Merch is the Message: Where music and fashion converge to move culture
Every tour, merch table, and artist e-commerce drop moves apparel at enormous scale, making merch one of the music industry’s most significant procurement streams and a meaningful part of its Scope 3 footprint. It’s also uniquely personal: fans keep concert tees for decades, wear them until they fall apart, and sometimes frame them. Few garments inspire that kind of loyalty.
This session brings together merch leadership, artists, and the supply chain to explore how that purchasing power can be redirected toward better outcomes through regenerative fibers, circular design, greater transparency, and products fans and artists can feel good about. We’ll get specific about what’s blocking the shift, including cost, lead times, minimums, licensing, and approvals, and what it will take to make sustainable merch the industry standard rather than a premium upgrade.
Moderator - Marci Zaroff, Founder/CEO, ECOfashion Corp
Speakers include:
Olivia Kelly, Senior Director, Universal Music Group
Sumner Becker, Alto Saxophone, Lawrence
Kristina “Red” Tanner, Partner, Activist Artists Management
Part of MSA’s Wear the Change platform, uniting artists, labels, retailers, manufacturers, and fans around a more sustainable approach to what we make, buy and wear.
Produced by the Music Sustainability Alliance