How to Design Sorority Merch Your Chapter Will Love

What's a sorority without the cutest custom hoodies to show off your sisterhood? Custom apparel is a major part of Greek life. As the merch chair, it's your job to translate your chapter’s pride and style into sorority designs that make your sisters stand out. 

But it’s a tough job balancing college and all the decisions that come with being the apparel chair. Lucky for you, there's a more efficient way to design sorority merch that screams CHAPTER GOALS. 

Say goodbye to mid merch designs with these steps:

Step 1: Know Your Chapter’s Identity

Every chapter has iconic colors, Greek letters, or references unique to them. Understanding these elements allows you to create designs representing your chapter’s legacy and values. 

Your chapter already has its unique identity. As the merch chair, your job is to understand that existing vibe and find ways to make your merch trendy without losing the core identity. For example, if your sorority’s identity is preppy, you can lean into soft girl elements in your next release. The goal isn’t to reinvent the wheel, but to keep things relevant

Scroll through your chapter’s Instagram or chat with the PR chair to get a clear picture of your style. Then think about how make the merch fashion-forward while staying true to your chapter’s signature look.

Step 2: Consider the Event

Always think about the event and the audience you’re catering to. Is it for Bid Day, a sporty Philanthropy event, or a casual darty? Each social event serves a different purpose, which requires specific designs. Always consider your merch’s relevance to the event. For instance, big totes would be perfect for retreats, while aprons are ideal for hands-on sisterhood activities like baking. Flags, on the other hand, are best suited for special events like recruitment displays or Bid Day photos, not casual get-togethers. 

Think about the weather too. Embroidered caps and tumblers are perfect for sunny Game Days, while cozy sweaters are a thoughtful choice for winter retreats.

Step 3: Research Current Trends

Prabhakar Raghavan, a senior VP at Google, shared that Gen Zs made TikTok the major hub for fashion discovery. To keep up with trends, start building your FYP by watching videos that align with your chapter’s aesthetic, like Y2K, grunge, or minimalist fashion. Check out hashtags like #Sorority and #RushTok to see all the sorority fashion content blowing up on your feed. Follow other chapter accounts so the algorithm can start serving you sorority-specific content. If you're short on time, follow your chapter members’ favorite fashion brands for some quick inspo. 

Don’t forget about Pinterest, the holy grail for collecting design inspiration. It’s usually the first stop for apparel chairs when creating custom merch. You can find images of sororities wearing their merch, plus brand logos and fonts that’ll spark major design ideas.

We loved the idea of bringing together all the ways you can gather inspiration from social media platforms, and that’s exactly what you’ll find on our website. Like TikTok and Instagram, you can check out trending chapter looks and outfits. And just like Pinterest, you can browse existing designs and filter them by orgs, events, and styles. If you find something you love, you have the option to customize it, Canva-style, with our Design Tool (more on that in the next step!).

Step 4: Create Your Own Design Using the Design Tool

Shameless plug: if you want to design your Greek custom wear exactly how you envision it, use our Design Tool!

1,000+ Garments to Choose From

We’ve got our own Fresh Prints apparel plus 85 other brands to choose from, so you’ve got plenty of options. You’ll find custom sweatshirts, classic tees, trendy tanks, and even cool hats. Whatever garment you’re imagining, you’ll be able to bring to life.

Think Canva, but for Greek Life

We’ve preloaded fraternity designs and sorority designs, so you can easily customize your Greek apparel without starting from scratch. The drag-and-drop interface makes it super simple.

Upload Your Templates and Customize

You can upload your templates and customize them however you want. The Design Tool lets you adjust colors, fonts, and even add extra elements to make it truly yours.

Unlimited Mockups and Revisions

You can order mockups and request revisions for free, so there’s no limit to your creativity. And if you still need to ask our Art team for help, don’t worry—our tool lets you make quick edits to the proofs you get, so you won’t have to wait 24 hours to tweak your design.

Step 5: Comply with Rules

No one wants to create the perfect merch only for it to be rejected over Nationals’ rules. 

Your CM is your best friend here—they’ll guide you through the compliance process and make sure everything looks good. Better to double-check now than deal with issues later, right?

Step 6: Get Approval From Your Exec Team

Get some feedback, but don’t fall into the trap of holding a big group-wide vote. It can turn into a never-ending debate because you can’t please everyone. Keep it simple and share your mockups with only the exec team for approval. 

If you can’t get the entire exec team (bc that can be up to 20 girls depending on how big your chapter is), you can coordinate with the one in charge of a specific event + the President. This way, you get quick, focused feedback without the chaos. 

Plus, with the Design Tool’s unlimited mockup feature, you can easily make the revisions the exec team wants.

Step 7: Execute on Time

If we’ve learned anything, it’s that things can always pop up last minute. So don’t wait until the last minute to order your merch. Start at least 1.5 months before your event to save you from rushing through revisions.

Delays often happen when chapter members don’t place their orders on time or take too long to respond with their size or preferences. It’s important to figure out how to encourage quick responses to keep orders on track. Coordinate with your CM to confirm timelines for production and delivery, and if any updates or adjustments come up, share them as early as possible. 

Designing Greek merch might feel like a lot at first. But with the right tools (*cough* our Design Tool) and strategy, you’ll be serving Greek life merch expert in no time.

Get creative, plan ahead, and let us help you make merch your chapter will love.