Guide · Onboarding

New hire swag kits: what to include, what it costs, and what people keep

By Better Swag · Updated September 8, 2026 · 6 min read

The short answer

A new hire kit that gets kept has one piece of apparel people would buy themselves, one thing they use daily, and nothing filler. Budget $80 to $150 per person. Catalog products ship one at a time with no minimum, so you can send each kit the week someone starts.

What the kit is for

Day one is the one time a company can hand someone a physical thing that says you belong here. The kit either does that or it lands in a drawer. The difference is not budget. It is whether each item is something the person would have chosen for themselves.

Every new hire kit we build starts with the same question: which of these would you wear on a Saturday? If the honest answer is none of them, the kit is a uniform, and uniforms get thrown out.

Three kits that work, by budget

Prices are the catalog price at 25 units for products with volume pricing, or the retail price for products that ship one at a time. Every product page shows the full ladder to 500 units. Checked September 8, 2026.

Day one, around $80

About $82 for the three. Ship it in a mailer with a handwritten note from the manager. That note does more than a fourth item would.

The keeper, around $140

This is the kit most teams settle on. The sweatshirt is the piece people post about. If the brand wants a hoodie instead, the Nike Club Fleece pullover is $78.83 and every bit as kept.

The bespoke kit, $200 and up

One product made from scratch for your brand by Studio, plus catalog basics around it. A knit beanie with your mark woven in rather than stitched on, a varsity jacket in your colors, a plush of your mascot. Brex sends a custom plushie in its kit. Nobody expected it from a fintech, which was the point.

Bespoke pieces have real minimums, usually 100 to 200 units for apparel, because they are cut and sewn for you. Teams that hire year-round order the bespoke piece once and ship the rest of the kit on demand.

What to skip

  • Pens, lanyards, and stress balls. Nobody has ever kept one on purpose.
  • Cheap tees. A $6 tee with a logo says exactly what it cost.
  • Five small things instead of one good thing. Volume is not generosity; it is landfill.
  • Sizes guessed from a spreadsheet. Let people pick their size on a gift link and returns go to zero.

How to order it

  1. Pick the kit. Build a board on the catalog and request a quote, or tell us the budget and we send options.
  2. Approve mockups. We mock every item with your logo before anything is decorated.
  3. Choose how it ships. Bulk to your office, or one kit per hire through a store or gift link connected to your HRIS so it triggers on start date.
  4. We warehouse, pack, and ship worldwide. No platform fees, no inventory at your desk.

How volume pricing works

Most catalog products carry a ladder at 25, 50, 100, 250, and 500 units, and the steps are real. The 10,000 mAh power bank is $39.80 a unit at 25 and $29.13 at 500, about 27% less. Apparel steps are smaller. The exact ladder is on every product page, and your quote uses the step your quantity lands on.

Questions teams ask

How much should a new hire swag kit cost?

Most teams land between $80 and $150 per person. The floor that still feels like a gift is one good piece of apparel plus one thing they use every day. Above $150 you are usually buying a bespoke piece, which is a Studio project.

Is there a minimum order for new hire kits?

No. Catalog products ship one at a time, so you can send a kit to each hire as they start instead of stocking a closet. Volume pricing starts at 25 units if you do want to order ahead.

How long does a new hire kit take?

Decorated catalog products ship in about two to four weeks after proof approval. If you set up a store or gift link, each new hire's kit ships on its own schedule after that.

Can we make something custom for new hires?

Yes. Studio manufactures products from scratch, sampled before production. Teams usually pair one bespoke piece with catalog basics so the whole kit does not need a factory run.

Want a per-person number for your headcount and occasions? The planner does the math and emails you the plan.

Plan my swag budget

Related

Send a kit people keep.

Tell us the headcount and budget. We come back with three kits, mocked up with your logo.