BO01 – AI in The Business of Music Merch

Want to turn band shirts into a bigger business opportunity? Join Jon Ladd to learn how to find music clients, create merchandise offers that get attention, and turn conversations into sales. Explore how artwork, apparel, retail-ready packaging, and fulfillment can transform a simple shirt order into a complete merch line. Then see music merchandise designs come to life at ROQ Atrium Booth #2701.

Who Should Come

Screen printers, embroiderers, apparel decorators, shop owners, designers, and sales teams interested in music merchandise, finding new customers, and increasing order value.

What They Will Learn

• Finding Music Merch Customers: Identify bands, artists, venues, and other opportunities for merchandise sales.
• Building a Merch Line That Sells: Develop offers that combine apparel, headwear, accessories, and branded products.
• Artwork That Connects With Fans: Understand how design, audience, and product selection influence merchandise sales.
• Selling the Bigger Idea: Use complete merchandise concepts to start conversations, even when customers ultimately purchase standard shirt orders.
• CRM, AI & Outreach: Learn how to find prospects, personalize conversations, and follow up consistently.
• Retail-Ready Merch & Fulfillment: Explore custom tags, packaging, inserts, and fulfillment as opportunities to increase order value.
• Turning One Gig Into Repeat Business: Build lasting artist relationships that generate future orders, tours, and merchandise launches.

Want to print for your favorite college, sports team, or athlete? Join Steven Farag of Campus Ink to learn how sports licensing, approved vendor relationships, and NIL deals work, what they cost, and how to turn them into profitable opportunities. Using our athletic apparel collection, explore real licensing scenarios and see the designs and decoration techniques come to life throughout the Impressions show floor.

Who Should Come

Print shop owners, apparel decorators, entrepreneurs, and sales teams interested in producing merchandise for schools, sports teams, colleges, and individual athletes. Ideal for beginners exploring sports licensing or established shops looking to expand.

What They Will Learn

• Sports Licensing Fundamentals: Understand trademarks, collegiate licensing agencies, and brand approvals.
• Getting Your First License: Learn how to approach schools, navigate CLC and Affinity, and prepare a successful application.
• Licensed vs. Approved Vendor: Discover when you need a retail license versus authorization to produce directly for a team or institution.
• Costs, Royalties & Profitability: Understand minimum guarantees, royalties, reporting, and how to evaluate the financial opportunity.
• NIL & Athlete Partnerships: Explore opportunities to create merchandise and promotional partnerships with student athletes.
• From Design to Licensed Product: See how athletic apparel designs, garment choices, decoration methods, and sales channels work together.
• Finding Your First Opportunity: Identify practical ways to start with local schools, athletic departments, and college programs.

Cut-and-sew sublimation unlocks fully customized apparel and high-value products, but should you source it or produce it yourself? Learn the equipment, sourcing, costs, pricing, and sales strategies needed to build a profitable sublimation business. Plus, see sublimation prints produced live on the show floor at Impact USA Booth #2319.

Who Should Come

Screen printers, apparel decorators, promotional product distributors, and entrepreneurs looking to expand into fully customized sublimated products without making unnecessary investments.

What They Will Learn

• Cut & Sew Fundamentals: Understand the process from artwork and fabric printing to cutting, sewing, and finished products.
• Source It or Do It: Compare domestic and overseas outsourcing with in-house manufacturing, including costs, minimums, lead times, and equipment investments.
• Artwork: How to design and what tools to use.
• Pricing for Profit: Understand your costs, margins, shipping, labor, and how to quote profitable projects.
• Products & How to Sell Them: Identify opportunities in uniforms, performance wear, corporate apparel, and promotional products, and learn how to find and sell to customers.
• Live Show Floor Production: See sublimation prints produced live at –  Impact USA Booth #2319, connecting classroom education with real-world production.