A co-branded product carries two logos — yours and a partner's. The product itself is the same as any other order; the wrinkle is the second brand, the second approval, and the IP work that comes with it.
#When co-branding is common
A handful of recurring shapes:
- Partner events — a conference where two companies are co-presenting and want a shared tee or notebook.
- Joint campaigns — a co-marketing push where the giveaway is branded for both sides.
- Channel partner programs — co-branded gear for resellers or system integrators.
- Employer-of-record kits — a welcome kit for staff at a portfolio company where the parent and the operating company are both branded.
- Sponsorships — an event or community where the sponsor's logo sits next to the organizer's.
The merch itself is unchanged. What's different is the artwork, the approval chain, and the IP framework around the second brand.
#The IP angle
Putting a partner's logo on a product means we need a clear answer to one question: do you have permission to use it?
Permission can be implicit or explicit. A formal co-marketing agreement, a signed sponsorship, or written approval from the partner's marketing team — any of these are clear. A handshake email, a "they said it was fine," or an assumption is not. We'll ask you to confirm permission before we produce, and for co-branding involving a brand we don't know is yours by default, we'll ask for documentation.
This is not us being difficult. It's that producing a few hundred items with another company's logo without permission is the kind of mistake that takes a lot of effort to undo. The check up front saves the cleanup later.
For the broader framework, see Intellectual property and artwork.
#How layouts work
A co-branded design has to coordinate two logos on the same product. The decisions are:
- Placement — side by side, stacked, opposite corners, left chest + right chest, front + back.
- Size — equal weight, one dominant, one accent. Logos with very different proportions (a wordmark vs. a square mark) often need to be scaled by visual weight rather than literal dimensions.
- Method — usually one method per design, but the two logos can be different sizes / placements within the same method.
- Colors — both logos need to read on the chosen product color. Sometimes one logo has to switch to a white or black variant to work.
The design team will mock both placements before production. Get the partner's design team in the loop early — they'll have brand guidelines (logo lockups, minimum sizes, clear space rules) that need to be respected, and catching those before the mock saves a round of revisions.
#Approvals work differently
A co-branded run has two approvers, not one. Both sides should review and sign off on the proof before production starts. The portal approval flow only captures your side; the partner's approval happens out-of-band — email confirmation, a signed PDF, whatever the partnership uses.
Practical pattern: ask your account team to share the proof with the partner's marketing or brand team, give both sides a chance to comment, and once both are approved, mark it approved in the portal. Production starts from there.
#Setup charges and reorders
Co-branding means two logos worth of art prep on the first run. For methods with setup charges — screen print, embroidery, foil — you're paying for setup for each color in each logo. A two-color primary logo + two-color partner logo on a screen-printed tee means four screens. See Setup charges for how those are calculated.
Reorders work the same as any reorder if everything stays the same. Where co-branded reorders get tricky: the partnership may have changed. A logo update on either side, a different partner the next time, or a partnership that has wound down — any of these mean the previous setup assets are no longer the right ones. Confirm with the partner that the lockup hasn't changed before reordering.
#What to send us
When kicking off a co-branded design, send your account team:
- Both logos — yours and the partner's, in vector format (
.ai,.eps,.pdf,.svg) - Brand guidelines from the partner — if they have a lockup, minimum size, or clear-space rule, the design team needs it
- Confirmation of permission — a sentence describing the partnership and how you're authorized to use the partner's mark, plus the partner contact who can approve the proof
- Placement and size intent — even if rough; tells the design team where to start
For the IP framework — what you can decorate, who owns artwork files, and how we handle third-party marks — see Intellectual property and artwork.