Life is full of surprises. Need proof? Just look at the last few years. If they’ve taught us anything, it’s that we can’t predict the future. That said, we at Print & Promo Marketing have a wealth of expertise at our fingertips. Being a part of ASI means that we have journalists who have covered the promotional products and decorated apparel space for decades. And our continued partnership with the PRINTING United Alliance allows us access to thought leaders in the multifaceted print space to find out what potential innovations and trends are in store.
It would be a shame to let all that knowledge go to waste. So, we’ve asked our experts to do the impossible: make predictions for 2026. Their prognostications cover topics ranging from economic factors to buyer habits to product and packaging trends. One thing’s for sure: Whatever 2026 brings, the print and promo industries will continue to adapt, evolve and thrive.
— Brendan Menapace
Wide-Format Printing : Headwinds, Automation & Convergence
Dan Marx, Content Director, Wide-Format Impressions
While the wide-format space continues on an even keel, economic factors seem to be offering a mix of favorable headwinds and rough seas. As the federal government works to create a more business-friendly environment, tariffs on equipment and other important products continue to be a concern. Given the on-again/off-again nature of tariffs and related negotiations, it’s difficult to predict how or when this period of uncertainty will be resolved.
Recent data pulled from Wide-Format Impressions’ annual list of the top 150 wide-format operations in the U.S. and Canada showed increases in industry convergence as companies look to adjacent markets to find opportunity and increase revenue. The promotional products space is one of the areas within which they seek to grow, and many are technologically equipped to address numerous common promo applications.
According to a recent meta-report from Alliance Insights (formerly NAPCO Research), wide-format producers are looking to production automation as a way to increase quality, speed throughput, and minimize challenges in finding skilled labor. This feeds into an ongoing trend of companies establishing themselves as “one-stop shops” for their customers, providing, for example, signage, marketing collateral and promotional products for a single event.
Marketing: Experiential Brings People Together
Hannah Rosenberger, Data Analytics Editor, ASI
Related to the wide-format market, immersive displays and experiential marketing are popular ways for everything from a credit card company to a major motion picture or streaming service to engage with fans. It can mean taking over spaces like subway cars, hotels and drive-thru restaurants, or it can be something smaller like live decoration where end-users leave with a product that they had a hand in designing. Rosenberger sees these sorts of campaigns increasing their metaphorical and literal footprint.
Experiential elements at events and promo campaigns will only continue to grow in popularity. We’ve seen it already in 2025 with event pop-ups to customize everything from T-shirts to sneakers, and with gifting recipients having the ability to choose what promo item they’d like from their company. But I predict it’s going to become an even more essential aspect of gifting, especially as AI tools allow for increased personalization. I think the opportunities are endless for making an impact with a memorable, hands-on project beyond simply unboxing a piece of company-branded apparel.
Apparel & Decoration: Challenges Will Linger
Cassie Green, Content Director, Apparelist
It’s been tough for apparel decorators. Between the 2024 elections, continuing supply chain challenges, tumultuous tariff talk, and staffing and inflation issues, decorators were up against it this year. Looking at recent data from the Apparelist State of the Decorated Apparel Industry survey, it seems that these factors will leak into 2026 and continue to impact decorators.
While the continuing changes to tariffs have slowed down recently, the residual effects will continue into 2026. Suppliers of both equipment and blanks will keep working to near- and onshore their production, something that won’t be accomplished quickly. Though it’s likely the dust will settle, decorators will still need to keep their vendor relationships open, employing transparent communication, especially in the initial half of the year.
Another factor that will continue to impact decorators is staffing challenges. High turnover and lack of candidates will likely still cause decorators to evaluate other options, such as overseas hiring and continuing implementation of automation. That effort will influence decorating trends, with particular emphasis on print on demand (POD) and digital printing. Screen printing will still shine as the big shops get bigger. However, POD will continue to be added as a complementary technology or become the main focus for most decorators.
Trends that are slowing down include the heavyweight shirt. By no means will this die, but customers will likely seek a middle-ground option to become more prevalent: garments that provide comfort and softness without being overly heavy.
Labeling & Packaging: ‘No-Substrate’ Printing Takes Off
Linda Casey, Editor-in-Chief, Packaging Impressions
The use of direct-to-object printing is viewed by some label and package manufacturers as almost traitorous. But a growing desire to create more sustainable packaging and labels by reducing industrial waste created during the manufacturing, labeling and pack-out of consumer packaged goods is encouraging converters to think differently.
In 2026, Packaging Impressions expects those changing attitudes to evolve into more interest in investing in direct printing. Just don’t expect it to be called direct-to-object or direct-to-package printing. That’s so 2010. Instead, the buzz will be about “no-substrate” printing technologies.
