Event merch: printed for the day, sold on the night, the rest sold online.

What we run for an event

An event sells its merch in one place, on one day, to people who will not be back until next year. So the job is a countdown: the right number of shirts, in the right sizes, on the stand before the gates open, and somewhere for the rest to go afterwards.

We design the range with you, size the run, print it and put it on a staffed stand. Afterwards we settle the day and list what is left in your online store. If you do not have a store, we build one. You approve the artwork and tell us the date.

1. 1Six weeks outArtwork locked. You approve every design. Nothing is printed before you have.
2. 2Four weeks outPrint run. The quantities are fixed from your ticket sales and a size curve, and the run goes to press.
3. 3One week outDelivery. The stock arrives and is counted against the order, with a week in hand.
4. 4The day beforeSet-up. The stand is built, and every design and size is counted in.
5. 5Event daySold at the stand, by a vending partner’s sellers.
6. 6The day afterSettlement. What is left is counted out, and the day is settled by design and by size.
7. 7The week afterLeftovers listed online.

Divini’s own dataOur own schedule for a printed run. · checked 6 October 2026

Six weeks is the latest, not the target. Threadbird, a screen printer, lists 10 to 15 business days to produce printed apparel and 1 to 5 more to ship it: up to four weeks.

Filed or disclosedSource: Threadbird, Turnaround Times & Production Schedule · checked 6 October 2026

Broidr, which supplies merchandise to event marketers, plans backwards the same way: production three to four weeks before the event, and delivery one week before.

Third-party estimateA supplier’s planning guide, published in June 2026. · Source: Broidr, What Event Marketers Need to Know About Merchandise Lead Times · checked 6 October 2026

The week in hand matters more here than on a tour. A tour that loses a delivery loses a night. An event has one day.

How many to print

The run is sized from two things: how many people are coming, and what sizes they wear.

From attendance

atVenu, which makes settlement software for merch tables, reports that 21% of fans bought merchandise at the concerts it settled in 2025. It is an average across concerts, not a forecast for your event, and we start from it only when an event has no sales of its own. If the event has run before, or already sells online, its own figures replace it.

Filed or disclosedSource: atVenu, Artist Merchandise Trends of 2025 · checked 6 October 2026

From a size curve

A size curve is the share of a run that each size takes. Suppliers publish the split they see across group orders, and three of them agree on its shape: large is the most ordered size, and medium, large and extra large together make up 75 to 80% of an order.

Third-party estimateThree suppliers’ published guides to ordering sizes for a group. · Source: Manatee Shirt, Average T-Shirt Size Distribution, The Adair Group, Shirt Order Size Distribution, RushOrderTees, How To Order The Right T-Shirt Sizes For Groups · checked 6 October 2026

The figures

Size	Share of an order
XS	2%
S	10%
M	25%
L	30%
XL	20%
2XL	10%
3XL	3%

One supplier’s split for a general group of adults. The same guide gives a college group twice as many smalls, and a sports team more of the largest sizes.

Third-party estimateSource: Manatee Shirt, Average T-Shirt Size Distribution · checked 6 October 2026

That curve is a default, and your crowd is not a general group. Once your store has taken orders, we buy against what your own audience wore.

An example plan

Here are both steps worked for an event of 2,000 people. It is an example, not a real event and not a quote.

Quantity planAn example

1Attendance

2,000

2Buying, at 21%

420

3Tees to print

420

XS

8

S

42

M

105

L

126

XL

84

2XL

42

43XL

13

5Cases, at 72 a case

6

1. 1Tickets sold so far, or the capacity if the event is not yet on sale.
2. 2atVenu’s average for concerts in 2025. Your own past sales replace it.
3. 3One tee for each buyer. A second product is planned on a line of its own.
4. 4The largest size is 13 shirts. Across three designs that is about four of each.
5. 5Gildan packs 72 tees to a case in sizes S to 2XL, at about 30 lb a case. The whole run is one small delivery.

Divini’s own dataAn example, worked from atVenu’s average, the published size curve and a wholesaler’s case sizes. · Source: atVenu, Artist Merchandise Trends of 2025, Manatee Shirt, Average T-Shirt Size Distribution, BuckWholesale, How many t-shirts are in a Gildan case · checked 6 October 2026

The plan is where leftovers are decided. Every design you add splits each size again, and the thinnest lines are the ones still in the box afterwards. So we keep the range short. atVenu’s review points the same way: smaller product lines averaged more in sales per show than larger ones.

Filed or disclosedSource: atVenu, Artist Merchandise Trends of 2025 · checked 6 October 2026

Selling on the day

We do not put our own people behind the stand. A vending partner does: a company whose business is staffing merch stands and running the till. We choose one to fit the event’s size, its site and its country.

The sellers

The vending partner’s own, so you do not need to find volunteers.

The till

The vending partner’s. It takes the payments and handles the sales tax on what is sold there.

The count

Every design and size is counted in before the gates open and counted out at close. What was sold is the difference.

The statement

One statement from us, by design and by size, for the stand and for what sells online afterwards.

Three things we ask on the first call: where the stand goes and what the site gives it, such as cover and power; the site’s rules for traders; and whether the merchandise concession for the site is already let to another company.

The money

Everywhere else on this site we are paid one way: a share of the profit. An event can be priced that way, or for a fee. The choice is yours.

A share of the profit

Nothing up front. We buy the run and carry the risk on it. The day’s sales pay for the stock and the sellers first, and we are paid a share of the profit that is left. What does not sell is ours, and goes into the online store.

A fee

You buy the run and pay us a fee for the work. The profit from the day is yours, and so is the stock that is left. We list it online for you.

Put plainly: a share costs you nothing if the day is quiet, because the unsold stock is ours. A fee costs you the run and the fee, and leaves you all of the profit.

No figure for either is printed here. The share, or the fee, is put in writing before anything is printed, and the quickest way to see it is to book a call. How a share is worked out is set out on how we get paid.

The hall fee is yours to set

On a tour the venue often takes a percentage of merch sales, called a hall fee. At your own event that is your decision. If the site charges its traders, tell us: it comes off the takings before anyone is paid.

Questions

Is there a minimum attendance?

Yes: 500 people. At atVenu’s average of 21% buying, 500 people is about 105 buyers. Split a run that small across seven sizes and the thinnest line is two shirts.

Divini’s own dataThe minimum is our own. The 21% is atVenu’s figure for 2025. · Source: atVenu, Artist Merchandise Trends of 2025 · checked 6 October 2026

Who staffs the stand?

A vending partner’s sellers. They are not your volunteers and they are not our staff. The partner employs them and brings the tills. We choose the partner to fit the event, brief it on the range, and settle with it afterwards. You deal with us.

How do card payments work?

Through the vending partner’s till. Its sellers take the payments on its own card readers, and it handles the sales tax on those sales. Expect most of the stand’s sales to be by card or phone: atVenu’s review calls cashless the baseline, and reports that tap-to-pay is more popular than inserting a chip or swiping.

Filed or disclosedSource: atVenu, Artist Merchandise Trends of 2025 · checked 6 October 2026

After the event the takings are settled against the count, and you are sent one statement by design and by size.

What happens to unsold stock?

It is counted at close and listed online in the week after the event. Who owns it depends on how the event was priced.

On a share, we bought it. It goes into the store with the rest of the range, and what never sells is our loss and not yours. On a fee, it is yours. We list it online for you, and what it sells for is yours.