Gina Michnowicz | April 22, 2026
Is your swag worth it—for the planet or your brand?
Before you order more branded tote bags or stress balls, ask yourself if anyone will actually use or remember these items.
This Earth Day (and every day), if you’re thinking about placing an order for swag, I’ll ask you to ponder just one question before you push the button: Is this something your audience will use and love, or are you ordering it because you think you need an object to fill a space or hand out to people? If it’s the latter, I have a challenge for you: Skip the swag and do something meaningful for the brand and audience instead.
The swag guilt is real
I admit it. I have swag guilt. I’ve accepted swag that I knew that I would never use. Even before I left the booth or activation, I was aware that branded tote bag filled with tchotchkes or water bottle would most likely end up in landfill. And as a leader of an agency who focuses on how brands show up in the world, I know we’ve also purchased some swag that may not have been used. As time goes on, the more clear it becomes: We need to think about the footprint of all this.
A lot of swag is plastic, and we know plastic is detrimental to the planet, whether we’re talking about the carbon it emits during its production or its degradation into microplastics. (Even if it bears the recycling icon, the vast majority of plastics aren’t recycled.) And if you don’t choose plastic, whatever swag you’re ordering needs to be shipped—often making treks across the globe. It adds up…and for what? In the spirit of Earth Day, let’s talk honestly about swag: when it doesn’t work, when it does, and what brands can do instead.
100+
years required for plastics to “decompose”
70%
of plastics are estimated to end up in landfill or nature
15%
of global carbon emissions will be from plastics industry by 2050
Why most swag fails before it leaves the booth
There’s a simple test I’ve started applying to every piece of swag I encounter: Will I use this in six months? If the honest answer is no, then I politely decline.
Here’s what makes me walk right past a swag table:
It’s single-use plastic. This is an automatic pass for me. Full stop.
It’s low quality. The planet doesn’t need another pen that will stop working in two weeks.
The design is just a logo. A T-shirt with a company logo slapped on the chest is a bad billboard, and I’m not a billboard.
It doesn’t connect to anything. Generic swag with no relationship to the brand’s mission, the event theme, or the audience’s actual life suggests the brand was checking a box in the event plan.
What good swag looks like
Good swag has to earn its place in my bag. Here’s the test it needs to pass:
The design is beautiful. If there is real craft in the artwork, typography, or concept, I notice and am tempted to pick it up. A T-shirt becomes wearable when it’s well-designed. Think of it as artistic expression, not a corporate stamp. (We did a screenprinting activation at SXSW for one of our clients with some awesome custom T-shirt designs, and I don’t feel guilty about those at all. People were wearing them DURING the event.)
The swag connects to a theme. Extra points to brands that tie swag meaningfully to their event narrative or purpose. If your conference is about innovation in agriculture and you hand out seed packets with gorgeous compostable packaging and a planting guide, I’m keeping that. Even better: I’m talking about it with people. (For the screenprint example I just mentioned, we made those designs centered on Austin, the festival, and the client’s theme.)
It’s a high-quality item I actually want and will use: a mini portable speaker, a cool tote I’d buy myself, a great product sample…you get the idea.
If appropriate for the item, the swag is made with sustainability in mind, and that’s communicated to me. If a brand is making choices to use recycled materials, adopt zero-waste packaging, or source locally, I notice because it shows they care about the environmental impact.
“A T-shirt becomes wearable when it’s well-designed. Think of it as artistic expression, not a corporate stamp.”
“A T-shirt becomes wearable when it’s well-designed. Think of it as artistic expression, not a corporate stamp.”
When to make the bold move of skipping swag
Here’s something I think about more and more: What if the answer is simply no swag?
The budget that would have gone toward two thousand branded stress balls could fund something that actually matters to your audience.
Here are some alternatives worth considering:
Charitable giving tied to attendance, with guests allowed to choose from a list of causes
Experiential moments that create memories rather than clutter
Digital “gift bags” (curated content, offers, or resources relevant to your audience)
Some of the best brand event memories I have weren’t things I could hold—unless you count the photos on my phone. They were things I experienced, like the Barbie movie activation at the Lido Theater in Newport Beach.
The bigger picture
I know sustainability goes beyond swag. Swag is a microcosm of a broader pattern. The events industry needs to look at the travel, single-use everything, food waste, and more. We have to think about those things too. But here, now, let’s at least commit to skipping swag when we know it’s not worth it—for your brand, your audience, and the planet we live on.