METRIC

STUDIO SERVICES COLLABORATE WORK CONTACT

A creative studio helping brands make thoughtful merch.

Merchandise is a direct expression of your brand. The thing people touch, wear, gift, and keep.

Metric handles the full scope, concept, design, manufacturing, art direction, and launch, for retail, internal teams, events, and marketing.

THE STUDIO

Metric is led by Ed Nacional, who spent eight years as Creative Director for Commerce at The New York Times (2017-2025), building and scaling the creative program for The New York Times Store.

His role spanned the complete product lifecycle: concept, design, manufacturing, photography, ecommerce, and campaign strategy — including deep relationships with domestic makers and factories across apparel, accessories, and objects, from small independent producers to larger scale manufacturers.

The studio brings that depth to brands seeking the same standards without building an in-house team. Studio-level craft with the capacity to scale.

SERVICES

Metric works across every context merchandise shows up in, retail stores, internal teams, events, and marketing. Each has different stakes and a different definition of success. The same creative standards apply to all of them, across four areas:

Design and Concept

Concept Development and Ideation

Finding the idea worth designing around. Identifying conceptual throughlines between your brand and physical objects, surfacing merchandise ideas that feel authentically yours, not derivative of what everyone else is making.

Product Design

Where ideas become objects. Designing merchandise that balances function and form, prioritizing originality over trends and quality over quantity. Products that can be manufactured to your standards, not just rendered beautifully on screen.

Manufacturing and Production

Material and Production Strategy

Knowing what's achievable before expensive samples are made. Guiding material selection, production methods, and manufacturing decisions that affect everything from feel to cost to timeline. Navigating the trade-offs between quality, ethics, cost, and speed.

Manufacturer Partnerships

Relationships with makers across the full spectrum, from small independent producers to larger factories, with particular depth in domestic production. The right partner for the right project, whether that's a limited run or a scalable collection.

Launch and Campaign

Art Direction and Photography

Art directing and styling product photography that showcases the work properly: ecommerce shots, lifestyle imagery, lookbooks. Capturing products with the same intentionality they were designed with.

Ecommerce and Launch Creative

Designing and building Shopify sites. Creating launch campaigns that tell stories about what makes your products special. Developing strategies that connect with your audience, from email to social and beyond.

Special Projects

Collection Curation and Editing

Refining and editing assortments, cutting what doesn't serve your vision, strengthening what does. Bringing outside perspective focused on coherence, quality, and ensuring every piece earns its place.

Limited Editions and Collaborations

Conceiving and producing limited edition releases and brand partnerships with artists, designers, and cultural institutions. Full creative development from concept through production and launch.

COLLABORATE

Bringing in outside help isn't always obvious. You might know something's off but can't pinpoint what, or you're unsure if it's what we solve. Here are scenarios where our work makes sense. If one or two resonate, let's talk.

If You're Just Starting

You're launching merchandise for the first time

You know you want physical goods, but the path from idea to finished product feels overwhelming. You need a partner who can guide the entire journey: concept development, design, manufacturing, fulfillment setup, and ecommerce launch.

You have ideas but no one to shape them into a collection

A running list of concepts, practical and ambitious, but no one to edit, prioritize, and make them cohere. You need a partner who can turn the list into something with a point of view.

If Something's Broken

Your merch feels generic or trend-driven

It either looks like it could be anyone's, or it's chasing whatever's currently popular. And you keep making the same things, t-shirts, hoodies, tote bags, repeat, because no one is pushing beyond the obvious formats. You need products designed from your specific creative language and a partner who can identify what would genuinely resonate with your audience.

Your vendors can't match your standards or your aesthetic

The swag companies offer speed and convenience, but their catalogs feel limiting and they don't get what makes your brand distinct. Generic fits, basic options, materials you wouldn't choose, and no one on the other end who can advise on what would actually resonate with your audience or push your creative thinking. You need manufacturing relationships that enable true customization and a partner with the taste level to match yours.

Your current merch process feels clunky and inefficient

Too many emails, unclear timelines, samples that miss the mark, revisions that could've been avoided. You need someone with deep vendor and production knowledge who can streamline the entire workflow—fewer mistakes, faster turnarounds, smoother handoffs from concept to finished product.

If You're Ready to Scale

Merch is overwhelming your already-stretched team

Your designers are great at what they do, but merchandise has become another project competing for their attention. They can't give it the focus it deserves when they're also managing brand campaigns, web updates, and everything else. You need someone for whom this isn't one more thing on the list—it's the only thing.

You need help shaping your ideas into a cohesive collection

Your team has a running list of product concepts—some practical, some ambitious, some expensive dreams. You need a creative partner who can help you edit, prioritize, and build a collection that's conceptually coherent and financially viable, balancing the standard products with the statement pieces.

You need someone who can handle launch creative, not just products

You've designed great merchandise, but now you need a Shopify site, product photography, launch campaign creative, email design. You don't want to coordinate three different vendors. You need one creative partner who can maintain visual consistency from product design through customer experience.

If You Want Something Special

You're planning a major launch or collaboration

This release matters. Whether it's an anniversary collection, a brand partnership, or a cultural moment you want to capture, you need merchandise conceived and executed at a higher level than your standard offerings.

Your audience expects more from you

Your community is vocal, discerning, and culturally fluent. They'll call out lazy merch immediately. You need products designed for people who actually care about design, quality, and conceptual integrity.

SELECTED WORK

CONTACT

Let’s Work Together

Whether you're launching your first merchandise collection or rethinking an existing program, let's discuss what you're building.

hello@madebymetric.com