If you’re a follower of OpenAI and wish to use swag with the company’s logo on it, you wouldn’t have been able to do it because buying official OpenAI merch wasn’t really an option until recently. That meant that, unless you worked there, the only place to find OpenAI swag was resale sites, where hoodies and other swag items were regularly sold for hundreds of dollars.
Recently, though, OpenAI opened OpenAI Supply Co., the company’s swag store, to the public. There, the swag collection consists of: a basketball, a Nalgene bottle, a mechanical keyboard, socks, hoodies, and tees.
So, in this blog, we’ll be discussing the company swag items that OpenAI offers through Supply Co, the lessons you could learn from the company, and the ways you could also use an online branded storefront for your company’s swag campaigns.
What does OpenAI do for swag?
OpenAI runs its own swag store, called OpenAI Supply Co. It was originally created for the company’s employees but was opened to the public in July 2026. Today, the shop sells apparel, accessories, and a handful of collectible items tied to major product launches and research milestones. All the while, it also keeps an archive of retired swag items.
According to OpenAI, the swag store began as a small internal merch program that gradually became part of the company's culture. Employees started collecting and trading graphic hoodies, collectible cards, and even the company's blue folding chairs. Those swag items became what OpenAI calls “material embodiments of company culture,” And since OpenAI swag had enough demand, the company decided to expand the program.
If you’re wondering why this origin is important to discuss, it’s because that’s one of the reasons why OpenAI merch has become so desirable. It started as something that signaled you were part of OpenAI, and that sense of exclusivity is exactly what made everyone else want it.
What 12 swag items does OpenAI sell on Supply Co.?
This is the OpenAI swag that is one of the most unique items offered by the company. It’s a regulation-size 7 rubber basketball released alongside the “Pause. Play. Prompt.” campaign, which encourages people to step away from their screens and find creativity elsewhere. From a company whose products live on your screen, that’s an interesting message to include in a swag campaign, and probably the reason why it’s one of Supply Co.’s most talked-about items.
Built in collaboration with Work Louder, this 13-key programmable macro pad features RGB keys, a rotary dial, and a joystick. The lighting changes depending on whether a Codex task is thinking, running, waiting, or finished. It’s currently sold out in Supply Co.
A minimalist quarter-zip with subtle branding and a clean style. It leans closer to modern streetwear, which is exactly why it’s one of the main swag items still offered on the store.
Every engineering company seems to have a heavyweight hoodie, and OpenAI is no exception. Rather than promoting the company itself, this one highlights Codex, making it feel more like product merch than corporate apparel.
This company swag item is one of the few products centered on the ChatGPT brand rather than OpenAI's research or developer identity. It's a subtle reminder that ChatGPT has become recognizable enough to stand on its own.
Simple typography does all the work here. The slogan “Good research takes time” catches your attention before you even notice it's OpenAI merch, making it one of the cleanest designs in the collection.
The Blossom symbol associated with OpenAI and ChatGPT appears throughout the entire OpenAI swag collection, but the hat is probably the easiest way to wear it. It's a good example of how repeating one visual element across multiple swag items can build recognition.
Socks are an easy impulse purchase, and they're subtle enough to wear regularly without feeling like obvious company merch. So, this is one of the good choices in OpenAI’s swag store.
A classic Nalgene featuring a pixel-style OpenAI logo. Water bottles are already a staple in many corporate offices, covered in stickers and carried everywhere, so this was practically a no-brainer.
Named after the familiar ChatGPT notification sound, this tote is built around an inside joke. It makes the most sense if you're already part of the OpenAI community, which is exactly what gives it its appeal.
The simplest way to wear the Codex brand. It carries the product name instead of the OpenAI logo front and center, reinforcing the idea that OpenAI is building individual brands alongside ChatGPT.
This swag item is a relaxed cap featuring the Codex Bubble graphic rather than a standard wordmark. The design is understated enough for everyday wear, while still giving developers and early adopters a subtle nod to OpenAI's coding platform. Like much of the collection, it favors recognizable iconography over oversized branding.
Why the OpenAI Supply Co. Archive Is Worth Browsing
While OpenAI’s current collection already has many sold-out items, Supply Co.’s archive contains many other cool company swag items that you can take inspiration from.
That’s because more than 100 retired swag items are listed there, each stamped with the date it was discontinued. As Forbes pointed out, the archive feels somewhere between a museum catalog and a sneaker release calendar: you can't buy anything in it, but that's why it’s so famous, too.
In addition to this, the archive does two things at once. For one, it documents OpenAI's history through physical swag items, and two, it reinforces the scarcity that made the merch so desirable in the first place. Once a swag item moves into the archive, it's gone for good, which helps explain why retired products continue showing up on resale sites months or even years later.
Memorable retired swag items OpenAI Supply Co.
Blossom Helinox Chair - A premium folding chair
OAI Folding Chair - The now-famous chair that OpenAI says employees collected and traded
OpenAI Frequencies Vinyl - A branded vinyl release
Wooden Checkerboard - A minimalist board game that fits the store's understated design language
OAI Earplugs - An ordinary office supply that became collectible thanks to its logo
Unique retired swag items of OpenAI Supply Co.
Spud - A literal potato
Garlic - An actual archive item, literally called Garlic. It's one of the two strangest and most unique swag items in there
Collectible AI Cards - Five Pokémon-style cards celebrating Sora, Sora 2, GPT-5, Image Generation, and Blossom
Codex Raspberry Pi 5 Kit - A working single-board computer as swag
Rice Cooker - One of the more unexpected products in the archive, and proof that the swag programs shouldn’t be limited to apparel and drinkware
Learnings from OpenAI’s Swag Store
Here are the five key takeaways from OpenAI Supply Co. that you should take note of:
Tie your swag to a moment, not just your logo
Nearly every product in OpenAI Supply Co. points back to something specific: a product launch, a research team, a campaign, or a milestone. That gives every item a story beyond the logo itself. Do the same with your own swag! Create limited swag runs around major product launches, company anniversaries, fundraising milestones, or annual events.
