Okay, so you know I’m always messing around with side hustles, right? Well, this time I decided to dive into the whole “maverick merchandise” thing. Basically, selling stuff related to the “Top Gun” movies. I figured, with the new movie being a smash hit, there’d be a market for it.
First thing I did? Research. I spent a solid afternoon just Googling “Top Gun merchandise,” checking out Etsy, Redbubble, Amazon, you name it. I wanted to see what was already out there, what was selling well, and what kind of price points people were charging. Turns out, there’s a TON of stuff, but a lot of it is kinda generic or low-quality. That’s where I saw my opportunity.
Next up, designs. I’m not a graphic designer by any stretch of the imagination, but I can use Canva. I played around with some iconic quotes from the movie, some simple silhouettes of the F-14, and even tried my hand at a few original designs. Nothing too crazy, just clean and appealing. I aimed for a slightly more “premium” feel than the usual fan merch.
Then came the sourcing. I didn’t want to deal with holding inventory or shipping stuff myself, so I went the print-on-demand route. I tried out a couple of different providers – Printful and Teespring – ordering samples of my designs on t-shirts, mugs, and posters. Honestly, the quality varied a bit. Printful’s shirts were a little nicer, but Teespring had better prices on mugs. I ended up going with a mix, depending on the product.
Setting up the online store was probably the easiest part. I used Shopify. It’s super user-friendly, even for a tech dummy like me. I uploaded my designs, wrote some product descriptions, and set my prices. I tried to price things competitively, but also high enough to make a decent profit margin. Remember, this is supposed to be a hustle, not a charity!
Now, the real challenge: getting people to actually buy stuff. I’m not a marketing whiz, so I kept it pretty simple. I posted about my store on my personal social media accounts, ran a few small Facebook ads targeting “Top Gun” fans, and even tried to get some traction on relevant Reddit subreddits. Let me tell you, Reddit can be brutal. You gotta be careful not to come across as too sales-y.
The results? Eh, mixed. I definitely made some sales, enough to cover my initial costs and even make a little bit of profit. But it wasn’t exactly a goldmine. My best-selling items were the t-shirts with the quote “Talk to me, Goose.” Classic. The mugs did okay, and the posters didn’t really move at all.
What did I learn? Well, the “maverick merchandise” market is definitely crowded. It’s tough to stand out. But I also learned that quality matters. People are willing to pay a little more for something that looks and feels good. And marketing is crucial. I need to up my game in that area if I want to really scale things up.
Am I going to keep doing it? Maybe. I’m not sure. It was a fun experiment, and I learned a lot. But it also takes time and effort. Right now, I’m focusing on other things. But who knows? Maybe I’ll revisit it in the future with a new strategy.
Anyways, that’s the story of my brief foray into the world of “Top Gun” merchandise. Hopefully, it was somewhat interesting or helpful. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go watch the movie again.
