by Samantha Sage
When assisting new promotional product shoppers, "what color does your swag item or apparel need to be?" is always one of our first and most-asked questions to guide our item recommendations. Old standards like black or common blue tones for promotional goods and apparel pieces have long dominated the swag world - which makes sense, as they fit the largest number of brand guideline color palettes with ease, and are readily accepted by most audiences.
Taking a bold swing with on-trend colors is one of the best ways to freshen up your swag offerings - but knowing which color palettes will be desirable and on-trend is difficult to do ahead of time, and it can be quite nerve-wracking to pick an unusual color for your swag or apparel without knowing how customers and employees might react!
Pantone, the industry leaders on color unification, Sherwin Williams Paint's Color Marketing team, and other paint producers have all published their guidance on which shades they expect to trend in 2025 for fashion, home decor items, and consumer goods. Leverage their knowledge, and our team's expertise at finding the right swag for your requirements, to enhance your custom branded swag items with trendy color picks that catch more attention for your brand!
Top categories for next-to-trend colors in 2025 include...
Timeless Neutrals
Historically, promotional product color options have been limited to very neutral tones only - black, white, the most standard blue shades like Royal and Columbia Blue, and a few shades of grey with limited scope beyond that. These neutral tones are great canvases for full color branding and easy to fit to more unique brand color guidelines that do not often have swag available in their palettes. Your business can put a fresh twist on classic neutral-toned promo items with a few extra touches!
Rich black tones can be easily punched up with metallic accents to create elegant swag options with extra appeal. At MARCO Ideas Unlimited, we can custom brand everything from powder-coated metallic flasks and trendy 40oz tumblers, to retail-worthy massage guns and more in black and gold or copper colorways.
On the other side of the tonal spectrum, reimagine typically flat white swag items to give your promos a warmer hue! There are many apparel, drinkware, and other swag options available in vintage bone or antique white shades, and office supplies like post-it notes or white pen bodies can be revamped with vibrant full-color imprints for more eye-catching impact and intrigue. 
Warm yellow and gold-inspired tones are also primed for popularity in 2025. Look for "honeyed naturals" to shine in the new year - options like artist's ochre yellow in apparel, beanies, and caps, antique marigold tanks and outerwear, and warm neutral "Golden Spice" hoodies might be a good fit to give your corporate uniforms a sunny facelift.
Leather tones are both timeless and trendy, in addition to adding a touch of class and high-quality feel to your swag. Whether you choose geniune leather swag goods in natural tones for a traditional appeal, Pantone color-matched leather goods for more brand awareness and executive gifting needs, or vegan alternatives like the Pineapple Leather used in our vegan leather luggage tags for an animal-friendly image boost, the premium appearance of branded leather goods is sure to impress your audience.
Lastly, the 2024 trend of Millennial gray tones is not going anywhere soon. A huge array of light, mid-tone, and dark grays are available in nearly all swag item categories! From the light Moonbeam soft gray of our leatherette journals, up to the medium gray of our eco-friendly Econscious hemp caps, into the deepest near-black gray of Nike's Anthracite Heather Tech Fleece Full-Zip Jackets, there are no shortage of stylish gray swag options ready to be customized for your brand.
Bright and Bubbly
Don't be afraid to go bold and bright with your swag color selections! Candy shades of pink and purple - like the 2024 Paris Fashion Week-featured crocus pinky-purple - are sure to get your logo noticed at trade shows. A massive range of pink apparel in all tones can be decorated for your brand, including retail-quality Nike polos in lovely Pink Fire and other pink shades (which make a perfect base for breast cancer awareness apparel year round!). Sherwin Williams includes "Europhic Lilac" in their 2025 color palette, a gorgeous soft lilac tone available on customizable drinkware like the Pelican line of tumblers and bottles, as well as other imprintable goods and apparel.
