Branded merchandise powers lasting connections, often experienced most deeply as the gifting of a product from a brand to a recipient. But many more people touched that T-shirt, tumbler or charging device on its journey to the end recipient.
Keep that in mind when considering PPAI’s forthcoming global economic impact study, produced by highly regarded independent third-party firm Oxford Economics and slated to release in the third quarter of 2026. The study is intricate in both process and results, but it was commissioned and carried out from a simple notion: The numbers you have been seeing attributed to the branded merch industry’s annual economy do not tell the whole story.
Around the world, the true impact is far greater than the $27.1 billion attributed to U.S. distributor sales last year.
“The branded merch industry has always punched above its weight, but we haven’t always had the data to prove it,” says Danny Rosin, CAS, co-president of Brand Fuel, PPAI 100’s No. 42 distributor. “Previous figures provided valuable benchmarks, but they didn’t fully capture the scale, complexity and global reach of today’s branded merchandise ecosystem.
“This study gives us a clearer picture of who we are, the value we create and why our industry deserves a larger voice in conversations about business, trade, workforce development and economic growth.”
Danny Rosin, CAS
Co-President, Brand Fuel, & Chair, PPAI Board of Directors
It’s not about just producing a bigger number. It’s about creating tangible metrics that policymakers will understand by going well beyond traditional signposts such as distributor sales. This study doesn’t stop at “traditional” promotional products (more later on what that means).
So, yes, you’ll see a bigger number when the final version of the study is released later this year – think in the hundreds of billions. But what PPAI is also equipping its members and the industry community with is a stronger foundation for advocacy. Whether you’re a small business making a case in your local economy or massive job creator contending with tariffs and supply chain challenges, you’re part of a global community that has a significant impact on the GDP of more than 200 countries. This study not only proves that, but it’s a resource to make that case to the policymakers who can effect change.
“This is really the first study of its kind,” says Alice Gambarin, associate director at Oxford Economics. “It aims to look at the industry from end to end.”
Alice Gambarin
Associate Director, Oxford Economics
What exactly does that entail? As you can probably imagine, that’s not a short answer. We can start by pointing out four core objectives of the study:
- Go Beyond Traditional Sales Data – This means extending the analysis an extra step into metrics such as GDP, taxes, job creation and supply chain impact.
- Map The Industry’s Global Linkage – Measuring branded merchandise activity across the world.
- Capture The Entirety Of The Supply Chain – “Supplier, distributor and client” doesn’t tell the entire economic story when it comes to branded merch.
- Understand The Scope Of Industry Sales – Go beyond what people consider “traditional promotional products.”
“Branded merchandise reaches across the entire world, connecting marketing, licensing, e-commerce, retail, manufacturing, trade and end-buyer demand,” says Alok Bhat, market economist and PPAI’s research and public affairs lead. “This work will help show the scale, credibility and future growth potential of an industry that has often been underestimated.”
‘The Branded Merch Ecosystem’
Attendees of this year’s PPAI North American Leadership Conference were given a glimpse of preliminary results of the study. But soon, the final version of those numbers will be a resource to the entire branded merch community.
To actually understand the scope of industry sales is to admit that prior sales numbers have been doing something of a disservice to what this industry encompasses. Anyone who has walked the aisles at The PPAI Expo can tell you that this is an industry too diverse in its offerings to be saddled with the notion of what many people consider “promotional products.”
That’s why you’ve seen a shift in language coming from PPAI to the term branded merchandise. What’s being referred to with branded merchandise – the range of possibilities that you see at The PPAI Expo, from food to apparel to pens to experiential activations and beyond, whether gifted or sold to consumers – is more economically meaningful than traditional promotional products sales suggest.
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“Moving from promotional products to branded merchandise isn’t just semantics,” says Drew Holmgreen, CAS, PPAI’s president and CEO. “It’s a signal that what we do is bigger than product. We are part of how brands connect, engage and build lasting relationships.”
