From tulips and orchids to Beanie Babies and Pokémon cards, human beings are no strangers to(对……并不陌生) mania(狂热；痴迷)s. But among the strangest is the current craze(一时的狂热；风尚) for mini totes from Trader Joe’s, an American grocery shop. The release on September 30th of the limited-time Halloween bags—which cost $2.99 and are about the size of an iPad—prompted huge queues outside shops across America. Some Trader Joe’s locations have impose(强制实行；施加)d a strict limit on the number of bags per customer. (People do not seem to mind that the totes are too small to be very useful.) Enthusiasts are turning to resale websites, where they are listed for between $20 and a wishful(一厢情愿的；异想天开的) $50,000.
从郁金香、兰花到豆豆娃和宝可梦卡牌，人类对狂热追捧并不陌生。但其中最离奇的，当属当下对美国杂货店Trader Joe's迷你帆布袋的痴迷。9月30日，这款限时万圣节帆布袋发售——售价2.99美元，大小约等于一台iPad——在全美各地门店外引发了大排长龙。部分Trader Joe's门店对每位顾客的购买数量实施了严格限制。（人们似乎并不介意这些帆布袋小得几乎没什么实用价值。）狂热者纷纷转向二手交易网站，那里的标价从20美元到异想天开的5万美元不等。
Merchandise—or “merch”, to use the trendy term—seems to be everywhere, for everything. Oxford Economics, a research firm, estimates that $338bn a year is spent globally on the stuff. (Their rather broad definition includes licensed products, clothing, branded goods and print-on-demand(按需印刷) items.) All kinds of companies are peddling such ware(商品；器皿)s, from bakeries and bookshops to household brands and hardware shops. Even tech firms are joining in. Palantir(美国大数据分析公司，以国防和政府合同闻名) dropped tennis whites adorn(装饰；点缀)ed with its logo in July. Recently OpenAI launched its first publicly available clothing line. “This is the best way to get bullied in public,” one X user scoff(嘲笑；讥讽)ed.
周边商品——或者用时下的流行说法“merch”——似乎无处不在，涵盖一切。研究机构牛津经济研究院估计，全球每年在这类东西上的花费高达3380亿美元。（其相当宽泛的定义包括授权产品、服装、品牌商品和按需印刷品。）各类公司都在兜售这类商品，从面包店、书店到家居品牌和五金店，不一而足。就连科技公司也加入了进来。Palantir在7月推出了印有自家标志的白色网球服。最近OpenAI推出了其首个公开发售的服装系列。“这是最容易被当众霸凌的方式，”一位X用户嘲讽道。
Merch, of course, is not a new thing. It has long been common in three areas. One is children’s products—as any parent who has had to fork out(（不情愿地）掏钱) for an Elsa dress or Buzz Lightyear toy will know. Another arena(领域；舞台) is music. Barclays, a bank, predicted Harry Styles’s fans would splash out(大手笔花钱；挥霍) £100 ($135) each at the London leg of the singer’s tour this summer. Merch is also a winning source of revenue for sports teams. New York is still awash(充斥的；泛滥的) in blue-and-orange apparel, the colours of the Knicks(纽约尼克斯队，NBA知名篮球队), the city’s victorious basketball team. Arsenal(英超阿森纳足球俱乐部，周边收入增长显著), a Premier League team, saw its kit and merchandise revenue grow by 26%, to £130m, during the 2024-25 season.
当然，周边商品并非新鲜事物。它长期以来在三个领域十分普遍。一是儿童产品——任何不得不为艾莎裙或巴斯光年玩具掏钱的父母都深有体会。另一个领域是音乐。巴克莱银行曾预测，哈里·斯泰尔斯的粉丝今年夏天在伦敦站演唱会人均将豪掷100英镑（135美元）。周边商品也是体育球队的赚钱利器。纽约至今仍满眼蓝橙色的服饰，那是该市胜利的篮球队尼克斯队的配色。英超球队阿森纳在2024-25赛季的球衣及周边商品收入增长了26%，达到1.3亿英镑。