The 3 Hottest Merch Trends That Will Keep Your Team Warm (and On Trend)
2026 is right around the corner, so what are our trend predictions for next year? Here are the top three merch trends that combine style, sustainability, and everyday practicality. Exactly what teams want right now.
Trend 1 -
The Color Palettes Everyone’s Gravitating Toward
To all color trend lovers out there, greige will still be an acceptable choice of color in 2026. So no need to recolor every room at home. Phew… However, you might want to consider one of these 3 alternative pallets from NCS Colour.
Quietude
There is a shift towards reconciling traditional luxury with modern sensibilities. Where a growing appreciation for materials that are natural yet refined, symbolizing a fusion of heritage and contemporary aesthetics. The use of warm white marble, rather than stark white, suggests a desire to soften opulence into something more grounded and approachable, resonating with the values of sustainable elegance. This reflects an era where authentic and natural luxury takes precedence over flashy or artificial materials.
Homecoming
Homecoming is all about decorating our interiors with colours that remind us about our home years ago, when it was encouraged to use colours to give us warmth and comfort. Reds and greens embrace us, creating a perfectly friendly space that takes us back to our origin and the most important values. The refreshing details are emphasised with a light bluish red that breaks up the comfort with a fresh highlight that wakes us up to realize that we need contrast to feel good.
Symbiosis
The palette emphasises the coexistence and interdependence of us, the human beings, nature and technology.
We have for long addressed the importance of co-existence with nature, introducing Biophilia to design. From Biophilia, we turned to embracing nature, to become one with nature - a total submersion. We are more and more focused on creating designs where nature is perceived as a given element.
Trend 2. Materials Built for Real Life Outdoors
The outdoor trend is still going strong, and we see no stopping it in 2026.
When you source your merch, make sure it aligns with your company values. If your company has a big environmental commitment, start looking at different materials for your products. You don’t have to pay a huge premium either, today most companies have a 100% recycled alternative in their stock.
Trend 3. Personalized and Low Quantities
The third – and maybe biggest trend for next year – Personalization. The days when you had to worry about storing large quantities of merch are gone. With printing technologies getting better by the day, low quantities are now a viable option on a global scale both in terms of quality and price.
No more never-ending order excels. Give individual access to a central store and let every person order exactly the size, color, quantity and style they need. No dead stock. No unnecessary warehousing. More local production and less international freight. Without exaggerating – including on demand in your merchandise strategy is the biggest opportunity to lower cost, reduce time and have a positive sustainable impact since….well, ever.
