Designing Pride merch: celebrate inclusivity with your brand.

There are so many ways to celebrate Pride and show your support to the LGBTQ+ community. From attending parties and parades to rocking the rainbow emblem, join the celebrations to show how far LGBTQ+ rights have come.

If you fancy taking part, why not design some of your own personalised Pride merchandise? You can put your own creative spin on your Pride outfit and design enough for your posse to wear too.

Continue reading to get some Pride merch inspiration with Adobe Express.

What is Pride?

Pride involves the recognition, celebration and promotion of rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community. It pushes for the acceptance and equality of people from all sexual orientations and gender identities.

Pride celebrations take place every year in June, in memory of the Stonewall riots that occurred in 1969. New York’s Stonewall Inn was a popular gathering place for the community but was targeted by a police raid on the 28^th of June 1969. Local LGBTQ+ community members intervened, and this sparked a riot involving nearly 400 people – forcing the police to call for backup.

Ever since, parades and celebrations have been hosted every year to recognise and stand for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. Pride was brought to the UK in 1972 and continues to be celebrated every June.

Important considerations when designing Pride merch.

Before designing your Pride merch, it’s important to consider the cultural and historical significance of the event. It’s not just a big party, but represents an important cause that means a lot to people who identify themselves as part of the LGBTQ+ community, as well as those that support it.

Here are a few things to bear in mind when creating your Pride merchandise:

• Research LGBTQ+ history. Ensure you’re well-informed about the history of the LGBTQ+ community. Learn about major events, dates, advocates and more and discover the reasons why we celebrate Pride in the first place.
• Understand the significance of the celebration. Pride is a protest for equality and acceptance and it’s important to remember that while you take part in the parades and other events.
• Don’t use stereotypes in your designs. Stay away from stereotypes and anything that could potentially cause offence when designing your Pride merch. Do some research and talk to members of the community (if they’re comfortable doing so) to find out what these might be.
• Ask LGBTQ+ co-workers for their opinion. You could ask co-workers, friends or family who are part of the LGBTQ+ community for advice on your Pride merch ideas. Be sure to be respectful when asking questions and check they’re comfortable with helping.
• Recognise your target audience. Remember your main target audience is the LGBTQ+ community, and you want to create designs that showcase your support.
• It’s not all about rainbows! Although the rainbow is a key emblem for Pride, you can take your designs a step further with some creative imagery or a powerful quote from a key LGBTQ+ advocate like Marsha P Johnson.

10 Pride merchandise ideas for your brand.

Now you know what to consider when creating your Pride merchandise designs, you can move forward and gather a few ideas. Remember to go with an option that you’re comfortable with and best-suits your taste.

Here are a few merch design ideas to help you celebrate gay Pride:

1. Classic rainbow merch.

You can’t go wrong with classic rainbow-themed Pride merch. Grab the most up-to-date version of the LGBTQ+ flag and place it on a hoodie with other cool designs or icons. You could even design a special animal, object or character with the colours of the flag.

2. Funny and famous quotes.

Everyone loves a bit of humour, and you can bring some laughter to Pride celebrations by adding a funny quote to your merchandise. Make one up yourself or take inspiration from a public figure like RuPaul, Alan Carr or Ellen DeGeneres. Just be mindful of copyright law if you decide to use a quote from someone else.

3. Make your own Pride-inspired T-shirts.

Create a trendy T-shirt inspired by Pride and wear it to any celebrations you attend. Walk into any event with pride in knowing that you designed part of your outfit. You can create a batch for your friends and family to wear too.

4. Use community flags.

Did you know there are different Pride flags? That’s right, there are specific flags for different segments of the LGBTQ+ community. From the trans flag to the lesbian flag, pick one – or a few – and wave it during a parade.

5. Keep things simple.

Prefer to take it easy with some subtle Pride merch? No problem, design a mug with a simple quote or icon and use it for your morning coffee. You could even design a quick poster with quotes and images of some of your favourite characters or celebs.

6. Go retro.

Make use of your LGBTQ+ history knowledge and apply what you’ve learnt to your Pride merch. Whether it’s a key historical figure, a movement or one of the older flags, get creative and show you have a deeper understanding of Pride and where it came from.

7. Honour Pride as a protest.

Acknowledge Pride for the important protest it is by printing a poster with quotes, symbols and imagery. You could even create an ode or dedication to a key political figure from the LGBTQ+ community, like Kathy Kozachenko or Harvey Milk.

8. Write some lyrics for Pride.

Create some Pride-inspired lyrics and place them on a poster or T-shirt – you could even sing along to them during the celebrations. Take inspiration from an existing song, but once again, be sure to consider copyright law. Or create some fresh lyrics yourself or with the help of AI.

9. Collate your best Pride memories.

Combine all your favourite moments from Pride with a personalised collage. From photos with old and new friends to snapshots of the action at the parades, a collage can help you treasure some of your most prized memories.

10. Send out some Pride-inspired invites.

Hosting your own Pride party? Keep with the theme and send out some Pride-inspired invitations that give your guests a taste of the good times to come. Include funny quotes, rainbows, flags and more.

How can Adobe Express help you design your Pride merch?

Adobe Express can make designing your Pride merch easy. Our handy tools can help you create fun and unique merchandise for gay Pride.

Here’s how Adobe Express can help:

1. Use thousands of free merch templates.

You can create mugs, T-shirts, hoodies and more with Adobe Express’s free templates. Get inspiration from our ready-made designs and make any template your own.

2. Find inspiration for designs and quotes.

Choose some motivational quotes to support the LGBTQ+ community. Get creative with fonts, colours and visuals to make your quotes even more effective. Spread positivity for Pride using your words.

3. Create colourful designs in a few clicks.

You can use Adobe Express’s generative AI tools to make colourful creations for Pride with the click of a few buttons. Create images and more through assisted drawing and painting functions for free.

4. Design your website and product images.

Create a dedicated website with professional, high-quality webpages to show audiences the true meaning of Pride. Include images, quotes and more to make your website engaging and apply your own fonts and colours across the site to keep it consistent.

5. Build brand awareness with social media posts.

Showcase your support for Pride with social media posts across sites like Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Post a passionate quote, an image of an LGBTQ+ icon or some of the best bits from your Pride celebrations.

Create Pride merch quickly with the Adobe Express AI template generator.

Getting ready for a Pride parade, or looking to elevate your Pride merchandise collection? It’s quick and easy to create your own Pride designs with the help of the AI template generator on Adobe Express. Simply describe what you want to create in the text box and the intelligent tool will generate a template that you can further refine to suit your taste.

The template generator is free to use too - just sign into your Adobe Express account. From there, you can enter prompts to create your masterpiece. Start off with five words or more, and the more detail the better. Whether you want to design a poster, flag or t-shirt design, the process is made easier with generative AI from Adobe Express.

Try Adobe Express for free now

Good to know.

What colours represent Pride?

The colours red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, and violet are used to represent Pride. These are all displayed on the six-colour Pride flag, originally designed by Gilbert Baker in 1978. The colours are an iconic representation of the LGBTQ+ community.

What do people wear at Pride?

You can wear whatever clothing you’re comfortable in to Pride events. Bright colours are often encouraged, particularly those featured on the LGTBQ+ flags.

How can companies show support during Pride?

Companies can show support during Pride in a number of ways – from hosting Pride events to uploading social media posts to show support for the community. You can communicate with your staff to discuss the best ways for the company to showcase their allyship.

Is Adobe Express free?

Yes, our free plan offers many core features including thousands of templates, photo editing and effects, animation, and 5 GB of storage. See our pricing page for details and to compare plans.