Frequently Asked Questions

Yes - it's official merchandise designed by fans. Every music artist partner you see in the Softside platform is here “officially,” meaning they are authorizing the creation and sales of fan-designed merch within the scope of our Terms of Service. They grant access to specific IP assets that you may use within designs, as well as approve every item before it is listed.

There are two ways you can submit your work for a collaboration.

The first option is the Merch Template Builder.

This is where you can build your merch based on filters set by the artist. Simply select an item, such as our t-shirts or hoodies, as well as blank color, and drop in your original design(s). Plus, you can download and incorporate the artist's pre-approved assets, such as their official logo, images, and other approved design elements.

The second option is the Portfolio submission.

We understand designing takes time, so we do not require our community to create anything from scratch in order to get their work in front of our partners.

In your Creator Dashboard, you will see there is a Portfolio tab where you can upload examples of past creative work you've made. You can update this at any time. When you submit your Softside Portfolio link to an artist partner, you are essentially demonstrating your creative style and the direction you'd go in if selected to design their merch. So the contents of your Portfolio are not the actual merch designs that'd go to production, but rather, a representation of your skills and artistic style. If approved, you will be given further designing instructions to create a new design based on your submitted work.

Whatever you can imagine as a merch design! We accept original graphic designs, illustrations, paintings, collages, photography, and other static visual content for both submission options. No prior design experience is required.

"Original" means that your work is not copied, adapted, or reproduced from any other source or third party.

No. Please see Softside's gen AI policy here.

All approved merch designs must be PNG (preferred) or JPEG files. The file must have a resolution of at least 300 dots per inch ("DPI"). The maximum file size that can be uploaded is 10mb.

We highly recommend creating work with transparent backgrounds when possible for a stronger merchandise layout.

TIP ON SUBMITTING A HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGE: if exporting a photo of a design from your mobile phone, it is encouraged to export as “Actual Size.” If possible, you should download directly from your computer by either sharing to a cloud-based program or using an adapter. If saving from Photoshop, please use “save as” instead of "export as." It is strongly discouraged for images to be sent to oneself as a text message or as a screenshot, as the image will be resized and compressed, which will negatively affect the image's quality. We may not be able to move forward with your work if your image has a low quality resolution.

Yes - approved assets will be provided for you to use in your work.

When creating a merch design, you will see there is an Artist Notes button, which may contain downloadable links to assets containing the artist's intellectual property ("IP"), such as official logos, images, trademarks, and other design elements. You are welcome to incorporate any of those assets into the content you upload to your Merchandise Template before submitting to that specific music artist.

Our artist partners have licensed this IP to Softside for use by creators on our platform. Any other artist-related IP not included in the Artist Notes - such as photos, album artwork, or design elements found elsewhere online - is not permitted unless it is an original design that you created and 100% own.

Unless stated otherwise, using an artist's assets within your designs is optional. You may create and submit unique work without the artist assets, as long as you are not including any unauthorized IP.

You may modify the assets to fit your design's aesthetic, such as change the color of a logo, crop an image, layer with other designs, etc. Final approval of any modifications is at the discretion of our partners.

We understand creators may have accounts on other creative platforms and social media channels.

You are welcome to post designs on your social media or personal portfolio websites for displaying purposes only. You may not imply an official partnership where there is none.

The designing/selling rights granted to Softside, including access to the artist's IP, are authorized and licensed to us, and further sub-licensed to you as a creator, solely for the purpose of creating approved fan merchandise on the Softside platform. This means that all approved designs must only be sold within Softside's authorized production & sales channels.

Selling products that contain licensed designs through third-party platforms is strictly prohibited.

Access to artist intellectual property is a privilege extended by each music artist and forms the foundation of the Softside platform. To ensure we can continue offering creators the opportunity to design official merchandise, all users must acknowledge and respect these terms before creating an account.

Yes. However, you may only use IP that has been explicitly approved within the Softside platform. This includes lyrics and trademarked phrases. If an asset is not provided or approved within Softside, it may not be used.

You may only use fonts that you own or are licensed to use for commercial purposes, in accordance with the font license's terms and conditions. Design software and platforms such as Adobe and Canva outline which fonts are permitted for free commercial use within their respective policies. It is the creator's responsibility to ensure they have the appropriate rights to use any fonts commercially before uploading work to the Softside platform.

All approved merchandise designs are owned by the respective music artist partner, as they incorporate and rely upon the artist's name, image, and likeness.

