The wire
Briefing No. 001Edited from the Grand Strand, read everywhere
Myqrwear covers shirts, merch and wearables that carry a code, and the far more interesting question of where that code goes.
Lead story · 01 QR Code Clothing
A QR shirt is only as good as the page it opens. Here's how a business can tell useful wearable marketing from a square on cotton.
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Why this desk exists
A QR code costs nothing to print. That's the problem. It ends up on volunteer tees, band hoodies, conference lanyards and coffee-shop aprons, usually pointing at a homepage that wasn't built for phones. Most people who scan once and land somewhere useless don't scan the next one.
We write for the people who'd rather get it right: creators, small-business owners, event marketers, merch designers, streetwear brands, schools and nonprofits. Some of you are printing your first batch of 24 shirts for a Myrtle Beach fundraiser. Some of you run merch for touring artists in three countries. The questions are the same. Why would someone scan this? What opens? Can you change it next year? Is it collecting more than it needs?
Every piece here is written to answer those questions with specifics: print sizes, link setups, page examples and the privacy tradeoffs that come with connected products. We don't publish engagement numbers we can't check, and we never show you how to hide where a code really goes.
The everyday stuff: shirts, hoodies, caps and labels with a code printed on them. We judge every one by the page it opens, not the print on the front.
Garments that do more than display a link, from NFC tags sewn into hems to sensors in sportswear. We separate the working products from the press releases.
Your profile, portfolio or contact card, worn instead of handed out. The questions here are about control: who can see what, and for how long.
Codes that point to a redirect you can change after printing. Useful for anything that outlives one event, and risky if the subscription behind it lapses.
Tote bags, lanyards, packaging and event swag that open something worth seeing. We look at what still works the week after the event ends.
Musicians, artists and streamers using merch as a doorway to tracks, drops and memberships. Fans scan out of curiosity, so the page has to pay that off.
FAQ
Start with the destination, not the print. Decide what someone should see after scanning, make sure that page loads fast on a phone, and print a short line that says what the scan opens. Use a code you can redirect later, and test the printed garment from a few feet away before you order a full run.
The garment costs about what any custom-printed shirt costs in your market, because a QR code is just another print element. Across the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and local markets like Myrtle Beach and Conway, the price depends mostly on blank quality, print method and order size, not on the code. The ongoing cost is the QR service: static codes are free to generate, while dynamic QR codes usually come with a subscription you keep paying for as long as the shirts are in use.