ODP, parent company of Office Depot, has rejected Staples’ most recent acquisition proposal, coming back with a counter-offer to merge the two companies’ direct-to-consumer retail operations without including Office Depot’s business-to-business operations…
Read MoreAuthor: Brendan Menapace
Staples Is Trying to Buy Office Depot Again (and Thanks to Amazon, It Might Work)
Five years after the Federal Trade Commission put a stop to it, Staples Inc. is once again trying to buy its old competitor, Office Depot. Staples has reportedly put up an offer of $2.1 billion for Office Depot’s parent company, ODB Corp. Part of the plan involves working directly with the ODP board to tailor a merger plan that fits within FTC confines…
Read MoreBiden-Harris Inauguration Merchandise: Streetwear Designs, ‘Party Boxes’ and Friendship Bracelets
With just under a week until President-Elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, the first batch of official inauguration merchandise is starting to trickle out. The Biden-Harris camp put fashion first with their products, consulting designers to make streetwear-inspired apparel items. The most interesting item, though, might be the friendship bracelet…
Read More‘Warning Label’: U.S. Officially Bans All Cotton Imports From China’s Xinjiang Province, Citing Forced Labor
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol announced yesterday that it would seize all cotton products produced in China’s Xinjiang province due to the Chinese government’s oppression of the region’s Uighur Muslim minority. The vast majority of China’s cotton exports originate in Xinjiang…
Read MoreAmazon Removes All QAnon Merchandise From Marketplace
On Monday, Amazon announced that third-party listings for QAnon merchandise would no longer be allowed on its platform, citing its terms of service, which prohibit selling products that “promote, incite, or glorify hate or violence toward any person or group”…
Read MoreTraditional Promotional Product Categories Bounce Back (and Other Product Demand Trends)
Our third look at the pandemic’s impact on the promotional products industry showed that sales are continuing to decline in the industry overall, but for the first time since the spring, the decline is starting to level out. More encouraging is that several product categories are now performing well compared to their pandemic lows—and some of them may be surprising…
Read MoreApparel Startup Launches T-shirt Made With Cinnamon to Limit Odor (and It Folds Up Smaller Than Rolled Socks)
An apparel company is using ancient Egyptian technology to keep shirts smelling fresh for longer. That ancient Egyptian secret? Cinnamon. Koup, a company founded by Brian Chuang, will debut a T-shirt made from recycled bottles and infused with cinnamon extract at CES 2021 in Taiwan…
Read MoreHigh-End Scrubs? How a Former Nike Exec Sees the Future of Medical Apparel
A former Nike executive is starting his own medical apparel company, taking some of the lessons he’s learned from one of the world’s premier apparel brands to the uniforms and workwear sector. Lago, formed by Michael Tang, who most recently served in Nike’s corporate strategy department, will incorporate sustainability practices and high-end design…
Read MoreFacebook Warns Employees Not to Wear Branded Apparel in Public After Suspending President Trump’s Account
After it suspended President Donald Trump from the platform, Facebook is urging its employees to avoid wearing branded apparel for their own safety. “In light of recent events, and to err on the side of caution, global security is encouraging everyone to avoid wearing or carrying Facebook-branded items at this time,” an internal memo sent Monday said…
Read MoreGoldman Sachs Asks Attendees Not to Wear ‘Storm the Hill’ Event T-shirts as It Rebrands Legislative Advocacy Day
Goldman Sachs was set to have a legislative advocacy event for small businesses this week. That would be fine, except the event was called “Storm the Hill,” and after last week’s attack on the Capitol Building, Goldman Sachs had to do some damage control, including asking recipients to please not wear the event T-shirts they had already received…
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