Herr's collaborates with Philly artists from South Fellini, Dirty Hands Studio on chip-themed merchandise

Fans of Herr's can now wear their love of chips on their sleeve — or their socks — thanks to the snack company's new collaboration with local small businesses.

Herr's, which is based in Chester County, has enlisted the help of Philly artists from South Fellini and Dirty Hands Studio for the "Fits by Philly" limited-edition merchandise line. Shirts, hats, tote bags, stickers and socks featuring unique snack-inspired designs are available while supplies last online. They will also be sold at South Fellini's store, located at 1507 East Passyunk Ave., from Wednesday through the end of May.

MORE: Herr's condiment-flavored chips are back; here's how we rank them

"As a local artist from the Philadelphia area, I'm stoked that Herr's is partnering with our incredible artistic community," Tim Gough, of Dirty Hands Studio, said in a press release. "By collaborating with an iconic brand like Herr's, they create an opportunity for a local artist to contribute to the city's culture and celebrate the things that make Philly, Philly."

The shirt designs include one with the slogan "City of Brotherly Spud" and a personified, cartoon chip bag yelling, "Yo!" There's a design, also available on a tote, of William Penn holding what appears to be a round potato chip. Then there's a trucker hat with an embroidered Herr's delivery truck, stickers with phrases like "Freshness Guaranteed" and socks with chip-related words like "Crisp" and "Tasty."

"I think that these crazy socks are gonna do really well," said Bob Clark, Herr's vice president of marketing. "They're so colorful and vibrant. They say 'BBQ' and 'crisp' and 'tasty' on the socks. I mean, that's just such a weird idea."

The collaboration was born from the success of Herr's annual Flavored by Philly contest, which the company has been running yearly since 2022. The contest calls for chip flavor ideas based on Philly-area small businesses, and the winning business receives a cash prize. This year, Herr's decided to expand its outreach to include local artists.

"It just felt so good to be part of giving back to small businesses in Philadelphia," said Clark, who's been with Herr's for about a decade. "This year, we're going to be repeating (Flavored by Philly) again, but with the added twist of speaking to local artists as well and having them design some merchandise for us. We just want to get closer and closer to small businesses in Philadelphia."

When it came to deciding on which designers to work with, Clark said that Herr's contacted many artists but found that the ones who were "most interested" and had the "coolest designs" were Tony Trov and Johnny Zito, of South Fellini, and Tim Gough, of Dirty Hands Studio. The artist sent design ideas to Herr's marketing team, who offered feedback.

"We wanted to give them pretty much free rein, like 'What do you think about Herr's and food and Philadelphia? How would you put that on a T-shirt?' We didn't really want to guide them at all," Clark said. "We wanted them to be creative, and they came up with some really different approaches. And we chose the ones that we just thought were just so much fun."

On their end, the South Fellini designers first threw around some potato chip-themed puns — including discarded runners-up like "big chip energy" and "party size" — before Herr's chose their favorite: "City of Brotherly Spud." Once they had their slogan ready to go, they used it as a jumping-off point for the artwork itself, which features potato chip bags as "1930s-inspired cartoon characters."

"It's a silly pun; potatoes are funny and Herr's is this iconic brand that has been around forever," Zito said. "It starts with a phrase. What does that phrase make you feel or what does it call to mind? And then we take all those elements and we put them in a big pot and stir them up. We served them back to Herr's and they told us which recipes they liked and which ones they didn't."

Along with the T-shirt design, Zito also loves the embroidered delivery truck hat.

"It's just this blue and white truck with a little red streak on it," he said. "You know exactly what it is from a distance. It just looks perfect. I love it, and I can't get enough of it. I'm really happy."

Working on the line brought up some fond childhood memories for the South Fellini co-founder.

"When you're a little kid and you go in the Acme with your parents and you're going up and down the rows of merchandise, these packages give you your first exposure to art and graphic design," Zito said. "These images really do stick with you throughout your whole life.

"For me, the Herr's chip bag, that metallic blue or green or red, is just so indelible to my childhood. My mom would buy the big party size bag every week, and she would send us to school with our brown bag lunches, and we get a little Ziploc full of Herr's chips with every lunch. My brother and I would take those chips and put them on our sandwich and eat them every day. It's just part of my childhood, and I continue doing that well into my days working in an office or working with my business partner."

To celebrate the Herr's line, South Fellini's store will be giving away chips with every purchase on Sunday, April 28, during East Passyunk's Flavors on the Avenue food festival.