There is no question that customers are looking for sustainable, quality, and unique fabrications and materials for their wearable promotional apparel. Everything is new and exciting! Here’s a selection of apparel favorites, along with hot trends developing for the year – the best of the best!
Eco-Friendly Goods
Whether labeled as “ecofriendly,” “ethical,” “sustainable” or “green,” brands can boost their reputation by selling products identified by these descriptions. These products offer a feel-good sense of ownership for the buyer, as by opting for greener brands, consumers are also contributing to the betterment of the environment.
Brands willing to explore greener options will also experience benefits. According to the Green Business Bureau, brands engaging in ethical practices will likely have an overall lower carbon footprint, reduced shipping costs due to lighter package weights and an overall growth in their consumer pool.
According to Green Strategy, there are seven categories of sustainable fashion, which include:
- Custom-made, custom-requested clothing, which includes made-to-measure and bespoke pieces
- Green through all stages of design, development and production
- High grade and timeless design to ensure longevity of wear
- Just and ethical manufacturing and production practices, including adherence to human and animal rights and the use of conventional, artisanal production methods when possible
- Restoration, redesign and upcycle of purchased goods for continued wear
- Rent, loan and swap programs for extended use of items
- Secondhand clothing and vintage-look apparel, keeping the old-school vibe alive, recycling lightly worn clothing and upholding the timeless quality
Fashiontech
There’s no end in sight to the tech industry’s range of influence, and this includes tech-infused apparel. This may include clothing designed to accommodate tech products, like laptop cases and backpacks designed for gamers, touchscreen gloves and LCD hats.
Retailer brand Inlighten, based in Costa Mesa, California, caters to the electronic dance music (EDM) scene, for instance, with its washable, color-changing garments featuring fiber optic technology, enabling the wearer to change the color of their apparel—which includes bomber jackets, bikini tops, hoodie vests and ties—using a mobile phone app, or by setting it to react to the beat of surrounding music.
Going forward, look for user-friendly, interactive apparel—along with other ways that tech is infiltrating fashion, like with artificial intelligence and blockchain. And don’t forget about wearable tech gadgets. The top gadgets in 2019, according CNET, will include these new iterations of smartwatches:
- Apple Watch Series 3
- Fitbit Versa
- Amazon Bip
- Garmin Vivosport
- Huawei Watch 2 LTE
Standout Shades
A fresh spectrum of color choices was evident in the products displayed at Expo. Promo apparel is no longer shown in the standard black, white and grey options, but rather, companies are adding vibrant hues, like coral, seafoam green, periwinkle and canary yellow. Streamlining your brand colors into your branded apparel is not more possible and easy to achieve!
Each year, the Pantone Color Institute publishes its Pantone Fashion Color Trend Report, which, reviews the top colors showcased at New York Fashion Week to determine the most popular selections. This year color has taken over. The goal with branded apparel is to match fashion style and color so your company image is taken from the office to the the lives and activities of your employees.
For Spring/Summer 2019, Pantone anticipates the top colors to include varying shades of orange, yellow and pink, as well as royal blue and toffee brown.
Trending Products
Contact your Safeguard Premier Branding Solutions representative to see what products are available in your area.