If nobody’s stealing your merch, you’re doing it wrong

Every brand wants to make merch people love. But merch so good they steal it? Maybe that’s the highest form of praise.

Just look at the hospitality industry. Hotels lose towels by the truckload and bars restock beer glasses like they’re going out of fashion. None of this is a design failure. It’s the opposite.

Hospitality and travel brands have cracked something most merchandise never manages: they’ve made objects people would rather own than leave behind.

If your branded merch has never gone missing, it might be worth asking why.

Key takeaways

• The psychology behind stealable merch has a name: the Endowment Effect. When items feel like they belong to us, we value them more.
• Nearly 9 in 10 hotel staff report guests taking towels, and around 55% report hangers going missing too, proving that stealability has nothing to do with luxury.
• United Airlines now sells its premium duvet online, essentially turning a theft problem into a product line.
• UK pubs lose an estimated £186m a year to stolen glassware, while Moscow Mules are the most swiped cup in bars across the US.

What makes merch worth stealing?

Stealable merch shares a few traits, and none of them are really about the object itself. It’s about the experience they’re linked to. 

A soft, luxurious hotel robe you cozy into after a long, hot shower at the end of a busy day. A bar glass, swirling with the memories of that big night out. The object becomes a souvenir of a feeling, and those feelings are much harder to leave behind. 

This is known as the Endowment Effect. The moment something feels like it’s already yours, you value it more than you would if you were just buying it off a shelf. A robe you’ve worn all evening doesn’t feel like hotel property anymore. It feels like yours. So people act like it.

The stolen goods hall of fame

From hotel rooms to bar stools, some items get pinched so often they’ve basically become industry legend. Here’s the shortlist:

Hotel Hangers

Around 55% of hotel staff report hangers disappearing too, which is the most telling stat here. Hangers aren’t glamorous. They’re just functional objects that keep your event or holiday clothes from lying crumpled in the suitcase.

Hotels have gotten wise to it too. Now in a lot of rooms, you’ll find hangers with a hook that can’t be removed from the rail. Good design doesn’t ignore a problem, it adapts to it.

MOO view: It’s not just the fancy eye mask or the posh little soaps walking out the door. It’s the hanger. Nobody’s showing that off to their mates. Functional design is so underrated. 

Airline blankets and pillows

When United, American, and British Airways all upgraded their business-class bedding, working with brands like Saks Fifth Avenue, Casper, and The White Company, they not only improved the in-flight experience. They also created a major theft problem.

Within two years of launching its Saks partnership, United Airlines had added a line to its landing announcement asking passengers to leave these items on board as they exit. They now sell their duvets online, turning a coveted item into a product line.

MOO view: If people love your merch enough to steal it, maybe the answer is just to let them buy it.

Hotel towels and robes

The reigning champions. Survey after survey of hotel staff puts towels at the top of the pile, with close to 9 in 10 reporting that guests walk off with them. Robes come a close second, often because the line between complimentary and very tempting gets blurry fast. 

MOO view: The hotel robe gave you that main character energy for one night, and that’s not something you leave folded on a shelf. Before you design anything, ask how it’ll actually feel in someone’s hands, not just how it looks waiting for them.

Bar glassware

Bar owners report copper Moscow Mule mugs as repeat offenders behind US bars. Some now hold onto a customer’s ID until the mug comes back to the table. Others have given up fighting it entirely and just built the cost into the price of the drink.

UK pubs lose an estimated £186m a year. BrewDog’s Hazy Jane glass became so persistently pinched that the brewery officially declared it their “most stolen glass ever” and ran an amnesty, trading a free refill for its safe return.

MOO view: A glass doesn’t end its life at last orders. Drinkware is smuggled home to be reused again and again. Call it stock loss if you want. We like to think of it as a running ad for your brand.

How to design merch that people want to steal

1. Forget the catalog shot. Nobody steals a robe because it looks nice folded on a shelf. They steal it because of how it made them feel in that moment. Design for the experience.
   
2. Give it a second life. A Water Bottle used for the school run, not just the swag bag. If your merch only makes sense inside your four walls, it’s got nowhere to go once someone walks out of them.
   
3. Sneak in a bit of luxury they didn’t pay for. A heavier glass. Softer cotton. A finish that feels a notch above what the moment called for. That small, unearned upgrade is exactly what makes something worth pocketing.
   
4. Stop guarding it so closely. If nothing you make ever goes missing, that’s a sign nobody wanted it enough to risk it.

Make irresistible merch with MOO

Explore our full range of Promotional Products. (You can’t steal them, though. Sorry.)