In the music and entertainment world, merchandise has often been treated as a fast-moving extension of fandom. Produced quickly, cheaply, and at scale. But that model comes with a cost: textile waste, lack of supply chain transparency, and products that don’t always reflect an artist’s values.

In 2024, Roboro had the privilege of collaborating with the team behind Chappell Roan, during a defining chapter of her career. Our work centered on reimagining what merchandise can be when sustainability, storytelling, and the lived human experience lead the way, not as passing trends but as the foundation.

Backstage with Chappell Roan, she shared how her tour even swapped single-use plastic bottles for glass and reusables, showing sustainability in action.

Rethinking Merchandise from the Inside Out

Working with Chappell’s team highlighted both the promise and the complexity of sustainable merchandise. It is no small task to balance fan affordability, maintain ethical and circular practices, and reflect the artist’s creative vision, especially while prioritizing those who produce and receive the final products.

Roboro’s guidance focused on small, practical, and scalable changes that could have tangible impact. For example, we recommended switching the viral Midwest Princess trucker hat from 100% polyester to a 50% polyester / 50% cotton blend. Small material changes like this may seem minor, but they are often the most achievable and meaningful interventions within global supply chains that are notoriously slow to shift.

Our advisory also extended across multiple areas of sustainable merch strategy:

End-of-Life & Circularity Planning: Designing pathways to recycle or repurpose leftover merchandise, respecting the effort of the workers who produced it and minimizing waste.
Vetting Strategic Partnerships: Offering feedback on suppliers and brands on sustainability and transparency.
Centering the Human Element: Chappell communicated clearly that the people are her most important consideration. Roboro helped ensure that both workers and fans were prioritized, creating merchandise that is meaningful, responsible, and aligned with human values.

A powerful example of circularity in the music industry comes from Billie Eilish, who, together with Bravado, led a deal with Spanish recycler Hallotex to transform 400,000 old t-shirts into new yarn, which can then be made into fabric and merchandise. A striking demonstration of how large-scale initiatives can close the loop. Bravado’s innovative thinking around merch has been a key driver in creating sustainable, fan-forward products, including unique upcycled pieces produced in collaboration with Rewilder Goods and Lost Love.

chappell's — Chappell’s tour box filled with her elaborate, signature storytelling costumes, created with stylist Genesis Webb and often in collaboration with designers and makers from the LGBTQ+ community.

Challenges of Sustainable Merchandise

Sustainable merch faces inherent challenges. It is more expensive, raw materials take longer to source, and small-batch production can make it difficult to keep a global tour consistently stocked. These constraints also present opportunities. Even small changes, like the Midwest Princess hat, show how slow, steady adjustments can produce real impact while keeping merch aligned with an artist’s style and fan expectations.

We worked with Ethix Merch and Climate Town on their episode about “brandfill,” a term that refers to cheap, unwanted merch that ends up in landfills. In the episode, they reveal that between 10 and 40 percent of clothing produced is never sold or worn, which shows just how much waste conventional merch practices create.

Roboro provided insights tracing the full lifecycle of merch from raw materials to finished products to help make the environmental and human impact clear. This collaboration aimed to raise awareness and push for ethical, sustainable alternatives to traditional merch.

Watch the video here.

Thought Leadership at the Music Sustainability Summit

Beyond our project work, Roboro actively shares expertise with the entertainment industry on sustainable and ethical practices. We were honored to join a panel at the Music Sustainability Summit alongside industry leaders and advocates for sustainable fashion. During the discussion, we explored the realities of sustainable touring, ethical merchandise, and artist-driven green initiatives.

The entertainment industry is at a turning point. Fans demand transparency, artists want alignment with their values, and the environmental cost of conventional merchandise can no longer be ignored. Roboro’s mission has always been to harness the influence of arts and entertainment for positive change. Working with artists and large-scale teams is essential to shaping global supply chains, reflecting a broader shift in consumer expectations and behavior.

Through thoughtful changes and strategic guidance, we can create a new normal where sustainable, ethical merchandise is affordable, accessible, and mainstream. This proves that creativity, responsibility, and commerce can not only coexist but thrive together. Watch the full panel discussion to learn how artists, production teams, and merch partners can work together to reduce waste, support ethical supply chains, and create a more sustainable entertainment industry.