Top Promotional Merchandise Trends 2023

What’s Been Hot in 2023?

This year has been a wild ride for everyone here at Sycal. Not only are we celebrating our 40th anniversary, but we’ve welcomed new team members, new technologies, and new tools to help us create and source custom branded products.

As we officially cross the halfway mark of the year, we’re taking a look back at the last six months and the promotional gifts and branded giveaways that have been popping up in everyone’s enquiries! Take a look at what products have been trending over the last six months, and how you can utilise them in your next promotional marketing campaign.

1. Custom branded drinkware

Branded drinkware is an evergreen promotional merchandise option.

Since our inception in 1983, we’ve seen branded drinkware become one of; if not, the most demanded promotional merchandise options thanks to its constant evolution.

Earlier this year, we saw the rise of a new novel drinkware action on the market: The Seddon Bottle.

The 750ml single-walled, stainless steel water bottle is a fantastic reusable drinkware option for a wide range of demographics. Available with printed customisations on the front and back; or as a wrap-around, the Seddon may feel like a traditional bottle… until you add water!

Once filled, the white bottle will begin to change colour in front of your eyes, allowing your logo or branding to stand out on either a blue, red, or dark grey background!

Alongside the in-built straw, the colour-changing nature of the bottle is a memorable and novel way to promote your organisation!

With such a demand for custom-branded bottles and mugs, we are seeing more and more household drinkware brands offering promotional branded products. In 2023, we can offer our customers a wide range of branded drinkware options from brands like Chilly, Camelbak, Contigo, and Ocean Bottle, uniting their iconic product options branded with your logos or artwork.

This year, we’re seeing growing demand for The Ocean Bottle, a sustainable alternative for insulated drinkware. Every single bottle sold pays for the collection of 1000 plastic bottles from rivers, landfills, and waterways that would have otherwise found their way into the ocean. Their bottles are manufactured from recycled stainless steel and ocean-bound plastics. Perfect for promoting your organisation with an environmentally conscious twist.

These high-quality drinkware options are designed to stand the test of time and offer long-term merchandise solutions. However, with some marketing budgets tightening this year, we offer an expansive selection of custom-branded drinkware options that can reflect your brand without having a premium brand’s price tag.

2. Custom Branded Clothing

It goes without saying that custom-branded clothing and uniforms are constantly popular promotional merchandise options, but last year, we were able to expand our branded garment offerings after investing in Direct-to-Film (DTF) printing technologies.

DTF printing allows us to create stunning and bold full-colour prints that can be applied to almost any type of garment. Utilising innovative dual-head printing technology, we can print full-colour transfers AND the necessary white inks in one single pass, creating vibrant prints designed to retain their quality wear-after-wear, wash-after-wash!

Powered by KODAK ink technologies, the printer utilises pigment-based inks creating bright and colourful designs similar to that of screen printing, but without restrictions on colour.

As well as our in-house printing, we also offer embroidery, doming, screen and sublimation printing to ensure your brand looks perfect on every garment type.

Today, our expansive range of clothing keeps on growing with additions from such brands as The North Face, Barbour, and Berghaus, as well as new garments from Gildan, AWD, Bella+Canvas, and Stanley/Stella.

Whether you’re looking for event clothing, new uniforms, branded gifts, hats, or accessories, we can help your organisation stand out in 2023.

3. Custom Printed Bags

For almost two decades, promotional branded bags have been an incredibly popular merchandise option, which has continued throughout 2023. Whether they’re being used for shopping, clothing, toiletries, style, travel, or commuting, custom-branded bags are steadily becoming one of the industry’s most valuable players. With premium, budget, eco-friendly, practical, and fashionable options available, there’s a custom-printed bag for every promotional marketing campaign.

Totes and Shoppers

Since the introduction of the plastic bag tax in 2015, the demand for reusable totes and shoppers has skyrocketed and hasn’t stopped yet!

Cost-effective and stylish, custom-branded totes and shoppers offer unparalleled practicality and a fantastic branding area to showcase your organisation’s logo, messaging, or artwork on the go.

If you’re looking to provide a more sustainable or environmentally conscious product option, models such as the Pheebs are manufactured from both recycled cotton and recycled polyester, which saves a vast amount of water in the production process without virgin materials being used.

With budgeting at the front of the mind of many customers in the New Year, totes are ideal for cost-effective promotional offerings.

Laptop bags and Backpacks

With hybrid and office working becoming more popular, we’ve seen an increase in enquiries for branded laptop bags and backpacks. Perfect for the daily (or weekly) commute, our custom-branded laptop bags and backpacks can be customized to fit your every need.

With water-proof, eco-friendly, and anti-theft options available, as well as models with device charging capabilities, there are plenty of bags available to promote your organisation in 2023.

4. Custom Branded Pens

We know! WE KNOW!

Although they’ve not been considered to be the most innovative product in also 90 years, there’s a reason that promotional pens have been a staple for businesses and brands since the 1930s!

When you consider how many cost-effective branded merchandise options are available, it may come as a bit of a shock that promotional pens are in as high demand now as they were a decade ago.

We understand that promotional pens can be seen as a little conventional or traditional, but with thousands of unique models available, as well as countless branding opportunities, it’s no wonder that branded pens are in high demand for a wide variety of demographics.

With such a large range of products, find out what pen would be most effective for your next marketing campaign!

5. Custom printed umbrellas

It goes without saying that the British weather is an unpredictable beast.

On average, the UK sees 156 days of rainfall each year, meaning there’s no bad time to put a custom printed umbrella into your customers’ hands.

For forty years, we have been manufacturing and sourcing promotional umbrellas for customers across the globe, and they’re still as popular today as they were in 1983.

Over the years, we’ve seen new innovations, features, printing techniques, and manufacturing materials, and can supply a wide range of brollies suitable for any demographic.

Whether they’re being used as corporate gifts, employee giveaways, hospitality tools, or branded for resale, take a look at some of our most popular promotional umbrella options.

For more information about utilising promotional merchandise to promote your brand in 2023, speak to a member of our team today! Call us on 01234 841741 or email us at sales@sycal.co.uk.