We know we reported that Disney took a potential loss on not marketing “Baby Yoda” in the lead-up to the release of “The Mandalorian,” but we’re pretty sure series creator Jon Favreau isn’t exactly kicking himself these days. The cinematic reveal of the character in the show paid off with one of the biggest hype waves in recent memory.
The latest marker in Baby Yoda merchandise history utilizes the custom, on-demand merchandise capabilities Disney recently introduced for its online store. Through a partnership with Zazzle, Disney is allowing fans to customize their own Baby Yoda apparel and footwear.
On the shoes, which are a low-profile slip-on with a burlap-looking outsole, fans can customize the shoe’s insole with either black, white, pink, gray, orange, blue, red, yellow, green, purple or brown.
Baby Yoda Shoes from Disney & Zazzle – #suitupgeekout https://t.co/4j9BPEgzA2 pic.twitter.com/1dJkWJm96W
— suitupgeekout (@SuitUp_GeekOut) January 1, 2020
That’s on the limited end of customization capabilities, but the apparel options are much more numerous.
The core design is a picture of the character, which Disney insists on still calling The Child as if we as a stubborn fan base haven’t already renamed him ourselves. (This is what happens when you wait to market your stuff, Favreau! Deal with it.) The image has a text overlay that says “Fifty Years Young,” a play on the fact that whatever species Baby Yoda belongs to apparently ages very slowly.
From there, the choice is pretty much up to the buyer. The Shop Disney site allows you to resize the design, choose what kind of shirt you want it on (raglan tee, basic tee, zip-up hoodie, pullover hoodie and more). Some of the apparel options are from American Apparel and Bella+Canvas, too.
Disney has been leading the pack in terms of customization in promotional merchandise. It even matched the one-of-a-kind lightsabers you can make at the theme park with the ones you can use in the latest “Star Wars” video game.
When you can provide something to appeal to every single fan, there’s no excuse to not sell more products. Disney has been clever enough to realize this, and has executed it pretty much flawlessly.
If it added more shirt designs than the stock image available for now (which we would bet more than a few Imperial Credits that it will), Disney could make all Baby Yoda merchandise shopping start and stop in one place.