Bright citrus-inspired colors can bring a touch of summer sun to your swag year-round! Pantone highlights vibrant orange-red "Orangeade" on their 2025 fashion palette for its fresh and fun appeal. Bright orange can do more for drawing eyes to your brand than just in safety apparel applications - leverage this poppy tone in custom orange pens, winter swag essentials, and beyond for extra brand visibility! Fruit-flavored green variants like lighter "lime cream" garments or "white grape" acid green on always-popular can coolers in a slim profile can bring a juicy new element to your swag bags and employee uniforms.
While standard blues like Royal and Process Blue may be oversaturated in the swag and apparel world, that doesn't mean there isn't room for fun and fresh blue tones! Pantone has also highlighted the nature-informed Limpet Shell blue as a color to trend in 2025 fashion - limpet shell blue garments like Bella + Canvas t-shirts are bright, eye-catching, and universally appealing.
If you are typically drawn to royal blue swag and apparel, give richer cobalt blue a try in accessories like Merrimack Co. caps, drinkware, and writing utensils. You can even get premium swag goods in bold colors, like our line of colorful Ice Watches in cobalt, orange, hot pink, and more eye-catching colors.
You can even lean all the way into the color pop fun to mix-and match colors in your swag items! We have many drinkware options with mix & match lid and body colors, for example. Bright and poppy multi-color goods like Cotopaxi's line of "surprise color" recycled material bags not only look cool and catch the eye from afar - they also do good for the environment with their sustainable production methods! Plus each piece is one-of-a-kind for a truly unique swag idea.
Warm and Welcoming
As a balance to the bright and lively colors above, experts are also predicting a trend toward rich, homey-feeling colors for 2025 as well.
Dark and warm-toned "dessert browns" are highlighted for home and fashion use next year - they make a lovely background for branded apparel and swag like rich brown hoodies and wood-toned water bottles.
You can also leverage lighter brown shades while staying on trend! Pantone has called out the light-yet-warm brown shade Cocoon on their 2025 trend list, a color perfectly tailored to both street fashion (like our ultra-popular AeroLoft Anywhere Belt Bag) and construction swag options (like our Heritage Supply Pro Padfolio & Construction Pen Set built for job site use).
Much like the lilac and crocus mentioned in segments above, deep aubergine and desaturated lavender are showing signs of being popular shades of purples in 2025. We love the look of the new District Cloud Fleece hoodie in Smoky Amethyst and the Travis Mathew Oceanside Heather Polo in Purple Sage Heather on the softer side of the purple spectrum.
There are a range of swag options available in eggplant toned purple shades, from rose gold accented gel pens to double-walled water bottles to eco-friendly hoodies and beyond. Speaking of amethyst, expect to see other gem-tone inspired colors trend in 2025 - dark sapphire-like shades can be found in blue granite t-shirts, stone blue drinkware, midnight blue and deep navy for backpacks, and much more.
Deep ruby reds are popping up in apparel and swag items like custom embroidered polos, imprinted and debossed journals, and drinkware. Pantone calls out deep forest greens like Kashmir to trend, as seen on new "Forest" t-shirts, sage green pens, and green stationery made from recycled kiwi fruit waste!
Final Thoughts
While we have some indicators from industry insiders as to which colors will likely bloom in popularity for the new year, the ultimate selection for Pantone Color of the Year 2025 is still to come, and new trendy item colors always pop up organically throughout the seasons. It's important to periodically browse online and in retail stores to see what colors are trending for the seasons in real time.
Finding the right color palette for your branded promo items ultimately comes down to examining your brand color guidelines and deciding what trendy annual colors fit into your brand identity, and which you can play with as contrasting elements or complements for your main brand colors. Use our detailed swag search page to filter your swag results by color - the more specific, the better!
If you need specialized help finding the right swag ideas in the right color options for your brand or unique seasonal marketing campaign, contact the swag experts at MARCO Ideas Unlimited! We've been creating impactful full-color swag ideas for businesses right here in Oregon since 1959.
Samantha Sage is the Marketing Coordinator & Sales Assistant for MARCO Ideas Unlimited. Sam leverages her 10+ years of multi-industry marketing experience to help businesses grow their brands with quality promotional products. When Sam isn't researching new & unique swag options, you can find her in the Oregon woods with her husband & senior rescue dog.