The Best New Corporate Merch and Gifts

It’s often said that ’tis better to give than to receive, but more often than not, corporate swag leaves both giver and recipient cold. How many times have we left a conference with the same old leaky commuter mug? Or received some drab pen along with a forgettable pad of sticky notes? Swag need not be a source of dismay, however—it’s all just a matter of keeping up with the times. And top events and conferences have been trying to one-up each other with the fanciest personalized gifts—from Outerknown’s Blanket shirts to Cotopaxi down jackets.

“Coming out of the pandemic, people finally realized that nobody wants more ‘stuff,’” said Emily Cummings, vice president of sales for branded merchandise solutions company Halo, who has sourced swag for the likes of Google and numerous tech and venture capital firms. “With the way we all work these days, especially with hybrid or remote models, people tend to not like things unless they’re really useful. I used to sell about 10 orders of USBs a week, and now clients ask me for USBs maybe once a year.”