QR Codes on Merch: Shirts, Tote Bags, and Stickers
A QR code on merchandise has to survive things a code on paper never deals with — fabric stretch, repeated washing, a curved bottle or mug surface, or simply being printed small enough to fit on a sticker or a shirt sleeve. None of that requires a different kind of QR code; it changes how much margin for error you have, which means the choices that are merely nice-to-have on a flyer become load-bearing on merch.
Why small and curved surfaces are less forgiving
A QR code's dot pattern needs enough resolution for a camera to distinguish individual squares — on a full-page flyer, a slightly busy design or a tight margin might still scan fine because there's enough raw size to absorb the error. Shrink that same code down to fit a shirt pocket or a 1-inch sticker, and the same design choices that were merely suboptimal on paper can push a code past the point of scanning reliably. What size should your QR code be covers the underlying size-versus-distance math in more depth, but the short version for merch specifically: err larger than feels necessary, since you rarely get a second chance to reprint a shirt run.
Curved surfaces (mugs, bottles, cans) distort the pattern from some viewing angles — a scanner reading the code at a slight angle rather than dead-on has to work harder to interpret modules that aren't perfectly square anymore. Keeping the code on the flattest available surface, or sizing it generously so minor distortion doesn't eat into the scannable margin, matters more here than on a flat printed page.
Fabric and washing
Screen-printed or heat-transferred QR codes on shirts and tote bags face two enemies over time: cracking (heat-transfer vinyl can develop hairline cracks across the print after repeated washing and stretching) and fading (screen-printed ink loses contrast gradually, which matters more for a QR code than for a logo, since a logo still reads as "a logo" faded, while a QR code either has enough contrast to scan or it doesn't). A high-contrast dot color against the fabric — solid black on white or a light color, or vice versa — buys more washes before fading becomes a scanning problem than a subtle or low-contrast color choice would.
If the item is meant to be a one-time promotional giveaway rather than something worn for years, this matters less; if it's meant to last through regular wear and washing (a staff uniform, a tote bag meant for daily use), it's worth choosing the highest-contrast, simplest dot style available — square or minimally-styled dots hold up better under print degradation than rounded or dotted styles, which lose distinguishability faster as the print quality degrades.
Stickers specifically
Small stickers are usually the most forgiving merch surface, since sticker printing tends to be higher-resolution than fabric printing and stays flat rather than stretching — but the tradeoff is size. A sticker meant to be scanned from a reasonable arm's-length distance needs to be larger than a sticker meant to be read up close, so decide the expected scanning distance before finalizing sticker size, not after a batch is already printed.
What to encode
For most merch use cases — a shirt linking to a store page, a sticker linking to a social profile, a tote bag linking to a portfolio — a standard static URL code is the right choice, the same as any other print application. Building a link-in-bio page is worth considering here specifically: merch often has room for exactly one code, so pointing it at a hub page with several links (store, social, contact) gets more mileage out of that single scan than linking to just one destination.
The short version
QR codes on merch work the same as any other static code — the difference is that small print sizes, fabric wear, and curved surfaces leave much less room for error than a printed page does. Go bigger and higher-contrast than feels necessary, and test a physical sample before committing to a full print run.