The Quality Certification Alliance (QCA), a Chicago-based nonprofit that has been accrediting promotional product suppliers since 2008, has announced the latest distributor to join its Distributor Advocacy Council (DAC). HALO Branded Solutions, Sterling, Ill., has committed to recognize QCA as the industry standard. As a member, HALO Branded Solutions will receive a certain amount of QCA consulting, its brand on QCA’s website and the ability to use the DAC brand, among other benefits. Aside from annual dues and other responsibilities, HALO Branded Solutions must have at least 80 percent of its sales staff participate and increase the percentage of promotional products it purchases from QCA-accredited suppliers.
“Our customers are rightfully entitled to safe, high-quality products produced in a socially responsible way,” HALO Branded Solutions CEO Marc Simon said. “Purchasing from QCA-accredited suppliers is one more way we can ensure that. We’re excited to be a part of the DAC and be an integral part of forward movement for the promotional products industry,” he said. “Our collective efforts are having a positive impact on the credibility of our industry.”
QCA created the DAC in 2012 to recognize the fact that compliance solutions are best done as a collaborative effort between suppliers and distributors. It is currently comprised of 11 companies, which represent more than $1.6 billion in annual promotional products sales.
“Adding HALO Branded Solutions as the eleventh member of our Distributor Advisory Council is not only a win for the promotional products industry as a whole, it’s a win for brands and consumers everywhere who have an expectation of safety and compliance in the products and processes by which they are produced,” Jeffrey P. Jacobs, executive director of the Quality Certification Alliance, said. “The choice to improve a design or a process because it makes something safer is important and something we’re all committed to. Safety, compliance and social responsibility aren’t new, but they are the new normal,” he said. “It’s not just good business— it’s the way we do business.”
For more information, visit www.qcalliance.org.
