I've always been eager with merch. Mostly focusing on shirts and pins, but also other stuff. I enjoy when crazy people place efforts in proposing weird things in collaboration with their favorite artists, yet I rarely purchase things I cannot wear because space in my bunker is limited, I am allergic to dust plus I prefer to spend money in things I actually use.
Pluse, call me an idealistic scenester, but I am still happy to support projects I like with actions and not words.
I find bootleg merch, or in general work of deceased friends unauthorised by next of keen despicable and don't want to have anything to do with that. Despited not being interest in copyrights ( we all steal somebody's work by sampling and doing collage, yet our economic return is null), I would never cash in on some friend's effort.
Yet I have seen some great works also on that front. Thinking about cover artworks by extremoccidente that looked better than the originals, as well as some glorius shirts that pissed off the owners of labels and projects.
I also can understand that in some countries with different economic situations than Switzerland and central/northern Europe, enthusiastic kids find ways to wear what they can't get easily so they set up non-profit limited runs. I saw it happening more often with hardcore and metal, but every now and then some atrax morgue and other shirts pops up here and there, and I think it is a fan approach that maybe is more visceral than my lazy collector one who I simply have to access a widely available website and order with two clicks.
I think it would be a great routine to simply ask before printing, I am sure many would be happy to do that for a couple of copies. But this is how I think.
Surely some bands get crazy and print boutique level merch that is super expensive compared to the effective quality, this is why I am skipping 99% metal shirts I would gladly own. I but 4 books with that money, so no complaints and I just skip it.
I'd love to print more merch as well, but I have no space left at home, so I would only do it with preordered items like I did for the last shirts, two massive boxes arrived, but in one week they were all sent out and everyone was happy (apart from those who preordered and disappeared once things were in).
