- Two designers,
today's hottest artists,
and one master of merch.
(intense music plays)
- I'm Tefi Pessoa, and welcome to MTV's "Merch Masters"
the badass competition
where two designers go head to head to design
a must have piece of merch
that every true stand will run to.
Let's meet our designers.
Battling out today,
we have Delaney.
- Hi.
A visual merchandiser and designer,
and we have Izzy,
a budding fashion designer and current student.
How are you guys feeling today?
- Nervous.
- Cute? Capable?
- Yeah.
- [Delaney] Yes.
- All right, are you ready to find out
who you're making merch for?
[Izzy And Delaney] Yeah.
- All right.
Today you'll be designing merch for the first K-pop group to
be featured as an MTV push artist...
(intense music builds)
... 17!
- I love 17 so much.
I cannot believe that they are our musician.
I have been following 17 for so long.
They are one of the best K-pop groups.
- 13 members, three units, one group,
and a whole lot of style.
17 are a global sensation known
for their incredible presence
and pop infused tunes.
Today our designers have to create merch
that 17 will be ready to love.
(bell dings)
- Making a piece of merch for 17
is gonna be such a challenge
and yet so fun because their fandom is out of this world
and super intense.
You do not wanna piss off the K-pop fans.
- Here's how this is gonna work.
You'll have two and a half hours and access to anything
in our design pantry
to create an original piece of merch for 17.
The judges and I will then decide
which one of you will walk away
with the title of "merch master" and a $1,000
cash prize, and I'll give you my Venmo after the show,
just in case you wanna...
(clicks tongue)
- Tefi, gimme that thousand dollars
because mama needs a new pair of Golden Goose.
(laughs)
- Judging this solo would not be any fun
so I brought some experts in
from the fashion and design world
to help me determine a winner.
We have the wonderful, stunning,
talented Chrissy Rutherford.
Ahhh!
She's been at the forefront of the fashion scene
for over a decade.
She was a fashion editor at Harper's Bazaar,
and she's worked alongside brands like
Jimmy Choo, Saks Fifth Avenue, Depop.
- Hey everyone.
- And rounding out our panel, it's Jae Tips.
Known for his collabs with Hat Club and New Era,
he creates amazing custom sneakers, hats and apparel,
and they've been featured on Complex's "100 items to have."
- Happy to be here.
- And to keep things interesting,
each of your designs must also include
a very top secret material.
This challenge is for all the true carats out there
because today's secret material is...
(intense music builds)
Gold!
- Yes, gold!
(Delaney laughs)
Seeing that makes my mind race,
'cause the possibilities are endless.
- Diamonds weren't in the budget.
So we went with the next best thing.
- As soon as they say gold,
I'm immediately feeling relieved.
I'm so excited to be working with gold.
- Using your unique style, you'll have to integrate gold
in your merch designs
and make them uniquely 17 and cool and awesome.
All of those things.
Designers. Are you ready?
- Yeah.
- [Delaney] We're ready.
- Okay good because your challenge starts...
(intense music builds)
now!
(funky music plays)
(Tefi screams)
Let's make it merch.
I love the energy.
- I'm excited to see what they do.
- I'm thinking sealed T-shirt,
chain lining, gold leaf pasties, that's it.
(Chrissy laughs)
- I wanna see what they're drawing,
what they're sketching out.
Are we going jacket?
Are we going T-shirt?
- You don't know.
Honestly, I don't wanna sway,
but Izzy does have pink hair.
(Chrissy laughs)
- I'm Izzy.
I'm 22 years old and I'm a fashion design student
at Parson School of Design.
Trusting and trusting.
I kind of like came out of the womb
wanting to be a fashion designer.
As a kid, I would just fill up sketchbooks
like page, page, page,
like rapidly drawing dresses as fast as I could.
- Izzy, how long have you been sewing for?
- Since I was like 12.
My personal style is mostly more boxy pieces.
I pull a lot from vintage inspiration.
Sometimes I like to say I'm a time traveling skater boy.
- Izzy, you got any previous for us
of what you're cooking up?
- I'm trying to make like a patchwork hoodie,
kind of a boxy, like really fun masculine hoodie
piece of merch that everyone could wear.
- I like a patchwork situation.
- K-pop does a really great job
of blending femininity and masculinity
and designing with a gender free outlook
is really important to me because I'm non-binary.
Making stuff that fits the body is overrated.
This hoodie style is really versatile.
You can wear it as like a pajama.
You could probably wear it as a dress.
It's kind of pushing the boundaries
on what merch could be like.
But I'm like really worried about time.
- I believe in you.
- My hands are like shaking.
- You got it.
- Maybe we'll do some overlay.
