Draft:Merchandise history

This page is an attempt to document the history of merchandise releases, from their formation up to the present day. It is not a comprehensive list of releases; rather, it intends to outline the general path which the band's merchandise production and distribution has followed over time, whilst additionally highlighting significant individual examples. As the band is still regularly releasing new merchandise, as well as due to the high volume of merchandise and overall poor documentation of these releases, this page is not comprehensive. For a gallery of merchandise releases, see Gallery:Merchandise.
==History==
===Pre-Blue Album (1992–1994)===
:This section, as well as the following section, are primarily abridged from "Merchandise History", published in issue #7 of the Weezer publication Weezine.
The very first piece of Weezer merchandise was produced in 1992, quickly following the recording of the band's first demo. This was a green T-shirt with a hollow flying W below the original Weezer logo printed on its front in white, designed by Karl Koch and silkscreened by a friend of future-fan club founders Mykel and Carli Allan.Koch, Karl. (1996). "Merchandise History". Weezine Issue #7 - Summer 1996 (pg. 11–13). Exactly 20 copies of this shirt were printed, as the band (who had yet to find popularity) could not afford any more. The next official release would not be until Fall 1993, when Koch used his "family's cap connection" to have a line of 24 baseball caps produced. The caps featured the flying W on the front and the original Weezer logo with a star on the back. Twelve were maroon, while the other twelve were kelly green. Another twelve maroon caps were made at some point afterwards. The majority of these caps were given away to friends.
===Blue Album touring (1994–1996)===
During the first in 1994, the band sold shirts with the character Bokkus featured on the back, and a hand-drawn flying W headed by the (now modern) Weezer logo featured on the front. This line of Bokkus tees lasted the majority of the tour, and went through numerous different colors schemes based upon what was available to produce. A few were printed in very small quantities, including the "white with black ink" and "kelly green with white ink" variations, of which there were only 20 made (each). Around Spring of the same year, Koch had multiple new sets of caps made to sell on tour, printed by the hat manufacturing company New Era.Koch, Karl. (2016). Weezine Omnibus: Deluxe Edition.: 18 They shared the same design and layout as the '93 caps, but with the old logo swapped for the modern one. Like the Bokkus line of shirts, these caps were produced in many different color schemes over the course of the tour.
December 1994 Winterland T-shirt designs
Beginning in December 1994 and lasting throughout the World Domination Tour in 1995, a new line of multiple T-shirt designs were created to sell on the road. These tees, distributed by the California-based merchandise distribution company Winterland Productions, included seven unique designs (with some sold in multiple colors, like earlier shirts). Many of the designs included in the set were later re-used in some form by the band, including the iconic hand-drawn "Rock Music" shirt, as well as the "If It's Too Loud, Turn It Down", "Soccer Shirt", and "Little Girl" (also known as 3 sheep) designs. The "Rock Music" shirts were additionally sold through Weezer fan club merchandise order forms in all four of its color variants, as was the "Soccer Shirt"."weezer merchandise order form". (1994). Weezine Issue #1 - Winter 1994 (pg. 12)."or... stuff you might want from our garage...". (1995). Weezine Issue #3 - Summer 1995 (pg. 14). Winterland additionally released baseball caps during the tour, however the company did not want to expend the costs necessary to manufacture them through New Era, and instead opted for less expensive overseas brands. The design of the caps were identical to the earlier ones, and were made in dark green and dark red (later changed to maroon) colors. These two caps were also sold through the fan club. Eventually Winterland switched to a new design, with a hand-drawn flying W stitched with white/silver onto black and maroon caps. Through Koch, New Era itself produced a limited run of caps for the tour, including a black cap with the flying W above the Weezer logo stitched in white on the front and "europe '95" on the back, and a white cap with a black bill that used the same front design but had "summer '95 europe.uk.usa" on the back. There were 24 copies of the first design made, and exactly 51 of the second.
During this time, unique bootleg designs printed and sold by concert-goers were not uncommon. These designs are impossible to fully document, but there are multiple that are known to exist.inthegarage97. (March 6, 2021). "Blue Album bootleg t-shirt printed on Hanes". Instagram. Archived from the original at https://archive.ph/Ls3co. There are also many other miscellaneous pieces of merchandise from this era which cannot be easily categorized or dated. Some notable examples include a white promotional Moby Disc T-shirt that features a small (approx. 1") Weezer logo printed in blue on its front and a DGC logo and store logo on its sleeve, a black tapestry wall hanging featuring the "If It's Too Loud..." emblem, a poster produced by Winterland of the Blue Album cover, a black-knit beanie with a blue Weezer logo stitched on the front, three different promotional cardboard album flats, various stickers and buttons, among many other items.
The Weezer fan club produced some of its own unique pieces of merchandise during this period, in tandem with the band's official tour and promo offerings through Winterland and Geffen. One of the first pieces of fan club merchandise were round blue stickers featuring the Weezer logo; Mykel and Carli were originally sent standard paper stickers by the record label to distribute to fans, however dissatisfaction with the quality of the stickers led to the two printing their own line of higher-end vinyl stickers (now in an oval shape). These were given to all new fan club members until the release of Pinkerton in 1996.: 21 In 1995, the club sent its first Secret Surprise to members, a blue keychain viewfinder with "weezer fanclub ‘95" inscribed on its side. In issue #5 of Weezine, a fan club shirt contest was announced,"Now What????". (1996). Weezine Issue #5 - Winter 1996 (p. 14). and in issue #7 two winning designs were included for sale. These designs were the "Global T-shirt", with front art of the Earth covered by a styled flying W and circled by the text "Weezer fan club" and back art with the text "Weezers unite globally in the official Weezer Fanclub", and the "Under'wear'" T-shirt, with an illustrated blue pair of underwear underneath the text "weezer fan club... because it feels good to be in it". Additionally released around this period was a white "i ♡ mykel & carli" shirt design, of which there were likely 144 copies printed,: 164 as well as the '96 Secret Surprise, a yellow zipper pull.
===Pinkerton touring and Rebel Weezer Alliance (1996–2000)===
Following the band's Blue Album tours, the merchandise torch was passed from Winterland to Giant Merchandising, who would continue to work with the band into the early 2000s. During the between 1996 and 1997, only a few different designs were released.
==See also==
*Merchandise gallery
*Weezer discography
*Weezer Fan Club
==References==
Category:Merchandise