For the North American label industry that has long desired better end-of-life options for label matrix and liner, the attraction of no-substrate printing in 2026 will become difficult to ignore. And Packaging Impressions has already seen early adopters, such as Makro Labelling, declare that no-substrate printing is an innovative labeling printing system, which better aligns manufacturing with brands’ and converters’ sustainability goals, and then back these beliefs with real investment dollars.
Tariffs & The Economy: Boom Times Aren’t Around the Corner
Tariffs were the story of 2025, and ASI Media has reported extensively on how the promo and print industries have been impacted by these economic actions. Mittica expects challenges to remain for industry companies, even if there are reversals – legally mandated or otherwise – in the tariff policies.
I expect 2026 to largely mirror the economic and industry conditions we’re experiencing in the latter half of 2025. The U.S. economy should avoid a recession, but growth will continue to slow or tread water as unemployment edges higher and consumer spending softens. For print and promo companies, that environment will make it more challenging – but not impossible – to convince clients to keep investing in branded solutions.
Even if the Supreme Court strikes down the reciprocal tariffs (a federal appeals court ruled in late August that the president lacks authority to impose them), I wouldn’t count on an economic surge. The potential need to refund portions of those tariffs would still create disruption, and not every tariff would disappear. For the promo industry, 2026 will be about resilience: adapting to persistent challenges, finding creative ways to demonstrate value and continuing to grow despite headwinds. In short, more of the same.
Sustainability: Pushing Toward Transparency & Traceability
Theresa Hegel, Executive Editor, Special Projects & Sustainability, ASI
Demand for sustainability will stay strong in 2026. We’ll see a continued push toward supply chain transparency and product traceability in the promotional products industry as brands ask for carbon footprint and other sustainability metrics from distributors. There’s already been an increase in the number of suppliers using technology to meet those demands.
For example, Counselor Top 40 suppliers Gemline (asi/56070), Goldstar (asi/73295) and Hit Promotional Products (asi/61125) are among those that have partnered with Dutch company Aware, which combines physical tracers with a blockchain record to validate the impact and origin of textiles. I expect to see more of those types of solutions rolled out in promo, perhaps expanding to hard goods as well.
Sustainable features – made from certified recycled or organic materials – and premium fabrications will increasingly be the expectation, rather than a nice-to-have extra. Social responsibility and robust giveback programs, with custom landing pages where recipients can see the positive impact from the promo they receive, will also be important, especially as a way to combat the anti-swag sentiment that periodically bubbles up in the general public.
Purchasing Power: Economic Factors & Evolving End-User Habits
Tara Lerman, Digital News Editor, ASI
I expect to see sourcing patterns change as new tariffs take effect. The federal reserve has cut interest rates, and more cuts are expected, but it may not be enough to offset the broader economic changes that are happening in the background. Spending and buying patterns will continue to evolve, too, as businesses and consumers alike are watching their wallets more closely.
From a consumer perspective, we’re seeing a growing preference toward in-person experiences, as Gen-Z and Gen Alpha are looking to move away from being “chronically online” and “touch some grass” (to use their lingo). And with AI algorithms making online advertising more complex, there’s an opportunity for brands to move toward print and promo marketing campaigns in a big way. We should continue to see end-buyers turn to promo products as a way to reach consumers where they are – which is now largely at in-person events and gatherings.
Print & Promo: Bringing It All Together
Brendan Menapace, Content Director, Print & Promo Marketing
Print is often sneaky. I think more distributors will implement print into their promotions without even necessarily consciously doing so. This can be things such as printed inserts in packaged goods, tags on apparel, stickers handed out as part of a campaign or branded packaging for food items. With that, I believe you’ll see the line between print and promo blur even more than it already has, and distributors will start to further explore how print can play a role in their business.
This could translate into more distributors investing in print equipment to print in-house, as we’ve seen with some companies in the apparel space especially. To that point, I believe that POD and direct-to-film decoration techniques will entice more hobbyists to become bona fide promotional products professionals.
In the promotional space specifically, I think we’ll see the younger generations who grew up with smartphone technology all around them look at ways to disconnect. Smartphone accessories like Bluetooth speakers, cases and headphones will obviously still play a huge role in promo sales. But, there have been reports in cities where teenagers are actively distancing themselves from the screen time-obsessed world in favor of connecting with each other through more organic means and finding new hobbies to occupy their eyes and hands.
To that point, distributors should look into products like knitting kits, sports equipment, binoculars for bird-watching, kitchen equipment and vinyl record players. Everything old is new again, as we see with so many trends. The latest one might just be nostalgia for an “IRL” time before everything was done “for the gram.”