I'm Delaney, I live in New York City,
and I'm a visual merchandiser
for a global fashion brand.
- Delaney, how you doing?
- Good.
- Let me know if you need a positive affirmation.
- Yes.
- You're killing it.
(Delaney laughs)
- Aside from my day to day career,
I am a freelance artist
and I enjoy painting with Nick's Media on canvas bags,
any type of merchandise,
whether it's acrylics or spray paint.
If an item can be painted, I will paint on it.
So I'm gonna do a silk painting on a silk scarf.
I'm going to use the OG Carat logo and incorporate that
within some type of silk scarf and also trying to come up
with unique ways to incorporate gold in my merch.
So I'm thinking that I'm going to create
some type of pant chain,
'cause I grew up in the nineties where boy bands were
a huge thing and I know that nineties are coming back.
- You know what that means.
Thin eyebrows, coming back.
- Doing some chain.
But I think I'm gonna make my own chain.
I'm incorporating a silk scarf that'll like,
hang, that is like dual versatile,
so it's like, either could be a head scarf,
you could tie it to a bag,
you could do it on like jacket.
I think 17 fans will like this merch
because it is completely unique and different
than any type of merch I have seen.
- Delaney has had real experience in the industry.
- Hmm.
And so I feel like Delaney has good understanding around
like what actually works.
- And what sells, what stands want.
- Yeah.
- What the stands want.
(intense music plays)
- There are 13 members in 17,
so I wanna combine like 13 different colors
of this French terry, really comfortable hoodie material.
17 is a really colorful K-pop group.
They're always experimenting with color
and loud, bright ideas.
So I'm gonna be using 13 different shades of French terry,
mostly in pastel colors because 17 uses a lot of light pinks
and blues in their branding.
- Izzy's color palette is pretty sick.
- Hmm hmm.
I'm loving the forest green, the pink.
(upbeat music plays)
- Usually when you're making a patchwork textile,
you're starting out with the individual squares
and building it up slowly
and I know that's not gonna be able to happen
in this timeframe.
So instead I'm sewing 13 vertical strips
of material together
and then I'm going to be cutting them horizontally
and then sewing them together.
- Hello.
How are we doing?
- I'm doing great.
So I'm basically making like this textile,
this is just the first stage,
and then I'm gonna do strips like this
and then kind of mix it around.
- Have you done this before?
- I've done like this sort of thing before.
So I've done this in my head many times.
- So no.
(group laughs)
- I don't think that the judges trust me
and my ability to make this design,
even though I know I can do it in my head.
- Are you feeling the pressure?
- I'm so feeling the pressure,
like I'm trying to not let it get to me.
- Let me take it from you.
- Yeah.
- [Izzy] Okay, okay, now it's gone.
- Okay.
- You can do it.
(rock music plays)
- The first thing I'm doing is making my stencil
and I'm grabbing the cardboard,
sketching out a logo and taking an Exacto to it.
I am doing a stencil of the original
Carat logo.
I like the ones, like if you're a true fan,
you're actually gonna understand it.
I am drawn to this logo because it's incredibly geometric
and simple, yet identifiable.
- Hey.
- Hi!
- How are you doing?
- I am creating a stencil, which I am going to...
airbrush with silk dyes
onto
the silk.
- Nice.
- But I'm gonna incorporate the names of the albums
in like different ways.
Make it very like visually chaotic,
but yet makes sense.
- I love it.
- Is this a technique you've done before?
- Nope!
(Delaney laughs)
- Oh interesting. I'm excited.
- Silk scarf,
and it's one of the hardest things to paint on.
The first time that I'm doing this.
I decided this is the moment.
I figured if I can't do it here,
I guess I can't do it anywhere.
So okay.
Kind of going in very timidly.
I am going to incorporate the pink and the blue,
which are the color of the Carat fan club.
(upbeat music plays)
Cool.
That worked out better than expected.
(Delaney laughs)
Now that I'm done stenciling,
I need to go in and add some depth.
So I'm gonna go in, add some detail,
add in some more dyes
and it, kind of,
wherever it goes, it kind of goes.
This is how I typically make art.
I'm like, okay,
whatever happens is kind of what's gonna happen,
and then if it looks like not good,
then I gotta figure it out.
(Delaney laughs)
(funky music plays)
- You have an hour left.
- Oh my God. My hands are shaking.
- Let's start amping it up because these, respectfully,
don't look like anything yet, so...
- How's it going for you?
- Good.
I'm starting to like build out the pieces of the hoodie.
Sometimes, like it's just easiest to just
measure out how it feels on your body.
- Don't most people typically use like a bust form.
- Most people, normal people.
