergency. We recognize the unique and powerful role that we play as purpose-driven businesses to reverse climate change. The Climate Collective is working to identify concrete steps to accelerate climate mitigation and to work collectively, as individual companies, and through cross-sector collaboration and public advocacy. In the fall of 2019, The B Corp Climate Collective played a role in organizing the Global Climate Strike in Canada and the USA. It was through this work, and the conversations surrounding it with our colleagues and our activist clients, that inspired the artwork for our Climate Change collection.

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I worked with B Lab in Canada to organize B Corp CEO’s and other progressive business leaders to support the September 2019 Global Climate Strike. We developed a toolkit to support decision makers in engaging their brands and staff to take a formal stand on climate. I loved seeing how passionate business leaders are in driving a sustainability agenda outside their own business and supply chain. There is a long history of business lobbying in both the USA and Canada, but rarely is it in pursuit of more progressive climate policy. It was great to be part of building a business voice on climate.”

Denise Taschereau

THE CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL COLLECTION

Each piece in the Climate Change is Real collection was thoughtfully selected and designed. The Climate Change t-shirts are made in Canada from 100% organic cotton extra- soft jersey. They come with our Climate Change is Real logo screen printed on the left chest and a custom Fairware pinch label sewn on the hip to add a retail touch. The Climate Change tote bags are made in India from GOTS Fair Trade Certified organic cotton. They the share the white Climate Change Is Real screen print with a custom Fairware pinch label sewn in the side seam. Perfect for your small grocery runs, or for picking up items while you’re on the go.

The Climate Change trucker hats are made from 70% certified organic cotton and 30% recycled polyester. This is a structured trucker cap with 6 panels and a curved bill, and it comes with a custom Climate Change patch sewn on the front and a pinch label on the side. Finally, the collection is rounded out by The Climate Change water bottle. It’s made in the USA by one of our favourite suppliers at a manufacturing facility guided by zero waste principles. They are aluminum bottles with a BPA-free food grade coating. We love the 3D look this printer can achieve and thought it would really bring our artwork to life for this collection.

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FEMINIST

The idea for The Feminist Collection came from our work with the Women Deliver 2019 Conference in Vancouver, where we produced a collection of products and ran a pop up shop for conference attendees to purchase their own Women Deliver merchandise. We created a variety of products, from jewelry and pins to tote bags and t-shirts, and we found the most coveted piece was a simple t-shirt with the word féministe printed on the front. We sold through it so quickly that we had to run an emergency order during the event to double our inventory. It was thrilling to see a #fairwaremade piece so well received, and we wanted to create our own version to share with our colleagues, friends, and clients. We’re passionate advocates for diversity and inclusion, and as a women and LGBTQ-owned company, the word feminist has always resonated with us.

Our COO and Co-Founder, Sarah White, is an active member of the B Corp We The Change Collective , a group of women leaders of certified B Corporations and other purpose-driven enterprises, who have committed to economic, racial, environmental, and social justice and a world where women are equally represented in positions of power and influence. At Fairware, we embrace equal opportunity and are committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce. We welcome people of colour, people with different abilities and veterans. All sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions have a home here at Fairware. We believe the more diverse we are, the better we will be.

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Diversity is inviting someone to the party, inclusion is asking them to dance.”

V Slavich

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To me, being a feminist means acknowledging that inequality and misogyny exist and I must continue to work towards justice and equality for women and for those who define as trans, and outside the gender binary. #WeTheChange is a group of womxn B Corp CEO’s who are building on collective strengths to empower and strengthen womxn led or owned businesses. I joined to explore and challenge myself and others to address issues in our business community, especially equity, diversity and inclusion.”

Sarah White

THE FEMINIST COLLECTION

Each piece of the Feminist Collection was chosen with use and style in mind. The Feminist pens are the classic Le Pen you have always known and loved, built to pair perfectly with your notebook and pouch. The Feminist pocketbooks are made in the USA by one of our favourite fellow B Corps. Manufactured in Portland from 100% recycled paper and printed with vegetable-based inks, they’re the perfect size for slipping in your pocket for taking notes on the fly.

The Feminist pouches are made from recycled cotton that comes from garment cutting waste blended with recycled polyester. Perfect for keeping all your things organized – pens, cords, keys, you name it. Finally, the Feminist unisex fleece crewneck sweatshirt is made from a 10.8 oz material that’s 60% combed and ring-spun cotton and 40% polyester. They come with our Feminist logo embroidered on the left chest and a custom Fairware pinch label sewn on the hip for a retail touch.

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The Lucky Cat or Maneki Neko Collection was born from a colleague’s passion for cats and her Chinese and Japanese heritage. She first introduced us to Maneki Neko upon return from a trip to Japan, when she brought one into our office. Slowly the collection of lucky cats has grown at Fairware, and it’s a constant nod to our own staff diversity. LUCKY CAT

To highlight our diversity, we included the word LUCKY in the artwork, represented in each of the languages spoken by Fairware staff: English (lucky) French (chanceux or porte-bonheur) Spanish (suerte) Vietnamese (may m ắ n or phát tài) Dutch (gelukkige) German (glückliche)

Traditional Chinese ( ) Simplified Chinese ( )

Tagalog (swerte) Ilokano (nagasat)

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THE LUCKY CAT COLLECTION

Each product for this collection was chosen with colourful artwork in mind. The Lucky Cat enamel pins are made in China out of top-quality brass base material, then they’re hand filled with soft enamel and pinned onto a custom backer card. The Lucky Cat journals are made in the USA and come with 136 lined pages and a matching elastic closure.

The Lucky Cat t-shirts are unisex, made in the USA from 100% cotton and are printed over the pocket with a custom Fairware pinch label sewn on the hip for a retail touch. The Lucky Cat tote bags are made in India from 100% GOTS Fair Trade Certified organic cotton. They measure 15” x 17” and are printed on the front with a pinch label sewn into the side. A great bag to use for your everyday errands.

The Zero Waste collection is an extension of our Climate Change is Real Collection. It was inspired by our drive to make behavioral changes to do better for the world, reusing products to create zero waste. The products chosen for this collection are tried and true staff favourites and some of our top selling products. ZERO WASTE

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THE ZERO COLLECTION

The travel mugs are 12 oz double walled 18/8 stainless steel thermal tumblers with copper vacuum insulation and a push-on lid. The perfect size for your daily coffee fix. The reusable sandwich or snack bags have an EcoTwill exterior, made from a blend of recycled PET bottles and organic cotton. It features a nylon cloth interior and a hook and loop closure. These little bags are great for keeping sandwiches, chips, fruit and other food items fresh while you’re on the go.

The 3 piece cutlery set is composed of 51% bamboo fiber and 49% plastic. A fork, spoon and knife all come together in a convenient carrying case. The set is perfect for being on the go and eliminating the use of disposable plastic utensils! Through a partnership with 1% For The Planet , one percent of sales will be donated to nonprofits dedicated to protecting the planet. Because we like to support companies who walk the talk.

READY TO BUILD YOUR OWN MERCHANDISE COLLECTION? Let’s chat! Click the link to start a project below.

START A PROJECT

MAKE YOUR MERCHANDISE MATTER

contact@fai rware.com 604. 732 . 3247 866. 606. 3247