Taylor Swift fans are a dedicated group, but complaints about the pop star’s merch have had some calling for a boycott in recent months.
Swifties aren’t shy about spending thousands on their idol. In 2023, her Eras Tour became the first concert tour to gross more than $1 billion. But some fans on social media are calling out what they described as the poor quality of her merch and delayed shipping times.
Still, the Swifties have supported the star during her Eras Tour; Pollstar estimated the tour raked in an estimated $200 million in merch sales for 60 dates. Instead of blaming Swift for the merch, many fans are looking at her record label, Universal Music Group, for the delays and poor quality.
UMG’s Bravado division is responsible for operating the official store, and one Redditor told others in the r/TaylorSwiftMerch subreddit to keep “bugging” the label’s customer service about “missing” merch that hadn’t arrived yet.
A spokesperson for UMG and Bravado apologized to customers for shipping delays around the holidays in a statement to Business Insider, and assured that “outstanding orders from that time should now have been fulfilled.”
“To those who experienced extended shipping delays in the run-up to the holiday and into the new year, we have extended full refunds, we have sent outstanding items where available free of charge and issued store credits for any items that were no longer available,” the spokesperson said.
In r/SwiftieMerch, another subreddit dedicated to Swift’s merch, a user said in December that she waited three months for a shirt only for it to have a stain on the collar when it arrived.
“This absolutely sucks. Time to send an email that may or may not be answered…gigantic sigh,” the caption read.
Calls for boycotting the official merch ensued in the comments. “Deal. I’m done with them,” one user commented. But there were defenders in the thread saying that the shirt was designed to appear “distressed” and that the stain was probably intentional.
Another Redditor posted expectation vs. reality photos of a $40 “1989” tote bag ordered online. Although the designs on the bag in product photos and the one received in real life were the same, the textures of the bag were different.
“I order a lot of merch from her store and this isn’t the first time quality has been poor nor the final product not matched the rendered photo,” the customer told BI.
They said they weren’t using or displaying the tote but avoided the “stress” of trying to return the bag.
“I know the pictures on the website are just renders and the product may be slightly different but that’s not the same bag at all, the shape and texture look completely different,” one person wrote in response to the photos.
Others online called out the “poor quality” of the tote bag and said it was nothing new for Swift’s merch site. Some said it looked as if it cost less than $1 to make.
“Due to the broad range of products available, we work with multiple manufacturers and suppliers across our artists’ stores — serving fans globally,” the UMG spokesperson said of the merch quality.
“We work closely with our suppliers and production partners around the world to ensure that all products meet our high-quality standards and have a commitment to replace or refund any official store-bought product that does not meet these standards,” they added.
the merch for this album has the potential to be so cute but knowing taylors merch team this is what we’ll get pic.twitter.com/TeJDBDyfBj
Another Redditor compared the merch to a knock-off item.
“This is what I would expect if I ordered a $15 dupe off of Temu,” they wrote.
As she gears up to release her next project, “The Tortured Poets Department,” Swifties are nervous they could be let down again with basic merch.
The merch for the upcoming album “has the potential to be so cute but knowing taylors merch team this is what we’ll get,” an X user captioned an image of a merch collection featuring only the album’s cover art.
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