The State of Promotional Apparel Sales
By Andy Cohen; Research by Larry Basinait and Neeti Malhotra
From the fashion runways to the trade show aisles, people are always sporting new outfits. Whether it’s the hot color of the season – we hear plaids are actually back in favor these days; who knew? – or the blacks and whites and blues that are the staples of many promotional apparel programs, wearables are always at the forefront.
Indeed, as a single category, wearables account for more than 30% of all ad specialty sales. Considering that industry distributors sold nearly $20 billion worth of merchandise last year, the more than $6 billion that can be attributed directly to apparel can be pretty staggering.
Which is precisely why each year Counselor takes the pulse of the promotional apparel market with our Wearables Sales Survey. We ask distributors about the percentage of overall sales that apparel represents, which products were the most popular this year, what kind of decorating trends they are following, and the markets that are hottest for wearables sales.
In all, the next few pages provide an inside look at the state of apparel sales in the ad specialty industry, from revenues and market breakdowns to the most popular product categories and even where distributors source their items from. Each page is themed. The first focuses on apparel sales trends, the second examines hot products and markets, and the third looks at decoration and product sourcing trends.
Want to get a read on the impact of apparel on the overall ad specialty industry? Just Click Here.
