Kerin Cunningham’s dreams of designing merch for a living date all the way back to the mid-2000s, when she first began going to rock shows. The band tees, with their elaborate, eye-catching drawings, always managed to catch her eye—and as her collection grew, an idea began to form. Was this something she could do professionally?
Despite her passion for music, Cunningham never dreamed of performing professionally. Designing the merch felt like a natural fit, but when she enrolled at a prestigious art school in Manhattan, she found the faculty were less than enthusiastic. Speaking with The Fringe, she still remembers the professor who told her, “No one will buy a T-shirt with your artwork unless you’re famous.”
“I was so confused,” she says. “Someone is designing these shirts. Who is it?”
Back then, Cunningham says, she lacked the business savvy to figure out how to break into the music industry. And so, like so many artistic types who find themselves at odds with the constraints of the real world, she pushed her true aspirations aside and pursued something that felt more practical: selling merch at conventions, where the market was more visible. She did that for a few years, until COVID-19 ground everyone’s routines to a halt in 2020. It was then that her true calling began scratching at her imagination again.
“I’ve been making merch for years,” she thought to herself. “There’s no reason I can’t do it for musicians.” Her first collection, an My Chemical Romance-themed pin and merch collection called “Back from the Dead,” began as a portfolio item, but once she posted it on Kickstarter, fans’ enthusiasm exploded. Since then, she’s made her living designing fan merch—both official and bootleg—for bands including (*deep breath*) AFI, Bayside, Car Seat Headrest, Hatebreed, Linkin Park, Senses Fail, Smashing Pumpkins, Social Distortion, Taking Back Sunday, and Yellowcard.
Many a superfan has probably fantasized about forging a similar path, but what does it actually take to be a full-time merch designer? Read on for a candid look at how Cunningham made it big—and what “making it big” actually means in this world.
