PPAI Expo 2024: Emerging Trends at the World’s Biggest Promotional Products Show
The annual PPAI Expo brings together thousands of industry professionals, suppliers, and distributors for an unparalleled experience of innovation, networking, and education.
This year, more than 16,000 industry professionals from across the globe visited the Las Vegas-based expo to meet more than 1,000 exhibiting companies and discover the latest trends and products set to reshape the promotional products landscape in 2024.
From cutting-edge technology solutions to sustainable and eco-friendly products, the Expo showcases emerging trends that reflect the ever-evolving needs and preferences of consumers.
As the biggest promotional products show in the world (and one of the first in the calendar year), the trends that emerge at PPAI Expo each year often set the tone for the rest of the year. If it’s big at PPAI Expo, you can bet it’s going to be big at home soon.
Exhibitors at this year’s show revealed several trends influencing the promo industry today, some of which were illuminated in colorful lights, while others were less easy to spot.
Sustainability and social responsibility were front and center at this year’s show.
While less than a quarter of the products sold by promotional product suppliers in 2023 were marketed as sustainable, this will likely increase in 2024, with stands of the biggest suppliers in the industry flush with eco-friendly and sustainably-sourced products. More suppliers than ever before spruiked products that not only had eco-friendly characteristics and features, but could prove said features with instantly recognisable eco-credentials.
The sustainability theme was also prevalent in the abundance of wow-inspiring, Instagram-worthy packaging innovations on display at the show, with a notable emphasis on reducing or eliminating packaging waste.
As pandemic-era travel hesitancy becomes a thing of the past, air travel has once again ignited in popularity and products designed to make traveling easier and more convenient for individuals were left, right and center at the Expo. Attendees were presented with a range of innovative solutions aimed at enhancing the travel experience, from travel accessories that optimize organisation and comfort to technology-driven devices that streamline the journey.
In the sphere of apparel, oversized offerings and heavyweight T-shirts appeared to be enjoying a moment, while unisex styles were also a staple in new collections from almost all of the big apparel suppliers on the show floor.