HELLO SHOPIFY!
I heard you’re looking for a Head of Merch. Well, you’ve come to the right place.
I’m a 4x founder with 2 exits and 20 years of experience across strategy, creative, product and end-to-end business leadership. God, I’m old.
After selling my first startup and getting a master’s degree, I started a design agency in 2014. Over the next seven years, I built a team of designers, strategists, developers and makers, creating everything from apparel and packaging to connected hardware, experiences and some very unique merch.
I’ve also built and sold products myself, built businesses on Shopify, worked with hundreds of suppliers, and spent enough time thinking about brand, fandom and human behaviour to have many opinions about what merch can actually do.
I doubt you want to see everything I’ve ever made, so here’s the roughly 3% that feels most relevant. (Best viewed on desktop 👀)
Anti-fragile
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Founder
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Brand Strategist
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Creative AF
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Merch Lover
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DTC Builder
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Most Modest Person Ever.
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Why are you still reading this ticker?
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Anti-fragile ✳︎ Founder ✳︎ Brand Strategist ✳︎ Creative AF ✳︎ Merch Lover * DTC Builder * Most Modest Person Ever. * Why are you still reading this ticker? *
In 2014, I started an agency with a graphic designer and a big dream.
7 years later, we were acquired with 15 in-house and 45 contractors.
In my time building and running the agency, I:
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Owned everything end-to-end, from strategy and creative to execution, thinking holistically about the big picture while also getting shit done on the ground.
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I was the lead on creating all sorts of things for my clients end-to-end.
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I also built the systems required for us to grow efficiently.
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This is fairly self-explanatory. I regret nothing.
21 years in biz…
I’ve created a lot of things 😅
I’ve created more things than I can remember. Sure, I’ve done all the basic merch but I’ve also created products like nothing else out there. From hoodies and swag to IoT merch and fart-proof underwear, let’s just say, I’ve got range. Oh, I also produced a movie for $300K that got into Sundance and has now grossed over $21M. 😎
How I Think
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Humans are the most important part of anything I do. Sorry, AI. Human-Centred Design means listening and empathizing.
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Conventional thinking leads to conventional results and honestly, that’s not how my brain works. I think holistically: product, brand, culture, storytelling, community, commerce and experience all working together. I’m a Libra, what can I say? ⚖️
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I always start with end the result in mind. In marketing, I ask myself four questions. What do I want the customer to think, feel, do and remember? Then I design through this lens.
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20 years is enough time to make mistakes and be humbled countless times. I know my strengths and weaknesses and I build systems to get the best possible results.
For HBO, I created interactive merch for the launch of the new season of Westworld.
HBO wanted something that felt unmistakably Westworld and made fans say, “Holy shit, that’s cool.”
We turned the merch into an augmented-reality experience.
Scan it and a Westworld hologram appeared, inviting you to take a personality quiz to find out which character you were. You could then create a branded photo of yourself, which became part of a larger Westworld installation.
If you were a fan of the show, this was very on point. IYKYK
I created and launched an award-winning award
Yes, you read that right.
I noticed that people were tired of getting the same old award that would eventually gather dust on a shelf. We created a responsive IoT award programmed to light up and respond when the winner was trending online. We ended up winning the CAMP Marketer of the Year award (for our award).
As we listened to our clients, the product evolved over several years and took many forms. The goal was to create something that that would elicit a positive response in the user and make them want to share it with their friends. A number of companies ended up creating them as merch for their customers.
I created Fart-proof Undies. Seriously.
Last year, I started building Outfox, a premium underwear brand designed to filter flatulence odours.
Yes, that’s a thing. I’ve been hands-on from day one: identifying the customer problem, developing the product, sourcing technical materials, working through prototypes and fit, finding manufacturing partners, negotiating MOQs and costing, developing packaging, building the brand and Shopify experience, and figuring out how to actually bring the thing to market.
I’ve been neck-deep in the unglamorous parts of making physical products too: lead times, samples that don’t work, supplier constraints, margins, quality control and the thousand tiny decisions between an idea and something a customer can actually hold.
But I love taking something that sounds slightly ridiculous and figuring out how to make it real.
Merch & Brand activations for PwC
How do you make an accounting company cool? Well PwC loved PATIO because we made them very cool. When 360° video became a thing, we jumped on this trend and created branded Google Cardboard merch and experiences for a number of clients. Along with the cardboard, which was a novel giveaway, we shot 360° content and built custom apps aligned to our client's needs.
*** These aren’t quite as cool now but in 2017, they were cool AF. Just saying.
For five years, I led multiple campaigns end-to-end, helping make PwC known for more than just accounting. I was one of the architects behind its “Vision to Reality” campaign, which embraced disruptive technology both internally and with its clients. Of the many projects I did with them, I produced and sold branded Google Cardboard experiences with custom content. We ended up repeating the concept for a number of other clients.
Beverage Brands from Product to Culture
The alcohol industry is brutally competitive. The products are often similar, distribution is crowded, and the brands with the biggest budgets don’t always win. What separates them is often psychology: identity, belonging, ritual and culture. I learned early that a can of beer isn’t just packaging. It’s something people hold at a party, photograph, bring to a cottage and use to signal something about themselves. In that sense, every can sold is a piece of merch. The best brands build an entire world around the product. The can, apparel, events, retail experience, social content and community should all reinforce the same idea.
If you live in Ontario, there’s a good chance you’ve drunk something I helped put on a shelf.
Over the years, I helped develop and launch multiple beverage brands, working across product development, naming, packaging, positioning, launch strategy, campaigns, activations and merchandise. What interested me most was never just selling the liquid. It was figuring out what the brand could mean to someone and then turning that into things people wanted to wear, share and participate in. That meant everything from designing apparel and promotional products to building experiential campaigns around the personalities and communities behind the brands. And yes, product development occasionally meant taste tests at 9 a.m. (Please drink responsibly.)
I made merch for my agency
Because of course I did.
I called PATIO “The Pirate Ship” because our culture was scrappy and passionate, and we did things other agencies were afraid to try. We lived by our motto, “Zig where others Zag.” We never did things just for the money. We liked the challenge.
Our merch came after demand both internally and from fans of our work. Strategy, design, sourcing, supply chain, everything! The sweaters had some very cool designs and we sold out within a month!
Yes, that’s me shaking my booty in my awesome new sweater.
I don't just design the stuff.
I know how to get it made and how to market the shit out of it.
Product strategy → design → prototyping → sourcing → costing → sampling → production → QC → packaging → eCommerce → launch.
I've built companies from the ground up and had a hand in the work every step of the way. I worked directly with manufacturers, suppliers, designers, developers and fulfillment partners to take ideas from a sketch to something someone can actually buy.
I’m also a sponsored athlete so I know a thing or two about that
2X National Champ
Lifelong learner
Often at physio
My agency was acquired in 2021 and became ASTOUND Digital. In 2023, I started First Flight Angels, an angel syndicate to support and advise small businesses in Canada.
Fun Fact: Most of the companies we invest in are built on Shopify.
This is just a taste…
Portfolios are tough when you’ve done literally hundreds of projects. I bet you’re wondering what my specific role was and/or whether my fart-proof underwear actually works. Well, I’m happy to answer both those questions.
Thanks for your consideration!
Charlie
