Global B2B Promotional Products & Branded Merchandise Partner Have a project in mind? Let’s make it happen
Request a Quote

Menu

Request a Quote

Solutions

Trade Show & Conference Merchandise

For the people who run the event: event, conference, exhibition, festival and concert organisers, and the agencies building brand activation work, buying the merchandise a show puts into people's hands.

A show list is several items with one deadline and one look — lanyards and badges at the door, apparel on the stand, bags, drinkware and notebooks in the delegate pack — and the same logo, colour and quality level across all of them.

Request a Quote Event Essentials

One supplier for the event list

The buyer's side

What this project has to get right.

The four pressures an event merchandise order arrives with, and the reason the list is handled as one project rather than one purchase at a time.

  • One list, several suppliers

    An event can need dozens of items. Bought separately, that is a conversation, a quotation and a production schedule for each supplier, several shipments, and several people to call when the last box is short.

  • A date that cannot move

    The event day is fixed, so what matters is that the goods arrive, that production progress can be seen and that the riskiest item is found early. A late delivery takes the value out of the merchandise and leaves the pressure with the organiser.

  • One look across every item

    The same logo, the same colour reference, the same packaging and the same quality level, whether the item is a printed lanyard, an embroidered cap or a bottle. Items bought from separate suppliers are what produce uneven quality, colour drift, mismatched logos and mixed packaging.

  • Changes arrive late

    Quantities go up, one item is dropped for another, the packaging is re-thought — often after the order is placed. What the buyer needs then is a fast, straight answer on whether the change is possible and what it does to the date.

Example configuration

Three ways the list can be built.

Item categories only. Nothing here is a priced package, a fixed bundle or the contents of a default order.

  • Essential

    Example configuration — an illustration of the categories a list at this grade usually holds.

    • Badge and ID cards
    • Printed lanyards
    • Event T-shirts
    • Drawstring bags
    • Wristbands

  • Recommended

    Example configuration — an illustration of the categories a list at this grade usually holds.

    • Woven or printed lanyards, with the badge products
    • Caps
    • Insulated drinkware
    • Notebooks and pens
    • Embroidered patches, PVC labels and keychains
    • One packaging style across the delegate bag

  • Upgrade

    Example configuration — an illustration of the categories a list at this grade usually holds.

    • Polo shirts or hoodies in place of the T-shirts
    • Backpacks
    • Umbrellas or towels for an outdoor event
    • Gift sets
    • Custom gift boxes and presentation packaging

Example configuration is exactly what it says: an illustration of item categories, labelled as such on all three grades, with no price against any of them. The configuration that gets quoted is the one that follows your event, your delegate count, your artwork and your date — and where a detail turns on the item, the process or the supplier, we say so rather than fill in a number: depends on the specification — ask for a quote.

Swapping items

What can be exchanged, item by item.

An event list is rarely final. These are the substitutions such a list can hold, and the direction each one moves in.

  • Event apparel

    A T-shirt for a polo, or a polo for a hoodie: the same family of garment, chosen for the wearer and the occasion, with the logo placement and the process confirmed on the item that is picked.

  • Headwear

    A baseball, trucker, bucket or woven hat, exchanged as long as the decoration area still carries the logo well.

  • Bags

    A tote, a drawstring bag, a backpack or a laptop bag, all of them filling the same delegate bag slot in the list.

  • Drinkware

    A bottle, a tumbler, a mug or an insulated item, still branded the same way and still packed the same way.

  • The items we make ourselves

    Lanyards, webbing, printed webbing, embroidered patches and badge products, PVC labels and keychains: within this range a swap usually stays in our own production rather than moving out to another line.

  • The small pieces

    Wristbands, patches, badge and ID products, PVC labels and keychains: the items that fill out a delegate bag or a giveaway table and can be moved between items without disturbing the rest of the list.

A substitution that lands on something we make ourselves — lanyards, printed or woven webbing, patches, badge products, PVC labels or keychains — stays inside the same project: you sign, pay and talk to one company, and our own production and the outside suppliers are managed inside it.

Logo, colour and packaging

One look, held across the whole list.

How one logo, one colour reference and one packaging style are kept the same from the first lanyard to the last box.

What is checked on every item

One set of artwork is applied across the list, and the things that make the items look like one project are checked item by item rather than assumed to match.

