﻿My name is Laura Rizzotto and I’m a singer and songwriter from Brazil
and Latvia but based here in California. I’ve been singing for as long as I can remember but
I started singing professionally when I was about 15 years old. That’s when I started doing
my first shows in Rio, got my first record deal. I released my first album when I was about 17. Later
on, I participated in Supernova, ended up winning,
and went to Eurovision!
And I created my first line of merch with Printful!
I didn’t want to create merch that would be just my face. I wanted to create designs that are cool
and take the opportunity to be creative. My last single release “Ross and Rach” has been
so special in so many ways. It has references to the TV show “Friends” we love so much. It’s also
a project that I’ve done with my best friend and sister Carolina. She co-produced the music video,
directed, edited, and colored it, so that was a journey—us working together. Everything for
this release we've done together and she’s a huge part of this project.
In Portuguese, we have an expression “Eu Vou Vestir A Camisa,”
which means “I’ll wear the t-shirt of my team.” It’s nice when we’re able to
work on something for so long and then we’re wearing a uniform “This is what we made!” It
just feels like a nice memory to have. The music video “Ross and Rach” talks about
what we would call a yo-yo relationship. That’s a relationship when you break up, then get back
together, and it just keeps going, filled with a lot of back and forth. And it talks about someone
who’s dealing with that kind of dynamic and wants to break free from it, and decides to do so.
When creating merch I think that everyone gets overwhelmed at first because it seems like it’s
going to be a really big deal. I really like the Printful format, especially as an independent
artist because I don’t have to buy a bunch of merch, keep it in stock and then send it out
whenever people order it. I don’t have to buy in bulk. It’s risk-free in many ways because
it’s print-on-demand. So I really recommend that format, because once you create your designs, you
don’t have to worry about fulfilling and shipping products. You can focus on being an artist,
doing something creative. The process was so easy. That’s what’s been great about Printful—it’s not
overwhelming. With everything new people are like “Okay, what am I getting into?” This has been so
simple, so user-friendly. I was just excited to be able to create my little shop and have
all of the products organized in a way that people could process them well and look at them. So
they would feel like it’s a pleasant experience to be at the Laura Rizzotto shop.
You should sell things that you would wear yourself. I’ve been wearing my merch and
finding ways to introduce the merch to people in an organic way. Not like “Hey, I made a t-shirt.
Buy it!” More like “This is very nice to wear and looks cool.”
I think we really own what we created. I say “we” because I created this with my sister
Carolina so it really is a team effort. I think it’s really, really important to order
samples. Most of the things we ordered came in perfect condition. We thought “This is great,
this is what we’re going to use!” But it’s so interesting to see how the same design
looks on different colored clothing. We have a white sweatshirt, a blue sweatshirt and we printed
a black sweatshirt as well. The design printed so differently on white, blue, and black. We thought
that the design stands out more on blue and white and ended up not selling the black one. But it
takes that sample! If you’re selling something, you really need to see it for yourself first. Make
sure that it’s good, make sure that you’re happy with it. It’s only fair to your customers. People
are spending their money on your merchandise so you better test it out first. I think that
ordering samples is really important. And make sure to enjoy the process! I thought
it was so much fun. I loved learning about different fabrics and fits.
It was a learning experience for me. I loved it and recommend it to everybody!