5 Challenges Giftware Brands Will Face in 2025, According to Industry Leaders

The giftware industry has always been driven by creativity, sentiment, and storytelling. But as we step into 2025, industry leaders are warning that creativity alone won’t be enough to succeed. From geopolitical upheaval to logistical bottlenecks and evolving consumer behavior, 2025 promises to be both an exciting and demanding one for gift and lifestyle brands.

We spoke with three thriving UK-based businesses – Spice Kitchen, Meg Hawkins Art, and Fox Under The Moon – to understand what lies ahead. Their insights, grounded in real experience, offer a glimpse into the terrain every giftware brand will have to navigate.

1. Global Trade Is Getting Tougher

International expansion is often the next major milestone for growing brands seeking to reach new markets and customers. However, this step brings with it an increasingly complex set of challenges. Beyond navigating tariffs and trade regulations, brands must also contend with a supply chain landscape that has been fundamentally reshaped by past disruptions such as COVID-19 and Brexit. These events introduced new uncertainties, delays, and costs that required strategic planning and agility to overcome. Successfully expanding internationally today means carefully managing these complexities while maintaining the quality and reliability that customers expect.

“I've spent the last 18 months really expanding into the US… We've managed to secure an amazing retailer… but with the current tariffs that are going to be imposed, I don't know where that leaves us—whether we're going to be asked to swallow those 10%, whether the retailer will pass it on to the consumer, or if it'll decrease our sales. We just don’t know at this stage.” – Sanjay, Spice Kitchen

Tip: Mitigate friction by working with local fulfilment partners or distributors in key markets like the EU and US. This keeps shipping predictable, costs lower, and customer satisfaction high.

“We've taken the decision recently to move all of our U.S. stuff over to one of our stockists that we've got in the USA... So when people land on our website, if it's from the USA, they get taken directly to their website to order. We've done the same for the EU as well. Our EU sales all go through one of our stockists in Ireland.”– Stacey, Fox Under The Moon

2. Consumers Want Affordable Luxury – Without Compromise

Even as inflation and uncertainty shape global buying behavior, consumers still crave gifts that feel personal, high-quality, and thoughtful. But they also expect affordability—and that’s where many giftware brands are feeling the pressure. How do you deliver a premium product experience at a price point people are still willing to pay?

For Meg Hawkins, this balance is the cornerstone of her brand strategy:

“We really want to give our customers an affordable but really luxury gift… that is literally the be all and end all. We want to be able to give people something lovely that they can have in their home and it still be affordable." – Meg Hawkins

Behind the scenes, that goal meant making tough decisions—like changing manufacturing partners to maintain margins without compromising on quality.

“We’ve had to change where we outsource our products to be made… We still get a couple of things made in the UK, but we really had to think through every process—from the end consumer to the wholesaler to the distributor—to make it all work.”– Meg Hawkins

But value isn’t always about production costs. The founder of Fox Under The Moon reminds us that not all connection has to cost money. In fact, much of their early success came from simply showing up authentically online:

"I'm really involved with people online, so I quite often do video messages or voice notes for people that that message me on social media. It's about being creative with how you do it because it's not it doesn't always have to cost anything." – Stacey, Fox Under The Moon

Tip: If you’re aiming to offer affordable luxury, it’s important to optimize more than just your materials and packaging. Look closely at your manufacturing and distribution processes—small shifts in logistics or sourcing can significantly improve your margins, helping you maintain quality without raising prices.

At the same time, look for creative, cost-effective ways to connect with your audience. Thoughtful touches—like personalized messaging, behind-the-scenes content, or curated unboxing experiences—can add real value without adding to your bottom line.

3. Wholesale Comes with Hidden Operational Pressure

Wholesale can rapidly increase revenue and brand reach—but it also introduces a level of operational complexity that many early-stage brands underestimate. As founders move from kitchen-table fulfilment to managing pallets, POs, and penalties, the stakes rise fast.

Meg Hawkins has experienced this firsthand:

“It’s quite nerve-wracking because if you get it wrong, you get fined… When I've done the onboarding, I have told them that we are a small company and I've been very, very honest about what we do and what we do find is the more questions that you ask, the happier the buyer is because they would prefer to be asked lots of questions and get it right, then it go wrong halfway down the line.”– Meg Hawkins

Spice Kitchen echoes this reality, sharing the need to level up operational expertise:

“Getting good at operations is something that you need to do as you scale up. We've got a new inventory software which we've implemented in the last couple of years and implemented a new operations person from a gifting industry background. And to be honest with you, having somebody like that is invaluable. We will work with some larger retailers who have quite strict rules and regulations about how it's palletized the size and shape and sort of newness of the pallet through to the timings that it lands within that kind of the site. And you can also get fined if it's like a day late. So you've got to get very good at booking in deliveries." – Sanjay, Spice Kitchen

Tip: Before approaching large retailers, invest in scalable fulfilment systems—or work with 3PL partners who understand giftware logistics. Document internal SOPs for B2B orders and designate someone who can stay on top of retailer-specific compliance needs.