  • One logo layout, set for every item and fitted to its decoration area
  • Size adjustments so the mark sits correctly on each product
  • Product mockups, so the logo is approved on the item rather than on a flat surface
  • One Pantone colour reference, confirmed for the project
  • Print and embroidery files adjusted for each process
  • Packaging layout, held the same across the items packed together
  • Visual consistency across the products of one project
  • A concept you already have, optimised for production rather than replaced

Branding & Pantone Matching

This is production design support, not a brand agency. A full brand identity programme, a large original creative project, or design work with no direct relation to production is not what this team takes on — so nothing is sold here as a creative service it is not.

Before the quote

What we need from you.

Six facts are confirmed before a formal quotation is put together. Send what you have in one message and let the rest follow.

The six facts

The minimum a quotation is built on. Where one of them is not settled yet, say so and we will work from what you have.

  • The product: what you need, or the occasion if the list is still open
  • The quantity, per item
  • Your customisation requirements
  • The use and the project background: the show, the conference, the audience
  • The date the goods have to be in your hands
  • The delivery country or region

Customisation may cover

The third fact carries the most behind it, so here is what customisation can mean on an event list.

  • Logo
  • Colour
  • Pantone reference
  • Size
  • Material
  • Process: print, embroidery or another logo method
  • Packaging
  • Gift box
  • Project combination

The more of this that is settled before the quotation is written, the fewer assumptions it has to carry. Where something is still open at that point, we list it as open instead of filling in a number.

The project

How a show project runs here.

The six steps the rest of the site already works to, with what each one means for an event list.

  1. Brief

    The show, the audience, the items you already have in mind, the quantities, and the date the goods have to be on site.

  2. Product recommendation

    A shortlist of item categories that suit the programme, put forward as one main proposal with one or two alternatives where the brief is open. Where your specification is already fixed, it is quoted as it stands and no options are added.

  3. Artwork & sample

    Logo layout, size and the colour reference confirmed on the item, with a sample wherever the product or the process needs one before the run goes ahead.

  4. Production & coordination

    Lanyards, webbing, printed webbing, patches, badge products, PVC labels and keychains come out of our own production; apparel, caps, bags, drinkware and the rest are bought through the supply chain the purchasing team already works with. Every item runs on one schedule.

  5. Quality check

    The goods are brought together first, then checked, counted and confirmed on packaging before anything ships. Direct dispatch from a supplier is the exception, not the rule.

  6. Delivery planning

    Packing, documents and the shipping method arranged for the delivery country, working back from the date you gave us.

A rush order is possible, but only after production feasibility, the lead time and the shipping have been checked. We do not promise a deadline first and check afterwards.

Questions buyers ask

Trade show and conference questions.

The questions that come up on an event list, answered the way they would be answered by email. A native disclosure, so each answer opens on its own and no script is needed.

  • How many items should a conference merchandise list hold?

    There is no standard number, and we will not invent one. A show list often runs from lanyards, badge and ID cards and event apparel through bags, drinkware and notebooks to wristbands, event materials and gift sets, and it usually holds several of those together rather than one. Tell us what you already have and what the programme needs from it.

  • Can all of it arrive as one order?

    That is the shape of work these projects are built on: one quotation, one sample round, one production schedule, one consolidated shipment and one after-sales contact, with our own production and the outside suppliers managed inside the company. An item per supplier is what produces uneven quality, colour drift, mismatched logos and mixed packaging.

  • Will the logo and the colour match across different items?

    The logo layout is checked on every item and one colour reference is confirmed for the project, which is the part a single supplier can hold together. Colour is confirmed on the item with a Pantone number at the pre-production stage rather than taken from a screen, and that confirmation is one of the risk-control points of a project.

  • The quantity went up and the packaging changed. Can that still be done?

    Changes like these are a normal part of an event project rather than an exception. A quantity increase, a product change or a packaging change is checked against production feasibility, the lead time and the shipping plan before it is confirmed, and if the date can no longer be met we say so at that stage instead of accepting the change and hoping.

  • Can you take a rush order for a show whose date is already fixed?

    Rush orders are accepted only after production feasibility, the lead time and the shipping have been checked. We do not promise a date first and check afterwards, so the answer may be no — but it will be a real answer, given while there is still time to change the list.

  • We only need lanyards and badges this time.

    A single item is a perfectly good place to start and it is handled to the same standard as a full list. In practice an enquiry that begins with the lanyards is often part of a larger event programme whose other items are still to be decided, so it is worth telling us the occasion even if the rest of the list is not settled.

Where to look next

The pages that carry the detail.

The category this list is built from, the sibling scenario and the Resources section.

One supplier for the whole event list.

Send the items and quantities you have, or just the show, the date and the headcount if the list is not settled. You will hear what we make ourselves, what has to be bought in, and what the project would take.

Request a Quote Contact