WinRed Says Campaign Merchandise Sales Have Surpassed $250 Million
Washington, D.C., USA – July 21, 2019: A street vendor selling public domain Donald Trump paraphernalia and souvenirs. The souvenirs are located right across the street from the White House and taken on the afternoon of July 21, 2019 near Pennslyvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. The red hat is a signature symbol of his “brand”. Donald Trump for President “Make America Great Again” (Credit: P_Wei via iStock)
Republican donation processing giant WinRed announced on Monday that GOP campaigns have sold more than a quarter-of-a-billion dollars in merchandise through its e-commerce platform.
The milestone underscores the extent to which Republicans have come to rely on merchandise sales – of items like t-shirts, baseball caps, lapel pins and coffee mugs – to fund their political operations.
Their products are frequently designed to seize on a particular political moment or trend. In 2024, for example, the Trump campaign began selling t-shirts resembling Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” merchandise within days of the pop star endorsing former Vice President Kamala Harris’ White House bid.
And the success of that strategy is apparent; according to WinRed, more than 5 million products have been purchased by over 2 million supporters since the donation-processing platform launched its Zero-Touch Merchandise system in 2019.
The average donation tied to a merchandise purchase is about 32 percent higher than a typical online contribution, WinRed said.
“Merchandise is no longer a side project – it’s a proven fundraising and messaging tool for Republican campaigns,” WinRed’s Founder Gerrit Lansing said in a statement. “Our Zero-Touch platform means any campaign can turn a local issue, a breaking news moment, or a viral meme into revenue and donor data within hours, without any of the traditional risk, upfront costs, or logistics headaches.”
President Donald Trump’s political operation runs the largest merch store through WinRed’s platform, WinRed said. Indeed, the president’s WinRed store features dozens of items, from his signature red “Make America Great Again” ballcaps to t-shirts brandishing a map with the Gulf of Mexico labeled the “Gulf of America.”
The president’s political operation previously hosted its online store through the e-commerce platform Shopify. That store was shut down by Shopify following the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection before reopening on WinRed’s merchandise platform.
