A creative studio helping brands make thoughtful merch.
A creative studio helping brands make thoughtful merch.
Merchandise is a direct expression of your brand. The pieces people touch, wear, gift, and keep.
Metric handles the full scope, concept, design, manufacturing, art direction, and launch, for retail, internal teams, events, and marketing.
Metric handles the full scope, concept, design, manufacturing, art direction, and launch, for retail, internal teams, events, and marketing.
Metric is led by Ed Nacional, who spent eight years as Creative Director for Commerce at The New York Times (2017-2025), building and scaling the creative program for The New York Times Store.
His role spanned the complete product lifecycle: concept, design, manufacturing, photography, ecommerce, and campaign strategy — including deep relationships with domestic makers and factories across apparel, accessories, and objects, from small independent producers to larger scale manufacturers.The studio brings that depth to brands seeking the same standards without building an in-house team. Studio-level craft with the capacity to scale.
Why Metric?
The name Metric speaks to the nature of this work: physical, measurable, precise. Merchandise exists in the tangible world, where specifications matter—fabric weight, fit dimensions, exact color values, production timelines. But precision extends beyond technical specs. It's about conceptual accuracy too: identifying the right products for your brand, finding ideas that truly connect.
After eight years specializing exclusively in merchandise design and production—most recently as Creative Director for Commerce at The New York Times—Metric was founded to bring that level of rigor and full-spectrum expertise to brands who want the same standards but don't have an in-house team to deliver them.
What Eight Years of Specialization Gives You
When you've designed hundreds of merchandise collections and managed every aspect of a commercial retail program, you start seeing patterns other designers don't. The conceptual hooks that make a product feel inevitable for a brand. The cultural references that resonate with specific audiences. The gaps between what a brand says about itself and what it could be making.
That depth of focus means the studio moves faster, sees problems before they become expensive, and has relationships with the makers, printers, and manufacturers who can actually execute at the level your vision demands. The approach considers three dimensions—not just what looks good on screen, but what feels right in someone's hands, what's actually feasible at your budget, what will photograph well, and what will survive real-world use.
The studio brings expertise in garment construction, printing methods, packaging logistics, and which factories can execute your vision versus which ones will water it down. With hundreds of product shoots art directed and ecommerce experiences designed, Metric works with production realities and commercial viability baked in from the start, which means fewer revisions, shorter timelines, and solutions that work the first time. This isn't a side offering—it's the entire practice.
SERVICES
Metric works across every context merchandise shows up in, retail stores, internal teams, events, and marketing. Each has different stakes and a different definition of success. The same creative standards apply to all of them, across four areas:
Design and
Concept
Concept
Manufacturing
and Production
and Production
Launch and
Campaign
Campaign
Special
Projects
Projects
Concept Development and Ideation
Finding the idea worth designing around. Identifying conceptual throughlines between your brand and physical objects, surfacing merchandise ideas that feel authentically yours, not derivative of what everyone else is making.
Finding the idea worth designing around. Identifying conceptual throughlines between your brand and physical objects, surfacing merchandise ideas that feel authentically yours, not derivative of what everyone else is making.
Product Design
Where ideas become objects. Designing merchandise that balances function and form, prioritizing originality over trends and quality over quantity. Products that can be manufactured to your standards, not just rendered beautifully on screen.
Where ideas become objects. Designing merchandise that balances function and form, prioritizing originality over trends and quality over quantity. Products that can be manufactured to your standards, not just rendered beautifully on screen.
Material and Production Strategy
Knowing what's achievable before expensive samples are made. Guiding material selection, production methods, and manufacturing decisions that affect everything from feel to cost to timeline. Navigating the trade-offs between quality, ethics, cost, and speed.
Knowing what's achievable before expensive samples are made. Guiding material selection, production methods, and manufacturing decisions that affect everything from feel to cost to timeline. Navigating the trade-offs between quality, ethics, cost, and speed.
Manufacturer Partnerships
Relationships with makers across the full spectrum, from small independent producers to larger factories, with particular depth in domestic production. The right partner for the right project, whether that's a limited run or a scalable collection.
Relationships with makers across the full spectrum, from small independent producers to larger factories, with particular depth in domestic production. The right partner for the right project, whether that's a limited run or a scalable collection.
Art Direction and Photography
Art directing and styling product photography that showcases the work properly: ecommerce shots, lifestyle imagery, lookbooks. Capturing products with the same intentionality they were designed with.
Art directing and styling product photography that showcases the work properly: ecommerce shots, lifestyle imagery, lookbooks. Capturing products with the same intentionality they were designed with.
Ecommerce and Launch Creative
Designing and building Shopify sites. Creating launch campaigns that tell stories about what makes your products special. Developing strategies that connect with your audience, from email to social and beyond.
Designing and building Shopify sites. Creating launch campaigns that tell stories about what makes your products special. Developing strategies that connect with your audience, from email to social and beyond.
Collection Curation and Editing
Refining and editing assortments, cutting what doesn't serve your vision, strengthening what does. Bringing outside perspective focused on coherence, quality, and ensuring every piece earns its place.
Refining and editing assortments, cutting what doesn't serve your vision, strengthening what does. Bringing outside perspective focused on coherence, quality, and ensuring every piece earns its place.
Limited Editions and Collaborations
Conceiving and producing limited edition releases and brand partnerships with artists, designers, and cultural institutions. Full creative development from concept through production and launch.
Conceiving and producing limited edition releases and brand partnerships with artists, designers, and cultural institutions. Full creative development from concept through production and launch.
Bringing in outside help isn't always obvious. You might know something's off but can't pinpoint what, or you're unsure if it's what we solve. Here are scenarios where our work makes sense. If one or two resonate, let's talk.
If You're Just Starting
If Something's Broken
If You're Ready to Scale
If You Want Something Special