If you submit a design through the Merch Template Builder and it is approved, copyright ownership of the final design - including any requested edits - will be transferred to the applicable music artist partner.

If you submit work through a Portfolio submission and it is approved, copyright ownership of the finalized design - including any requested edits - will be transferred to the applicable music artist partner. You will continue to retain ownership of the other content in your Portfolio.

Once a design is approved, you'll receive a copyright transfer agreement to review and sign. This step is required before the design can move into production.

If there is ever a future scenario where Softside or an artist partner wants to utilize the design for other purposes outside of our platform (i.e. bulk order for a tour), you will be sent a new agreement that reflects any updated terms, such as the use, mutually agreed compensation, and other details.

Creators whose designs are approved and sold as official merch through Softside earn a royalty on every sale.

The minimum guaranteed royalty paid to creators is 15% of Net Revenue per sale. Creators may be paid a higher royalty at the discretion of the respective music artist partner.

Net Revenue is defined as: Retail Price - Production Costs - Transaction/Credit Card Fees.

• Retail Price is the price a customer pays for a product before shipping fees or sales tax are added at checkout. Retail Price shall be inclusive of any promotional discounts that may be added for specific campaigns.
• Production Costs are the costs required to manufacture and fulfill a product. These may vary depending on the type of item, material, and size.
• Transaction/Credit Card Fees are the fees incurred to process a transaction in our platform. Softside does not determine these fees - they are set by our payment partner, Stripe. The transaction fee is currently set at 2.9% + 30¢ USD. Bank transfer fee is 0.25% + 25¢ per payout. Additional fees may be incurred for international banks or currency conversions.

Softside works with music artists across all genres and career stages, which means a "one-size-fits-all" approach to royalty splits isn't realistic. We recognize that every music artist runs a unique merchandise business, and therefore, the general strategy surrounding that business may significantly vary.

As such, we empower our music artist partners to structure their Softside merch partnerships as they see fit, including deciding how revenue is shared with their creative community. The 15% royalty serves as a minimum guaranteed baseline to ensure fair compensation.

If your merch design is approved for production, you will be prompted to set up your Softside Earnings by connecting your bank account through our integration with Stripe. Earnings are paid out weekly in your selected currency.

Softside's artist shops and marketplace are curated by the artist teams themselves. Every item is reviewed and approved by the artist before it's listed. This approach prioritizes quality over quantity, as we believe that a "free-for-all" style platform would not be an enjoyable experience for artists or fans.

However, we know this means there are some great designs that are unfortunately turned down. This is top of mind as we further develop Softside with additional collaboration tools and portfolio features to promote discovery and community - more on this soon!

Yes! In your Creator Dashboard you will see there is an area where you can request specific artists.

We're currently operating on an invite-only basis while in beta, but plan to open the platform to all artists in the future. Your requests help our team gauge demand and prioritize adding your favorite artists as soon as possible.

We ship worldwide.

However, there are certain countries we cannot ship to due to legal restrictions and/or shipping carrier limitations. At this time Softside cannot ship to: North Korea, Russia, Belarus, the Gaza Strip region in Palestine, Ecuador, Cuba, Iran, Syria, and Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk regions in Ukraine. The ongoing Russian war in Ukraine severely limits our producer's shipping to Ukraine, and therefore for now we can only ship products to Ukraine that are fulfilled in our producer's Latvian facility. Furthermore, our producer's shipping carriers may not be able to offer shipping to certain locations based on natural disasters and other service disruptions. This list may change periodically.

It takes us approximately 2-5 business days to create & fulfill orders before we ship. Our average shipping period is approximately 3-7 business days after the order is fulfilled. Please be aware that these timelines may vary based on the item and location.

For non-US orders: if your package has not arrived during the suggested delivery time in your confirmation email, please check with your local customs office, as they might be holding it there.

We carry sizes S-3XL for almost all of our merchandise, and go up to 5XL for certain blanks as well. If you do not see your size available, please get in touch with us and we will see if we are able to accommodate.

Fulfillment partners are located in numerous locations around the world, including the US, Canada, UK, Spain, Latvia, Australia, Japan and more.

Whenever possible, orders are fulfilled from a location close to the delivery destination. In cases of capacity or inventory limitations, an order may ship from a different region. This localized fulfillment approach helps reduce shipping times, lower costs for customers, and minimize CO₂ emissions associated with long-distance transport.

