Wearing Your Band On Your Sleeve

Band boosters and parents can show their pride by purchasing merchandise that features the organization’s name and logo.

- Stacy N. Hackett

When The Rebel Regiment from James F. Byrnes High School in Duncan, South Carolina, marches onto the field, its members can look up and see “a sea of blue,” says Beth Scholz, former merchandise chairperson for the Rebel Band Booster Club. “Everything we sell is a certain color of blue, and when the kids look into the stands, they can see how many people are there to support them.”

Band swag, or logoed merchandise, not only gives band supporters a cohesive look but can also add a little bit of revenue to the organization’s bottom line.

While parents of The Rebel Regiment have always regularly and enthusiastically supported the band, the organized approach to selling band merchandise was not developed until 2015. “We started it from scratch three years ago,” Scholz explains. “We got approval from the director to sell a range of merchandise—not just T-shirts. We wanted ‘stuff.’”

“Stuff” includes ball caps, blankets, window decals, hooded sweatshirts, and yes, T-shirts. That first year, the booster board made a conscious decision to offer only a limited number of items, so it could measure the response from parents and students. “We also offered clear tumblers, cell phone cases, and decorative front license plates the first year,” Scholz says. “Those basically flopped, so we dropped them the following year.”

In the fall of 2016, the Rebel Band Booster Club added more merchandise, including rain ponchos, coin purses, coffee mugs, stadium seat cushions, and duffle bags. “We just ran with it,” Scholz says. “We relied on our experience as band parents and ordered the items that we would want to buy, use, and wear.”

QUANTITY AND QUALITY