Key Takeaways
• Suppliers are easing persistent cost pressures by diversifying supply chains, improving forecasting and adopting more agile sourcing strategies.
• Transparent communication and collaborative cost management help suppliers preserve customer value.
Throughout the 2020s, price pressures for promo suppliers has been a major worry – concerns that haven’t eased moving into the second half of the decade. In fact, new snags like inflation and economic ramifications from the war in Iran are complicating what was already a complex sourcing landscape. Tariffs too continue to have a real influence, even if they’re not dominating the headlines like a year ago.
“Cost pressures are very much alive,” says Kevin Walsh, president of Counselor Top 40 supplier Showdown Displays (asi/87188) and a member of the Counselor Power 50. “The noise has died down, but the bill hasn’t.”
He points to the steel and aluminum tariff that imposes a 25% duty on imports regardless of country of origin as one example of the challenges suppliers face. “There’s no geographic work-around there,” he adds.
Costs for resin and other petroleum-based raw materials have increased, driven in part by instability in the Middle East and broader energy market volatility, says Scott McFadden, chief financial officer of Counselor Top 40 supplier Bag Makers (asi/37940). Freight costs, both domestically and internationally, have also been inconsistent, he adds.
“There are all of these inflationary pressures along the way as well,” says Rachel Newman, president of LAT Apparel (asi/65948), pointing out that commodities like cotton have been increasing in price.
Read this full article here, and catch up on all of the stories from the Counselor 2026 State of the Industry.