Our production partners use direct-to-garment (DTG) printing for almost all of our merch production. With DTG, ink is sprayed onto the apparel, which helps it soak better into the fabric and makes the print less prone to fading. We use Kornit printers for our DTG production, which use less energy and produce almost zero wastewater with water-based vegan inks. Our producers are partnered with ethical trade organization Sedex to allow monitoring of supplier compliance and transparency.

Softside merch is printed on demand, meaning that our products are only created once we receive an order. We do not hold or throw out any excess inventory. This production method reduces the amount of fabric waste that is typically seen with conventional manufacturing. However, it also means that we do not have extra items available to make exchanges. Therefore, our company policy is that all orders are considered final sale. Please see our policy here.

Contact us at hello@softsidemerch.com within 3 weeks of your purchase date if your order has been lost in transit or has arrived defective, damaged, or misprinted and we will do our best to sort out and correct the issue. We do not handle returns for size exchanges or buyer's remorse.

Contact us immediately at hello@softsidemerch.com with your name, order number, and the item(s) you want to cancel. Please be aware that if the item(s) has already been shipped out we cannot cancel it and the order will be considered final sale.

Some shipments may incur additional processing/customs charges upon arrival. The fee varies depending on the order value, country limits, and other factors based on the item itself. These charges are out of our control and the responsibility of the customer. If you have any questions regarding potential import duties, please check with your local customs office.

Please join our beta waitlist by filling out your information in our form here. You may also contact us with any questions at hello@softsidemerch.com.

Yes.

You retain full creative control over your merch - nothing can be listed without your approval. This includes the designs themselves along with the blank item and color.

You can manage all design and portfolio submissions directly in your Artist Dashboard. The Submission Queue allows you to review, approve, or request edits before anything goes live. For more details on the submission process, see "How can I submit my work?" in the Creator FAQ above.

Once approved and published, merch items appear in your official Softside fan merch shop as well as the Softside fan merch marketplace.

While Softside is in beta, approved merch is published exclusively within Softside. Artist web store integrations are an expansion we're actively working toward and plan to introduce soon.

In the meantime, we recommend artist partners add a "Fan Merch" tab to their website that links to their official Softside shop. Your shop will also include a button that encourages fan submissions. We'll keep you in the loop as artist store integrations roll out.

Music artists own the IP of the merch they approve. Once a design is approved, Softside sends the creator a copyright transfer agreement, which must be signed before the item can be published.

Creators (the fans designing your merch) earn a minimum royalty of 15% per sale. All royalties are calculated on the net revenue (after cost of goods is deducted).

You may choose to increase the creator royalty percentage if you'd like. Any increase is taken from your artist share. The creator royalty percentage is visible to users when they submit designs.

Softside honors the royalty rate agreed to at the time a creator submits their design or portfolio. For example, if you later lower the creator royalty (i.e. from 30% back to the 15% minimum), any existing merch listings set at a higher rate will continue to pay out at that rate for as long as they remain live. Similarly, designs already in your Submission Queue will retain the royalty rate they were submitted with if approved.

It's important to be intentional with the split you share with your fans. Higher royalty payouts encourage fans to collaborate with you through official channels rather than counterfeit outlets. We believe meaningful partnerships built on mutual respect foster stronger, more sustainable relationships between artists and their communities.

Payments are processed through Stripe and issued on a weekly basis. In your Earnings tab, you'll be prompted to create a Stripe account to enable direct bank transfers in your selected currency.

As long as you'd like.

We produce orders on demand, giving you full control over your drop timelines.

You can run a one-week drop, rotate designs monthly, or maintain an ongoing store that stays live indefinitely (or any combination of these). Our team can offer guidance, but the final decision is always yours.

You set your retail price in U.S. dollars, but the price that customers see on their end is displayed in the local currency of the country they are browsing from, where applicable.

No. Softside merch is produced on demand, so products are only created once an order is placed. This removes the need to purchase inventory upfront and eliminates the risk of unsold merchandise going to waste. There are no minimum sales requirements to begin production - you can sell just one t-shirt and we will still produce and fulfill that order.

We'd love to have you. However, you will need to check the specific terms of your merch agreement to see if you are exclusively bound to their services.

We aim for the Softside platform to be a collaborative space available to all music artists and fan communities. At the moment, we only work with our merchandise partner for production, but we plan to integrate other producers into our process very soon, including ones that you may currently work with. Please get in touch with us if you have any questions.

Yes, we can discuss bulk options. Please get in touch with us if there is Softside merch you'd like to sell offline, such as on tour or at an event/pop-up.