This past year’s branded merchandise trends, especially in pop culture, focused on large designer logos, college-style apparel and vintage band T-shirts. For 2019, Fashionista is taking a stab at what’s on the horizon for branded merchandise, and we think it’s worth passing on to our promotional apparel suppliers and distributors.
Here are three trend predictions you should pay attention to:
1. Film Merchandise
For 2019, Fashionista suspects film merchandise will go the way of concert and music merchandise. Movie merchandise has always been big, but it’s moving beyond the usual summer blockbuster toy tie-ins to include indie studios and smaller-scale films. In other words, there are promotional apparel opportunities in the film sector that may not have existed before. It’s only a matter of time before streaming site Netflix gets in on the promotional game, too.
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In 2018, Bravado released “A Star is Born” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” merchandise in conjunction with the theatrical debuts. And, as we pointed out earlier this year, Jonah Hill’s “Mid90s” T-shirt was a huge success.
2. Cannabis Culture Merchandise
Fashionista predicts that cannabis merchandise will have a moment in 2019, and it pointed to Los Angeles-based brand Mister Green as a company to keep on the radar. Cannabis merchandise has gotten a slow start in the past because of legal hangups, but with more cities and states legalizing it, perhaps 2019 is the year it takes off. Fashionista pointed out that there are already limited-edition merchandise collaborations that have proven cannabis merchandise is a budding trend.
3. Beauty Merchandise
Fashionista attributes beauty merchandise’s takeoff to Glossier, a beauty brand that’s extremely popular among the millennial and Gen Z generations (thanks, in part, to its branding). After the brand created a sweatshirt for its employees, consumers wanted to be able to purchase the apparel look too. Supergoop also created a line of totes and hats.
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Another beauty brand, Ouai, created a line of towel headbands in collaboration with Summer Fridays. So, it’s safe to say that other beauty brands will want to get in on the promotional game, as well.
Check out the full article at Fashionista for a more in-depth breakdown of their predictions.
