99designs, based in Australia and backed by Silicon Valley venture capital firm Accel Partners, boasts a network of freelancers in logo design, custom apparel, custom printed materials and a variety of other advertising and design services. The platform allows customers to hire a designer directly or open a brief and select from ideas submitted by designers…
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Amazon is set to significantly expand its digital and on-demand printing capabilities with a commitment to buy $400 million in digital printing products from Kornit. Separately, Amazon plans to open a new Merch by Amazon facility in Phoenix as the company’s e-commerce sales soar…
Read MoreWith N95 masks expected to remain in short supply for the duration of the pandemic, many U.S. hospitals and other health facilities have turned to alternatives like the KN95 for frontline workers. But a new study is casting doubt on the reliability of many models of the masks imported from China…
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The Back to Business Virtual Meeting took our now-classic Power Meeting event format and moved it to a first-class online platform. Leading up to the event, we weren’t sure it could fully replicate the Power Meeting experience. Now that it’s over, we can safely say it shattered our expectations. Don’t believe us? Ask the distributors who were there…
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Apple’s latest launch isn’t an upgraded operating system or a splashy new iPhone with, like, six cameras this time. It’s the Apple Face Mask. The company designed and created the mask in-house and will begin rolling it out to corporate and retail staff. In typical Apple fashion, the mask has a few specialized features…
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Last year was another good one for promotional products suppliers. How good, exactly? Our 2020 Top 50 Promotional Products Suppliers totaled $7.5 billion in 2019 sales, up from $6.5 billion in 2018. In 2017, that number was $5.2 billion, meaning our Top 50 suppliers have increased sales by more than $2 billion in just two years…
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When it comes to branding, it doesn’t get more iconic than the Solo Cup. The secret lies in its simplicity. Sure, nowadays there’s an embossed logo on there, but it’s pretty much just a plain red cup. And yet, it’s instantly recognizable. How do you turn that kind of design perfection into branded merchandise that does justice to the original?…
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Boundless, the distributor based in Austin, Texas, recently announced that CEO Henrik Johansson has stepped down. Bridget Smith, chief of special operations at Zazzle, Boundless’ parent company, will take over as CEO. Smith has worked closely with the Boundless team since managing Zazzle’s acquisition of Boundless in 2014…
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Epic Games, maker of the video game Fortnite, has been waging an all-fronts war on Apple, holding in-game events blasting the tech company and making sure Fortnite players know who the true villain is the ongoing dispute between the two companies. And, because it’s 2020, the war has now inevitably extended into branded merchandise…
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WHOOPLA, a distributor based in Encino, Calif., sends out two to three self-promo kits a year. Its latest, meticulously crafted and fully themed in ’80s arcade branding, is already a smash hit, generating multiple orders totaling six figures in sales with 100 of the 200 total mailings still to go. Here’s how it came together…
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