Design for employees before customers
Supply Co. spent years as an employee-only store before opening to the public. That’s important because if your own team doesn't wear the merch outside the office, customers probably won't either. Employees make the best focus group because they'll tell you which designs are worth keeping. According to Forbes' conversations with resellers, those employee-exclusive pieces are also the ones that hold the most value.
Let designs retire
Most OpenAI products leave the collection, move into the archive, and stay there. That creates a sense of history and gives older swag items a reason to matter. Even if you never build a public archive, intentionally retiring designs makes future releases feel more special.
Include a swag item nobody expects
The basketball. The rice cooker. The vinyl record. The garlic and the potato. These are just some of the swag items that you won’t expect to see. They’re also the exact items that people will likely share on social media.
Partner with brands that already make great products
OpenAI didn't build the Codex Micro from scratch. It partnered with keyboard manufacturer Work Louder, a company known for making premium mechanical keyboards. The lesson applies to any company, including yours. Rather than manufacturing everything yourself, put your brand on products people already trust. Whether it's Stanley, YETI, Bellroy, or any other well-known brand, it brings credibility.
Create a Swag Store Like OpenAI Supply Co. With PerkUp
OpenAI Supply Co. runs on four ideas: a branded storefront, rotating collections, limited releases, and international shipping. PerkUp gives you the same foundation, just built for companies running corporate swag instead of public merchandise. So if you want swag with the same quality as OpenAI’s, here’s how you can do it with PerkUp.
Building and maintaining a swag store with PerkUp is easy. First, you start with the storefront. Here, you can upload your logo, colors, and fonts, so your swag store will look like an extension of your brand. You can create separate stores for different teams, regions, or programs, then decide exactly who sees each collection. For example, your engineering team in Bengaluru can browse a different catalog from your sales team in Austin, even though they're using the same platform.
Second, the swag catalog you can include inside your PerkUp swag store can be bulk and On Demand (1-unit minimum). What this means is that you can store inventory for items you think would be chosen a lot (like a Stanley drinkware) and/or order perfectly sized apparel only when a recipient picks it.
Third, PerkUp can ship to 65+ countries, all thanks to its global warehousing network in the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK, Europe, India, China, and Australia. International swag shipments are also prepaid with duties and customs, so your recipients won’t encounter any issues.
Fourth, PerkUp has an in-house design team that can help you come up with unique designs just like OpenAI’s. This way, you can create a cohesive branded swag experience without having to hire a separate creative agency.
Lastly, the platform doesn’t only focus on swag stores. It can also support bulk swag, On Demand swag, event swag, swag kits, 5,000+ localized gift cards, and automated milestone gifting (with 200+ integrations). It has everything you need for different swag campaigns!
Companies already using PerkUp
Here are some companies already working with PerkUp for their swag campaigns
Wise
Wise uses PerkUp to order custom apparel for internal events, milestones, and early-career programs, while maintaining a consistent brand experience.
Microsoft
With PerkUp, Microsoft ordered 1,000+ custom letterman jackets, choosing a premium style build that gave the team something they'd actually want to wear outside the office. They also trust PerkUp with their BIC intern kits 2026 and Cloud Ecosystem Security 2025 kits.
DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo built its new hire kit around its iconic mascot, moving beyond the standard tee-and-notebook formula to create something new employees would actually be inclined to use. The company also worked with PerkUp for its 2025 All-Hands Company Swag.
Conclusion
At its core, the OpenAI Supply Co. swag store is simply a well-run swag store program. It's built around moments instead of merchandise, designed for employees before customers, released in deliberate drops, and retired before people get tired of it.
That said, you don’t actually need OpenAI's scale or brand to borrow those ideas. You just need a reason to release swag items that are worth keeping and a platform that can get it to the right people, wherever they are. Take a look at how PerkUp can help you with that.
Frequently Asked Questions about Swag Stores
How does an employee swag store work?
A swag store is a branded storefront where your employees, clients, or even event attendees can choose from a catalog you control, using a budget you set for each person or program. PerkUp applies your logo, colors, and fonts throughout the experience, so the store feels like an extension of your brand. You can also use the same catalog for automated new hire kits, milestone gifts, and other programs, keeping everything in one place.
Can we create multiple stores or collections?
Absolutely! With PerkUp, you can organize stores and collections by country, department, event, or use case, then control which swag items each group can access. For example, you might have one store for new hires, another for marketing events, and a third for employee appreciation. If you want to run limited releases like OpenAI Supply Co., you can launch a collection for a set period, close it, and replace it with something new.
What's the benefit of a recipient choice swag store over fixed swag kits?
Fixed kits work well for onboarding and events when everyone should receive the same swag items. If you have a swag store, you give your employees the freedom to choose their own size, color, and swag, which can mean more of the swag actually gets used. PerkUp lets recipients make those choices within the budget you set in your swag store, giving them more control while keeping your spending predictable.
Can we mix On Demand and bulk in the same store?
With PerkUp, yes! Not many platforms do, but with PerkUp, you can have both On Demand and bulk swag in the same swag store. Bulk works well for swag items you know will move consistently, such as hats and drinkware, while On Demand makes more sense for apparel, where sizing can make inventory difficult to manage. Both can live in the same swag store, giving you one place to manage the program and track spend.
