The online space is a proving ground for different opportunities. There’s creating content that targets specific audiences, and there’s creating merch like T-shirts as part of building a community or following. Both are things Isa Does and Alvin Tries Tech are currently doing as they grow their communities.
Isa Does, aka Isa Rodriguez, focuses on talking about tech for women in real-life scenarios through a lifestyle approach, while Alvin Tries Tech, aka Alvin Villanueva, focuses on the practicality part of tech, making complicated tech queries easy to digest.
With both of them focused mainly on tech, they have their respective goals: for Isa, it is to make everyone understand that people have different preferences when it comes to tech, and that’s ok. For Alvin, he wants to simplify things so that people won’t get too intimidated by the latest tech out there.
With 62k and 166k subscribers respectively, Isa Does and Alvin Tries Tech is looking to expand their community, and launching their own merch line starting with T-Shirts is their next direction. “When I started getting traction in my Youtube Channel, I saw it as an opportunity for me to express myself or convey a message, perhaps another creative outlet,” Alvin said. Both are working with Merch Vault to make the concept a reality.
The design process
Just like with their YouTube channels, they have a process they follow to make sure it aligns with their beliefs and advocacies.
“I wanted to rep the idea that we are here; to inspire other women (tech content creator or not) to be loud, unrelenting in what they do or content they create, and never to shrink the space they take up,” Isa explains, emphasizing that she aims to empower women through her platform.
And while their first tees may look simple, they convey an important meaning. For Alvin’s Always Keep Trying tee, the “Try Hard” statement is meant to address those who are into smart-shaming or work shaming. “I’d like people to take pride in giving their best. There is no shame in being a try-hard.”
“I can never describe designs in concrete ways, only how I want it to ‘feel,'” Isa said, saying that it was her first time to design her own merch. Even if it is a first for Isa, the whole process was still fun for her as Project 7 to 1 Creative Director Sean Salustiano helped her get her message across.
Beyond shirts?
The shirts are just the starting point for both Isa and Alvin. In fact, both are thinking of other merch ideas for their future drops. Aside from new merch from both of them, there’s also the question of dream collabs.
For Alvin, it would be Project 7 to 1 founder Carlo Ople as Alvin knows he can learn a lot from someone that is as seasoned as Carlo when it comes to marketing and content creation.
As for Isa and her personality, it is natural that her dream collab would be the likes of iJustine. “There are so many awesome creators out there so I will just say any strong, independent woman creator I’d be down!” Isa adds.
You can pre-order Alvin Tries Tech’s Always Keep Trying and Isa Does’ Isa Does Standards tees for now, and you will be informed when both tees will officially drop.
