Order your 2022 holiday SWAG in July

Early ordering of your winter holiday brand merchandise may seem like a daunting task, something to be put off. After all, you have summer and fall tasks and goals to accomplish, and it can feel tough to juggle all the balls you currently have in the air. But it’s time to put all the other balls aside for a bit, and talk to your colleagues and decision makers about placing your holiday season gift orders NOW.

Here’s why: for the past two years, you have probably experienced huge supply chain delays in one aspect of your life or another, and by now, assume you’ll experience a delay. This in turn sets off another series of issues, like employees emailing you asking where their SWAG is and shuffling another year’s budget around to pay for items shipped during a different year than the order was placed...I could go on about what I’ve seen, but my guess is that you intimately know what I’m talking about.

This year does not have to be the same. You CAN get your winter holiday items on time in 2022! But, due to both the war in Ukraine and the extreme weather events in Eurasia, supply chain disruptions are worse than they have been over the past two years and they will likely not get better before the holiday season. So– in order to get your gifts delivered on time this winter, you must choose products and get budgets approved immediately. As in, right now, because this year we are recommending that orders be placed in early July! That way you’ll most likely be able to obtain all the sizes, colors and variations you want for your client and community gifts, and have them delivered on time for the holiday season.

There are other benefits to ordering your items right now. You’re more likely to be able to buy from small and diverse businesses, giving them time to scale up and create items your employees will love and cherish for a long time. The items we offer our clients from companies like Day Owl (beloved backpacks) and Pact (soft yet strong 100% organic cotton clothing) are received with genuine excitement and create a happy, healthy work culture based on a mutual set of shared values– supporting small and diverse businesses. There’s a huge difference between receiving an item that is neat at first, but made in China with an opaque and likely harmful supply chain, and receiving an item that tells the story of helping the people of Haiti hold dignified jobs and acquire medical care while taking plastic out of our oceans (as in the Day Owl bags). The first item is virtually meaningless to the recipient. The second has the power to build strong bonds and create an atmosphere of mutual appreciation in the workplace.

If you do not wish to have long delays and limited options and want to give gifts that resonate with your employees values, please start your process now. We’d be happy to help you in any way, whether it be meeting with your decision makers or showing you around the new online catalog, let us know how we can help.