Updated January 20, 2026
What’s new in the world of swag? That’s a question we often get. The new year brings new products and exciting swag trends that you want to know when planning your employee company store and your branded merch purchases in general.
Let’s dive into the top trends that will help you elevate your marketing.
1. Sustainability as a Swag Standard
Sustainability in promotional is a new reality for promotional products and customized apparel. This year, we see a line of products continue to expand. As brands continue to align with environmental values, sustainable swag has become the baseline rather than the exception.
Leading the way in 2026:
- Products made from recycled materials, including plastic bottles, tires, and textiles
- Biodegradable options
- Products from manufacturers who have implemented sustainable practices
- Upcycled materials like repurposed signage
- Products that replace single-use alternatives, such as shopping bags and drinkware
Beyond materials, sustainability also means choosing quality over quantity – giving away durable, useful merch that won’t end up in landfills. It’s about making sure your swag matches your audience’s interests and lifestyle so it gets used again and again.
Quick links to some of our favorite sustainable swag:
Canvas totes
Bamboo merch
Organic cotton products
Eco-friendly swag collection
2. Creative Use of Imprint Areas
The shift away from large, logo-centric designs continues to gain momentum in 2026. Large, in-your-face company logos, printed to maximize imprint areas on larger items, are out. Instead, we see using these large areas to print positive messages to inspire and uplift your audience. We love this creative use of company swag and the endless possibilities to engage with your audience with unique, colorful designs, as large as possible, with your logo incorporated in a subtle and discrete manner.
This works very well with all kinds of bags, drinkware, mouse pads, and towels, among others, that have a large area to print on.
Contact us for ideas!
3. Quiet Luxury
As we’ve seen for the past few years, retail brands continue to influence branded merchandise. The popular “Quiet luxury” trend in retail, a term that emerged in 2023, has found its place in the promotional products world. This approach focuses on high-quality, sustainable materials with subtle branding that encourages recipients to use the branded items outside of work hours.
There is a preference for high-quality products made with high-quality materials and innovative decorative methods. Think retail-inspired pieces with trend-forward touches: refined silhouettes, premium materials, and discrete logo placement that lets the quality speak for itself. Instead of maximizing imprint areas with oversized logos, brands are incorporating their identity in sophisticated ways – a small embossed logo, a tone-on-tone print, or elegant engraving.
This works beautifully on high-end brand-name products, premium bags, drinkware, apparel, and lifestyle accessories that people genuinely want to carry and wear beyond the workplace.
Contact us for subtle branding ideas!
4. Vintage Vibe
Retro-inspired swag, such as tin lunchboxes and neon sunglasses, has been around for a while. This year we see more interesting functional modern versions of products with a vintage look reminiscent of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, that will start conversations!
4. Merch That Connects to The Phone
We are all familiar with QR codes, and they’ve become quite popular, often printed on merchandise. That same idea translates to technologies like near-field communication (NFC) being printed into products, allowing smartphone users to easily tap their phones and pull up a web page. It’s the same concept of a QR code, but without requiring a camera.
The technology can be added to a variety of branded merchandise, such as coffee cups, coasters, and keychains. Contact us for the “tapable” product collection.
5. Large Capacity Custom Drinkware
The craze over the 40oz Stanley Tumblers we saw a couple of years ago has subsided, but the love for large capacity tumblers is alive and well. Custom drinkware has always been a popular promotional product category; it was one of the most sold product categories this past year, with larger capacity leading the way. Looks like people are on board with the health benefits of drinking lots of water!
So if you want to be on trend, you can’t go wrong adding branded 40oz tumblers, Stanley, or other versions to your company store.
6. Tech Swag
Technology is an integral part of our daily lives, and useful tech swag is always well-received. Customized wireless chargers, data and RFID blockers, charging cables, and other electronic personal items are popular across many audiences and make excellent business gifts people will keep.
7. Retail Brands With Your Logo
Name brands such as Yeti, Stanley, Contigo, Thermos, Samsonite, Under Armour, Patagonia, and many more offer product customization, and more are added each year.
Name brands come at a premium price, but there are high-quality, lower-cost alternatives to achieve a retail look that will be unique to your brand. Using subtle ways to apply the brand imprint on high-quality items can achieve an attractive retail-looking piece. For example, laser engraving your logo on a leather-look patch that gets sewn onto a garment instead of applying embroidery.
If you’re looking for brand names or retail-looking merchandise, contact us.
8. Company Merch Boxes and Mailers
Company swag boxes became popular during the pandemic lockdowns when businesses and organizations started sending their swag to employees and clients to their homes. The pandemic is over, but merch boxes continue to grow in popularity and are widely used for different projects, such as welcoming a new team member, creating interest in an event, sales prospecting gift sets, and so much more.
Swag boxes are versatile and can be used for many purposes. They transform the company swag from a giveaway into an experience. Recipients love to post unboxing videos on social media, which adds a whole new dimension to the brand exposure.
8. Elevated Custom Design
Traditional customization methods, such as embroidery, screenprinting, and logo patches, are going as strong as ever. Still, there is also a growing demand for fully custom promotional products, especially in apparel. Technology advances allow for larger print areas, all-over printing, and edgy design placement options to satisfy the requirements of unique pieces with creative designs for special projects.
If you have a project like this you’d like to discuss, contact us.
What Do You Think of These 2026 Trends?
Promotional products play a critical role in building brand awareness and positive company culture. We love helping clients bring their branded product ideas to life.
Schedule a brainstorming session here.