From Design to Delivery: Merch Made Simple with Coastal Dept.
At CannaSomms, we spend a lot of time talking to founders, creators, and operators across industries. And no matter if you’re a mom-and-pop coffee shop, a touring comic, or a multi-state cannabis brand, one thing keeps coming up: merch is hard.
What starts as a fun idea - “let’s drop a t-shirt, maybe some mugs” - quickly turns into a logistical nightmare. You’ve got designs to make, e-commerce to build, orders to ship, returns to manage, and that one person who keeps DM’ing you about whether the hoodie runs true to size. Suddenly your side project is eating into every hour you don’t have.
That’s exactly why we partnered with Coastal Dept., an art and design studio that lives and breathes this stuff. They don’t just make merch—they give you a merch solution from A to Z.
The Problem: Merch Gets Messy, Fast
Merch is one of the most overlooked arms of brand building. Everyone wants it, but no one wants to babysit it. And the reality is, doing it wrong costs more than doing it right: inventory that never moves, customer emails piling up, glitchy checkout pages that lose sales.
We’ve seen it firsthand. Solid brands with incredible products or personalities get bogged down in the chaos of managing t-shirts, posters, or hats. Instead of amplifying your brand, merch becomes a distraction.
The Solution: Coastal Dept.’s “Handle-It-All” Merch Approach
Coastal Dept. doesn’t play halfway. They’ve built a system designed to free brands up while still giving fans/customers the merch they crave:
Full e-commerce builds: Secure, seamless online stores built on platforms you can trust. Not some half-baked setup - real storefronts designed to look and feel like your brand.
Ongoing e-comm management (if you want it): After the setup, they can keep running the show - or hand you the keys. Your call.
Automated merch solutions: Forget inventory headaches. No overhead, no boxes in your garage. Just drop a design (or let the team at Coastal Dept. create one for you) and they handle the rest - production, shipping, fulfillment.
Creative design support: Because merch isn’t just about slapping your logo on a shirt. It’s about creating something people actually want to wear, use, and show off.
In-person event solutions (select situations): For clients who want merch available on-site, Coastal Dept. can pop up and sell directly at your event. This approach requires upfront funding to cover inventory and labor hours, but it creates an immediate connection with your audience and turns live events into powerful brand moments.
Who’s This For? (Spoiler: Pretty Much Everyone)
If you’ve ever thought, “We should do merch, but I don’t have the time,” then this is for you.
Local businesses who want to rep their town with pride but can’t manage shipping logistics.
Touring comedians, musicians, and creators who need merch on the road without the hassle of boxes and buy-ins.
Cannabis brands who already have more compliance headaches than anyone should, and don’t need another operational arm to slow them down.
Basically, if you’ve got a brand, Coastal Dept. has the infrastructure to make merch work for you instead of against you.
Ready to Get Your Merch Life Together?
Merch doesn’t have to drain your time, your wallet, or your sanity. With this crew, you can finally have the kind of merch that fuels your brand instead of fights it.
So whether you’re hustling in your hometown, headlining shows, or scaling cannabis across multiple states, stop letting merch be the thing that slips through the cracks. Hit us up at CannaSomms - we’ll connect you with the right people and get you rolling.