Mary Evans
Preparations are underway for one of Oxford’s largest events of the year: Double Decker Arts Festival. Last year’s festival attracted a crowd of over 60,000 people. This year’s celebration promises to be an even larger event with more than 100 artists, 20 local food vendors and musicians such as Flatland Cavalry, Grace Bowers, Conner Smith and more.
How can a small town financially support such a large event? The answer is simpler than you might imagine: t-shirt sales. Merchandise sales provide part of the funds necessary to support the festival year after year.
“It’s super important that we make as much as possible and we sell as much as possible, because that is what makes Double Decker literally financially possible,” Lorianna Livingston, director of marketing at B-Unlimited, the company behind the festival’s merchandise, said.
Previously, Visit Oxford handled all merchandise design, production and sales, but now, they have outsourced the process to B-Unlimited.
“Our office is a small office staff of five people,” LeeAnn Stubbs, Double Decker coordinator at Visit Oxford, said. “So, before we did it this way, we were ordering the t-shirts, the posters, everything, and we were housing everything at our office, which we don’t have the manpower to do. We’re not set up to be a retail store.”
This year will be the second year that Visit Oxford has partnered with B-Unlimited.
“The reason we’ve gone with B-Unlimited this year and last year is that they can provide the online sales, they can order everything for us at no cost and then they just get a percentage,” Stubbs said.
Visit Oxford and B-Unlimited share the merchandise profits: 70% of t-shirt sales go to B-Unlimited, while the remaining 30% goes to Visit Oxford to fund the next year’s Double Decker Arts Festival.
“We definitely compensate ourselves for all the time and energy and just labor of all that. But then, we’re also able to give enough back to Visit Oxford so that they’re able to make the money they need to keep this event going on,” Livingston said.
Retail Director of B-Unlimited Shelby Marsh takes pride in the artwork used in their merchandise designs.
“I think every t-shirt store here in Oxford has their pros and cons, and everyone has a selling point,” Marsh said. “But I think what we have different is that our artwork is, you know, we consider it to be impeccable artwork, and we really strive to make it an original design and super cool and trendy.”
Working with a team of 30-40 local, national and international artists, Marsh describes the design process as a “real team effort.” The artists must collaborate with both the company’s retail and marketing teams and Visit Oxford.
“We like to say, ‘from thought to cloth,’ so it’s our thought that kind of goes into it first, and (the artists) kind of put it together, and it becomes a t-shirt. But as far as where we get our artists from, we get people (from) all across the world,” Marsh said.
For this year’s t-shirt, B-Unlimited is focusing on balancing its marketability and widespread appeal with intricate designs and a timeless look.
“We’re seeing a lot of text heavy designs in the t-shirt and apparel world. So, what we’re going for this year is just classic, text-heavy and bold, but also something that you can wear for years on end. We’re really going for that classic look with a tad bit of trendy this year,” Marsh said.
The design is still in progress, and official t-shirts will be released a month prior to the festival online through B-Unlimited. There will also be other merchandise options such as canvas bags, buttons, hats, sweatshirts and more.
“Every year, people absolutely love Double Decker and Oxford. Getting the shirt is literally a part of it,” Livingston said. “Like, did you even go to Double Decker if you didn’t get the shirt?”
