Promo Marketing’s Video Battle pits two industry videos against each other for the chance at the ultimate bragging right: Being declared our readership’s absolute favorite. (Next up: No matter how old we get, “Pizza Friday” always will be the happiest day of the week/month/year/life.) Last week, Prime Line won, so now it will challenge Inskribo Promotional Products. The winner…
Read MoreAuthor: Brendan Menapace
The ‘$200K Oscars Gift Bag’ Was a Sham
Last week, we ran a story about some of the more interesting items that Academy Award nominees would take home. After we, along with many other sources, like Vanity Fair, The Telegraph and Forbes, reported on it, it came to light that the bag actually isn’t an officially…
Read MoreNike Ends Manny Pacquiao Endorsement After Derogatory Speech
Nike Inc. has ended its endorsement of Manny Pacquiao after the Filipino boxer made derogatory comments regarding homosexuals. According to ESPN, the company removed all Pacquiao-related merchandise and advertisement from its website after Pacquiao made a comment regarding same-sex couples on a…
Read MoreFanatics Inc. Acquires Kitbag, Expands Sports Merchandising Worldwide
Fanatics Inc., a worldwide retailer of licensed sports merchandise, announced that it has acquired Kitbag, a U.K.-based sports e-commerce company and subsidiary of Findel plc. This move will allow Fanatics Inc. to increase licensed sports merchandise for soccer, which has seen an increase in the U.S. recently. Kitbag has relationships with popular European sports brands,…
Read MorePPAI Names Diversity Development and Engagement Officer
Promotional Products Association International (PPAI), Irving, Texas, announced the addition of Seth Barnett as the association’s first diversity development and engagement manager. According to a press release in PPB, Barnett served for more than three years as the association’s…
Read MoreUsing Seaweed-based Ink for T-shirts
MetaWare, a Fairfax, Virginia-based apparel business started by Marci Zaroff and Cas Shiver, uses seaweed-based inks in T-shirts. The seaweed-based ink, called SeaInk, uses a seaweed-derived base without the use of chemicals, like PVC, resins or binders. According to Ecouterre, seaweed-based inks not only have environmental benefits, they…
Read MoreCalifornia Adds Aloe Vera to Proposition 65 List
When we get sunburns, nothing soothes the pain like aloe vera. But, the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) added a form of aloe vera to its list of potentially harmful substances under the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of…
Read MoreA Lesson in Branding from a Skate Spot
Growing up, skateboarding was just about the most important thing in the world to me. I tore through magazines, like Thrasher and Skateboarder, I idolized Tony Hawk, and I watched every skate video I could get my hands on. I…
Read MoreSenate Closes Legal Loophole, Bans Importing Items from Slave Labor
The U.S. Senate voted last Thursday to close a loophole in the Tariff Act of 1930, which prohibited importing goods made by convict, forced or indentured labor, in an effort to minimize slave labor in the global supply chain. According to…
Read MoreBag Designer Claims Anthropologie Stole Design
Alice Saunders, a bag designer based in Massachusetts, is claiming that Anthropologie (a subsidiary of URBN Inc., which also owns Urban Outfitters) stole one of her designs, and is producing it with…
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