How should we budget for apparel over the year?

We can’t really set an exact number for you, but here are a few things to keep in mind:

• What’s your usual chapter/org budget and what percentage of that can be used for merch?
• What are the key chapter events you know you want merch for in the Fall and in the Spring? List your top 3-4 events per semester.
• Based on the events you listed, figure out what expenses are usually involved per event (i.e. for Big/Little reveals you won’t just need merch, you’ll also need accessories, decor, and Big/Little baskets that fit your theme). From there, set a reasonable budget for merch that the exec board agrees with.

You can also decide which merch can be funded by the chapter vs merch that can be paid by members individually.

We’ve worked with a lot of chapters that do group orders or set up limited-time stores for PR merch. In these cases, people will pay for their own order. This allows orgs to have more merch options without being constrained by a specific budget.