The Apparel Chair’s Guide to Prepping for Summer Break

Summer break will be here before y'all know it, especially if you're a busy apparel chair for your chapter. With all the events you need to prepare merch for while dealing with acads, time will def fly without you noticing.

But y'know what would make your summer break super worth it? Treating it as your R&R while stimulating your creative juices, so you can come back for Fall sem refreshed, re-energized, and ready to design new merch!

Here are some things you can do before summer break as an apparel chair:

Settle your pending chapter merch orders

This one is a given, but sometimes you need a reminder, especially when juggling multiple orders, finals, making summer plans, and keeping up with the newest beef between YouTubers or TikTokers (v important).

Before summer break rolls in, and ideally, before your finals start, you should be progressing with your chapter's merch orders. This is especially important if y'all do Fall Recruitment, as your members need their Work Week and Recruitment Week shirts before Fall sem starts. So better get on a call with your university’s Campus Manager and check if everything is good for production.

If you get everyone to order their merch for Fall sem events before summer break starts, you can def enjoy your vacation more and let us stress out in your stead. Jk. Maybe not jk. If you’re doing a group order link for your chapter, read this blog on how to make it succeed.

Plan a few trips to the mall for inspo

Have you ever invited your friends to just wander around the mall and look at what your favorite brands are putting on display? Now that we've given you the idea, y'all gotta schedule it now. After all, it's a low-commitment way of keeping up with the new styles your chapter will likely love and gets you out of bed since you aren't just brainrotting on Pinterest for ideas.

You can also plan your browsing trips according to a specific goal. Dedicate a day to look at athleisure brands, then the next trip for accessories or non-clothing merch so you can compare their stuff without getting too cluttered with ideas in one go.

Follow new brands or influencers other members love on social media

While you're all still on campus, you should def ask what brands, influencers, and celebrities your chapter likes apart from your usual ones. Start following their recommendations on IG, TikTok, and maybe even on Pinterest, and let your algo show you their posts. Pretty soon, you'll see more inspo every time you browse your feed and get your creative juices consistently flowing, even just casually.

Subscribe to your fav brands’ emailing list

You might be thinking, “I don't even like opening my emails, why would I willingly sign up for more emails?” But think about it: how are you gonna learn about new releases your chapter can customize for Fall sem merch before everyone else does? You're essentially getting your favorite brands to send you info about their new stuff so you don't have to track trends manually.

The best apparel chairs work smart as much as they work hard. Or they make brands work for them. Jk.

Actually take a break

It's summer break. It's vacation. Don't fall into that blackhole of working on your chapter's merch when literally everyone else has their brains shut off for the next few weeks. The tips we mentioned above are all designed to help you fulfill your duties as an apparel chair as passively as possible so you can enjoy your vacay.

Keep yourself inspired but ensure you're not sneaking in designing your chapter shirts when you're supposed to get your much-needed vitamin sea. If you don’t take breaks, you’ll burn out and find it difficult to think of new merch ideas for your Fall events.