At its core, customised merch is a tangible way for coffee people to express their creativity and personality, and create authentic connections with their customers.
Coffee is more than a drink. It’s connection, community, and creativity all perfectly aligning to form a culture that is greater than the sum of its parts.
Branding design and merchandising are both growing areas of the coffee industry and play a key role in cafés showing their personalities, building their communities, and bringing their values to customers.
Creative merch and product studio HUM. Concept was founded by Christine Fan at the start of 2025 and is already making waves.
With the likes of White Horse Coffee, Thieves Coffee, St. Rose Café, and Wolf Coffee Roasters already among her clients, Christine says being able to dial into the unique personality of any given business is key to helping it create stronger bonds with its customers.
“Coffee is about connection, I love how we’re connected not only to the drink itself but also to the spaces we enjoy it in and the people we enjoy it with. I can walk into a space and feel straight away what it’s trying to express, and what its personality is,” she says.
“I have a good coffee machine at home, but I still go to cafés all the time because I crave the human connection that happens in these spaces. That’s why I started HUM. Concept, to really tell the story of the brand and use merch as a channel for building authentic connections.
“Merch reflects a brand and its personality. At the core of that are the people who founded it and the people who work in it. I want to make this implication tangible with good merch, since it’s a channel for businesses to build authentic relationships with their customers, and it’s an additional source of revenue.”
Christine initially started HUM. Concept as a side hustle where she pounded the pavement of her local streets looking for clients she could help, but has since decided to devote herself to the project full-time.
“I was at university studying early childhood education and was making promotional cooler bags for local grocery stores on the side. I added a pocket to the bag, and it was a tiny change that made a huge difference to the function,” she says.
“I then started door knocking on the streets of Geelong and the Mornington Peninsula talking to different shops. When I talked to the business owners, I realised there was a huge demand for not only branded merch but they also needed someone to take care of the entire process.”
Because making merch is not a standardised process Christine says customisation details often get lost in translation. She quickly recognised she was uniquely positioned to provide end-to-end customisation services and link the design ideas with the manufacturing process.
While merchandising is far from a new phenomenon in coffee, Christine believes there are levels to the game and customisation has become king is defining a unique look and feel in an industry packed full of individuality.
She says HUM. Concept collaborates with its clients on all aspects of its merch, down to the smallest details, to help them stand out even further.
“We can make the ‘usual’ merch such as T-shirts, caps, and tote bags, but we also do socks, mugs, travel cups, bucket hats, and almost anything you can think of,” she says.
“We customise merch down to the type of fabric and the label on the inside. I’ve got fabric books with 50 colours. It’s a hyper-customised experience.
“You can come to me with ideas and we will take care of the delivery of your vision from end-to-end. You have your ideas being heard and explored, and production taken care of. We quality check every single piece that is delivered and provide a whole range of services that go way beyond just dragging and dropping a logo on a website.
“Coffee is such a creative industry and the people in it aren’t the type that just want a uniform. They want something sick, and something really different and unique that aligns with their personality.”
‘Hum’, a Latin root word meaning earth and ground, was incorporated into the brand name to reflect Christine’s role as both grounded support for her clients and a creative partner.
She says although merchandising can open new sales opportunities for a business, that’s not what she sees as the most important part of providing unique and creative products.
“We build connections, we bring your brand story into tangible products and create authentic relationships from concept to delivery,” she says.
“I think connection comes before revenue. Even though creating a great merch line does open another revenue stream for cafés and roasters, it has so much potential to help connect them with their communities.”
For more information, visit humconcept.com.au
This article appears in the October 2025 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.