Now that I've got my patchwork textile,
I need to sew the arms on,
sew the side seam and put the hood on.
God I feel like I'm working in a sweat shop right now.
This hoodie's sort of different
than all the other merch we're seeing right now,
and I feel like it's not screaming 17
because I didn't really want it to be so straightforward.
Look, I made something,
but I need to set a gold chain on.
Gold is a secret material
and I need to get it on the hoodie somehow.
I'm gonna do like a little chain detailing
to give it a little pizzazz at the upper chest.
I feel like it's really elegant
without being too much or too flashy.
- I would have loved to see gold be the centerpiece.
Since it was a special item,
I feel like it's,
I feel like it's being thrown in.
I feel like gold is being thrown in.
- It feels like an afterthought.
- It's an afterthought, not the centerpiece.
(intense music climaxes)
- So right now I am working on creating
my own chain links...
for my pant chain.
I am making 13 different links
to represent each of the members of the band
and I've also never done this before either.
I am using gold on the clasps of the chain,
and then I'm painting the chains
in the same colors as the diamonds on the silk scarf
to make sure that it, that it all feels incorporated.
- What I worry about what Delaney's making is,
is it gonna be wearable?
(Tefi gasps)
- I think, for a merch piece,
like you want it to be something
that you do want to wear more than once.
(hip hop music plays)
- 15 Minutes.
- Oh! I am really struggling
trying to figure out how this garment goes in,
but I just, I think I just figured it out.
That was like, I almost had a heart attack there.
Time is ticking down.
I'm just finishing up putting the grommets in my hoodie.
(Izzy hammering)
It's like a design detail on the hood,
like where you would usually pull upholstering out.
I think that these grommets create a sort of pristine,
like really finished look.
I feel like I'm in a good place.
Winning Merch Masters would be amazing
because I really want this $1,000
to help develop my website for my brands.
I think I do have a really interesting take on design
that other people aren't really thinking about.
- Should I risk it and put some gold leaf on here?
I want to incorporate more gold within the piece,
so I need to add some gold leaf to the scarf.
- How are we feeling?
- Once this sets, I'm gonna dunk it in that water.
Hopefully it all doesn't go away.
- Oh.
- Okay, it sounds like a risk.
- Yeah.
Before I apply the gold leaf
and I have to dunk in a scarf in water
so that it seals the color.
If all goes according to plan, this will dry
and then I'll be able to incorporate
a little bit of gold leaf detail.
- Okay.
- I don't know if it will, but we'll see.
- Anything for K-pop.
- I'm incredibly nervous, here goes nothing.
- Oh my gosh. This is it.
- If I didn't set the colors right
all the color is gonna go away,
and then there will be nothing
except for this chain and a white piece of fabric.
I don't see any color coming up. Oh my God.
Their colors are all staying,
so it's a huge sigh of relief.
Fantastic 'cause none of them came out.
Now I have get this thing dried and add some gold leaf.
- One minute left.
- Put it up on there.
(beeps)
I am kind of panicking.
I don't know if I'm gonna have enough time.
If I were to win Merch Master,
that money would be spent on
providing myself with more of an art studio.
I can do it.
(Izzy mutters)
- Oh my God.
(hairdryer running)
- Five,
four,
three,
two,
one.
Back away from your merch.
- Oh my God.
- Good job.
- How are you guys feeling?
- I'm feeling sexy and free.
(Chrissy laughs)
I'm so happy. I feel like I tied in all the colors,
I tied in the gold, and I feel like I would make 17 proud.
- I feel good.
I deliberately went for a different type of item
to challenge myself, so I feel very proud and accomplished.
- Okay guys,
meet me at the merch table
and we'll take a look at your design.
(upbeat music climaxes)
(hip hop music plays)
Hellosies, the merch looks incredible.
I cannot believe you made these in two and a half hours.
Izzy, tell us what you made today.
- Okay, so I made for you guys a zero waste,
French terry boxy hoodie.
It's made from 13 colors,
like the 13 members of 17
and the special ingredient,
which was a gold chain,
I wanted to utilize as a delicate little detailing
up here on the chest.
- I love how you said ingredient.
- Is that what it was?
- I mean, I would say material, but in...
- Material.
- Whatever.
- Yeah, I just wanted to really represent
each individual member of 17,
but also combine them
as like the precision unit that they are.
- So, Izzy.
I love that the hoodie is inclusive for people of all sizes.
I do love the symbolism of the 13 colors.
When you said that, I was like, ah!
I love a little art symbolism.
Also, this is a piece
I feel like I could wear every day to class.
I'm 31 years old. I'm not going to class.
But the raw edge to me looks a little unfinished.
- I really love the patchwork detail,
especially that they're not all the same size.