What makes up the branded merchandise ecosystem? Included in the study are:
- Traditional promotional products
- Decorated hard goods and soft goods
- Apparel, workwear and related products
- Licensed merchandise
- Retail branded merchandise
- Creator and customized merchandise
- Print-on-demand and e-commerce channels
- White-label and private-label branded goods
- Event, campaign, gifting, recognition and activation-related merchandise
- Products used by companies, organizations, schools, teams, creators, events and other brand owners to promote, represent or monetize a brand
“What really unifies all of these different items is not how it is sold, but what its purpose is,” says Gambarin.
A Value Chain Has More Points Than You Think
There’s a key word that can’t be skipped over when considering the effort. It’s a global economic impact study. The supply chain that most PPAI members will recognize for the sake of business comes down to suppliers, distributors and clients. But the economic impact of the branded merch industry goes well beyond those key points.
“We want to make sure that we capture the entirety of the value chain,” Gambarin says. “We want to capture the full economic impact, including the supply chain, as well as the consumer spending that is supported because you have employees that you employ and that you pay wages for.”
When you stop to analyze it, the money generated from branded merch stretches outward in a number of different directions. We know this because Oxford Economics did the analysis. What it determined is that the value chain has a scope that breaks down into three different streams:
- Upstream: Where the product begins. For example: Raw materials, blank product manufacturing, component production, etc.
This captures the economic activity involved in making and sourcing the product before it becomes branded merchandise. - Midstream: Where the product becomes branded. For example, suppliers, product sourcing, decoration, printing, embroidery, customization, packaging, kitting, warehousing, fulfillment, etc.
Midstream captures the value created when a blank product is sourced, decorated, customized, packaged and prepared for a brand or organization. - Downstream: The buyer-facing and market-facing side of the industry. Primarily distributors, wholesale activity, buyer relationships, sales strategy and consultation, e-commerce platforms, print-on-demand stores, retail branded merchandise, etc.
Downstream is primarily the distributor and buyer-facing side of the value chain, but the study also recognizes adjacent channels such as e-commerce, print-on-demand, activation, retail and licensed merchandise.
All of this comes down to a larger way of thinking because, as we know, branded merch touches so much once it is released into the world. That is how we have to think about its economic impact, and that is how we have to attempt to measure that impact.
The Numbers That Matter
By creating a larger and more accurate economic value chain from which to draw insights, the global economic impact study can accomplish the initial objective of moving beyond sales data to metrics that policymakers are more comfortable with. Below are a few of those metrics:
- Gross Domestic Product: Measures the value of all final goods and services produced in an economy in one year. GDP is the main indicator of a country’s economic activity and is used to measure growth or contraction.
- Employment: The number of people employed, including partially, in the industry effort.
- Tax Receipts: Total taxes supported by the industry’s economic activity for governments across the globe.
Working Together
Upon its release, the study will include an exhaustive methodology report. PPAI worked directly with Oxford Economics, a world leader in global research and economic analysis for business and government to develop the study.
Oxford Economics specializes in evidence-based thought leadership, forecasting and economic impact analysis. Recent client work has included estimating the global economic footprint of the beer sector and its supply chain on behalf of the World Brewing Association and quantifying the economic impact of global spending on business events on behalf of the Events Industry Council.
PPAI also collaborated with Promotional Products Professionals of Canada, British Promotional Merchandise Association and Australasian Promotional Products Association for the study.
Defining ‘Branded Merchandise’
To establish boundaries for the study, PPAI and Oxford Economics worked with the following scope:
Branded merchandise is defined as any physical item created, customized, sourced or distributed by a third party on behalf of a first-party brand (including organizations or individuals) to promote, represent or monetize the first party.
In all cases, these products function as tangible expressions of a brand.
This includes traditionally decorated promotional products (hard goods and soft goods, such as apparel, including workwear and non-licensed team/sports uniforms), as well as licensed goods both hard and soft, white-labeled items, creator-customized merchandise (such as through Etsy shops) and retail products bearing the selling brand’s name, logo or message (such as souvenir shops, college bookstores, golf pro shops, etc.).
Items may be gifted or sold to a final user and may serve marketing, cultural or commercial objectives.
Auping is PPAI’s senior news editor.
