Templates and checklists for merch buyers

Eight downloadable resources, all free, all usable as they are or adaptable to your own process. They were built for the handovers that go wrong most often: the brief nobody wrote down, the supplier nobody compared properly, and the brand rules that reached the factory only after sampling.

Procurement documents

• Corporate merch RFP template. Fourteen sections covering capability assessment, a pricing matrix, compliance requirements across ISO, OEKO-TEX and REACH, references and terms. Supplied as PDF, DOCX and Excel.
• Vendor evaluation checklist. Eighty-five points across capability, pricing, quality, compliance, sustainability, logistics, communication, financial stability and references. Score each criterion from 1 to 5 and the weighted total shows which vendor actually fits. Used by more than 50 procurement teams.
• Packaging design brief template. Twenty sections for a designer-friendly brief covering dimensions, finishing techniques such as foil, deboss and emboss, Pantone codes for printing, inserts, closure, sustainability requirements and MOQ, with annotated examples.
• MOQ planning Excel calculator. A self-contained spreadsheet with no formula dependencies. Input a budget, a target unit count, a branding method and a packaging tier; get a feasibility check, the optimal tier, the volume discount tier and the break-even point against custom tooling.

Brand and specification documents

• Brand book checklist. Thirty points to verify brand book compliance before a strike-off is approved: logo placement, Pantone match against a Delta-E target, clear space, scaling, typography, photography style, voice and tone, and exclusion rules.
• Brand book template, 50 sections. A structure for writing a brand book from scratch when the client has none: logo in primary, secondary and monogram versions with exclusion zones and clear space, a colour palette in Pantone, RGB, CMYK and hex, typography with hierarchy, photography style and treatment, iconography, voice and tone, and applications across web, print, merchandise and packaging.
• Welcome kit specification template. A specification for HR teams: standard, premium and executive kit contents, material specs, branding requirements, packaging, distribution method and budget breakdown, aligned to the sections of a company brand book.

The sustainability worksheet

The carbon footprint calculation worksheet works out cradle-to-gate CO2e for a merch project. It takes the material type, the quantity, the transport mode and the packaging, applies the GHG Protocol Scope 1, 2 and 3 method, and returns kilograms of CO2e per item alongside the project total. The output is compatible with CSRD reporting. It is a starting point for a calculation rather than a substitute for a full assessment.

How to use them

Send the RFP template to suppliers, keep the vendor checklist for the comparison, and put the brand book checklist in front of the factory before approval. The template files arrive as PDF, DOCX and Excel depending on the resource, and we will send them over as soon as you ask.

All 8 pages in this section

• Brand book checklist
• Brand book template, 50 sections
• Carbon footprint calculation worksheet
• MOQ planning Excel calculator
• Packaging design brief template
• Corporate merch RFP template
• Vendor evaluation checklist
• Welcome kit specification template

Related sections

• Buying guides
• Compliance and certifications
• Bill of materials