4. Channel Management

With Etsy, Amazon, trade shows, wholesale, your own webshop, and social commerce all demanding attention, it’s tempting to be everywhere. But spreading yourself too thin can quickly lead to burnout and inefficiency.

Meg Hawkins learned the hard way that not every channel pays off if you don’t give it proper focus:

“There isn’t a sweet spot. You’ve got to try everything—but don’t try them all in one go. Do one at a time. Has it worked? Has it not worked? Because if you try them all, you’ll just get overwhelmed.” – Meg Hawkins

She adds:

“Whatever channel you decide to work on, take time and invest in it. The more time you invest into that one channel, the more sales you’ll probably get from it.” – Meg Hawkins

Spice Kitchen emphasizes the same need for multi-channel discipline—particularly when scaling B2C alongside trade:

“We’re now in about 600 retailers across the UK. Trying to sort of understand the commercial opportunity and then really being quite relentless about pursuing those channels, none of these things are very much overnight successes. They often take several years." – Sanjay, Spice Kitchen

Tip: Build your channels like layers—don’t activate five at once. Focus deeply on one, build a repeatable process, then scale it. Use analytics to guide where your effort goes next, and don’t fall into the trap of thinking visibility equals viability.

5. Scaling Without Losing Soul

As your brand grows, it becomes increasingly difficult—but absolutely essential—to preserve the heart of what made it special. In a world full of polished advertising and algorithm-driven content, today’s consumers are craving something real. They want to support brands that feel personal, honest, and human—even when those brands have grown beyond the kitchen table or the art studio.

This is a challenge all three founders we spoke to are actively navigating.

The founder of Fox Under The Moon began with a single act of kindness: a handmade card for a friend during a hard time. That emotional intent became the foundation of a business that now serves hundreds of thousands:

“All of our products are based around helping people to find beautiful, meaningful ways to say the things that matter, really... We try and go for those little in-between moments in life.” – Stacey, Fox Under The Moon

Her approach to connection has remained simple and human:

“I use social media to send voice notes to people. Not everything has to cost money, you know? Sometimes people just want to feel seen.” – Stacey, Fox Under The Moon

Meg Hawkins shares a similar perspective. Her art and brand have grown over a decade, but she insists that staying true to her creative instincts is what keeps customers engaged:

Take on your own passions, make sure that you're doing what you want to do because you won't want to produce anything if you don't like it. I've been down that avenue. You're sort of like, you need to do this and you do it and it wasn't really what I liked and it didn't really sell very well.

Spice Kitchen may now supply to over 600 retailers, but at its core is the love, tradition, and craftsmanship of one family—particularly a mother who just wanted a creative outlet after retirement. That personal energy hasn’t faded as the business has grown; in fact, it’s become its signature.

"We've never compromised on the quality. So we still make everything in house, we still make all the blended house, my mum still makes all those wraps with a really amazing team of seamstresses." - Sanjay, Spice Kitchen

This level of consistency is intentional. Because when you’re scaling a brand that’s built on culture, family, creative style, or emotion, shortcuts can easily undermine the trust and intimacy that took years to build.

Tip: Codify your brand’s voice, values, and emotional mission—and make sure they show up in everything from packaging to partnerships. As you grow, every new hire, system, or supplier should help you protect that DNA—not dilute it. Scaling doesn’t have to mean losing soul. But preserving it takes conscious effort.

Final Thoughts

The giftware industry in 2025 isn’t for the faint-hearted—but it’s rich with opportunity for those who adapt. As one founder put it:

“You just got to roll with the punches and just go for it.” – Sanjay, Spice Kitchen

The coming year will favor brands that balance creativity with resilience, and storytelling with systems. Wherever you are in your journey—starting, scaling, or expanding abroad—remember: your ability to grow without losing your essence is your greatest asset.

These are just a few of the snippets we’ve featured. Explore all three full interviews on our blog and see how purpose-driven founders are scaling their brands — Spice Kitchen, Meg Hawkins, and Fox Under The Moon.