Also the material is so, so soft.
The only con I would say is that
it does still feel like a piece that maybe you would walk
into any random clothing store and find,
and I don't think that it immediately
screams a connection to 17.
- Izzy, I love how you decided to use the fabrics
in a way to show tribute and inspiration to 17
without blatantly saying this is a merch piece,
which is not always so traditional,
but the one thing I do wish
is maybe the gold was incorporated and featured
a little bit better, but phenomenal job.
(intense music plays)
- Yes.
- After hearing the judges' comments,
I'm a bit nervous, but I'm really proud of it
and it's exactly the design that I wanted to make.
- Delaney.
Could you please kindly tell us about your piece of merch?
- So I've created two pieces within one,
that can be worn together or separate.
I grew up in the nineties,
so I wanted to bring back the pant chain.
So with that I created 13 different links
to represent the different individual members of 17.
I wanted to hand make all of my own links.
I also incorporated the gold class
as a hit of the secret material.
The chain also has the accompanying scarf.
This comes off,
and then I've created a very abstract version
of the original Carat logo, and I did it three times
to represent the three different groups.
- I love the colors.
I can picture myself putting it, like the bandana,
with Izzy's too. Like, if you know you know,
like seeing each other out and being like, oh, okay,
you're a fan of 17 too.
I just wish the logo was like a little clearer
and I feel like our secret ingredient is an afterthought.
I wish there was just a little bit more gold,
just a little bit, like a gold diamond would've been sick.
- We were definitely worried about you through the process.
(Delaney laughs)
Well, I'll be completely honest.
- It's true. We were about like this...
- But I love the colors you use.
I love the logos and I know, as a fanatic,
that's something you wanna appreciate.
You wanna walk down the street
and you want to connect with other fans who feel, you know,
like we could spot each other out in the crowd.
I do wish we had a little bit more gold into the scarf,
but it's fly. I wouldn't have known what 17 was
and I would still find this interesting.
- Delaney, your visual design background
obviously comes through, but you know,
it is a little bit difficult to see the logo
and I think especially, once you're wearing it
and it's kind of folded up or rolled,
might get lost a little bit
and, you know, personally,
when I think about like my concert-going experience,
got like five minutes to buy something
before you have to like run in and see the show,
I don't know if I'm gonna choose a scarf.
I might want a more wearable piece.
- It's not as sellable as, say a hoodie or a T-shirt,
but that was part of the creative process
that I wanted to go through.
Coming up with a different type of item.
- Any stand would be lucky to own these pieces
to represent how much they love 17.
- The judges and I are gonna need a second to discuss,
so we're gonna go stage right or left. I never know.
And it's definitely gonna be a hard decision.
(intense funky music plays)
- I really wanna win.
I know my design does really represent 17,
but more importantly it represents me.
- Okay, so what are we thinking?
What are we thinking?
- [Chrissy] I know it's hard.
- It is hard.
- Love them both.
It's not like we're judging two T-shirts,
so judging two hoodies.
- [Chrissy] That'd be easy.
- Yeah, that'd be easy.
- Like I would buy both.
- If I were to win Merch Masters,
it would prove I can push myself creatively
to get a final product out there.
- I think we've come to a decision.
- Yeah.
- Okay.
(intense music builds)
- Izzy and Delaney,
you both have impressed us beyond belief with your designs.
- Delaney. We really admire your artistry,
but I think an important question to ask
is would this sell at a merch table?
- Izzy, you're very skilled.
I think if I was at a merch booth I would pick up your item,
we just really wish that you used the gold,
just in another way.
- Unfortunately, only one of you can walk away
with the $1,000 cash prize and title of Merch Master.
The winner is...
(intense music builds)
Izzy.
- [Judge] Yay.
Oh my gosh.
I can't believe this.
I don't think I've ever won anything.
- Stop it!
(judges clapping)
I feel like the judges really saw
what I was going for in my designs
and I just really feel seen by them.
Can I give Delaney a hug?
- Absolutely, what an incredible designer you are.
I think the judges made the right choice.
Izzy's hoodie was flawlessly executed.
- Seriously so impressive, incredible.
- I may not have won gold,
but I did win silver because there was only two of us.
- Congratulations to both of you. Congratulations, Izzy.
- Now that I have the $1,000,
it's gonna go straight to my website
so I can really get my brand rolling.
I'm going home with the gold.
- You're gonna be the coolest RA in person.
(Tefi screams)
- I love that. I hope to put that in so much, like...
- If any of you are mean to Izzy, you're mean to me.
Okay, that was so much fun,
and I'll see you next time on Merch Masters.
(upbeat music playing)
Oh, I'm dancing.
Cut it. It's over.