Bodek and Rhodes, a Philadelphia-based wholesaler of imprintable apparel and accessories, announced one quarter of the company’s catalog of more than 500 styles are items that offer above-the-standard performance. “Along with our new eco-friendly styles, performance apparel is a huge trend,” said Mike Rhodes, president. “A shirt isn’t just a shirt when it also wicks moisture away from your body to keep you cooler and protects you from the sun. And customers across the board are excited about the huge range of performance we’ve added in the past few years,” he concluded. Recently, the company branched into a number areas offering other specific benefits.
Read MoreFive Things More Expensive Than Gas
It’s really an exciting time for water-cooler talk. Hillary calls it quits, a heat wave hits the East Coast, and gas prices are doing their very own imitation of that Mountain Climber game from the Price is Right. Of the three, I think gas prices truly have the staying power to be part of office chatter for quite some time.
Gas prices have risen from $1.34 just under eight years ago, (Hmm, what happened eight years ago?) to a staggering nationwide average of just more than $4—an pproximate 64 percent increase. In an effort to help everyone cope, I’ve put together a
$10 Million Lead Paint Fine and Other Industry News
Though the topic has been out of the news spotlight, we shouldn’t forget about the lead paint issue that effects the promotional products industry. While no one knows how wide-spread the problem is, it is nice to see companies are beginning to be held responsible for their actions.
Producer of Give-Away Lunchboxes Ordered to Pay $10 Million
L.A.-based lunchbox maker sold 100,000 lead-tainted lunchboxes to the state.
Oakland, CA -In San Francisco Superior Court yesterday, Judge Richard A. Kramer ordered L.A.-based T A Creations to pay $10,071,500 for the company’s violation of California law when it sold lead-tainted lunchboxes to
Odds & Ends
Our May Style section is pretty. It’s also informative (and since I wrote all the articles in it, this is a completely fair and unbiased opinion, obviously).
I know the thought of NOT reading the issue multiple times is a completely preposterous notion, but just in case you missed these tidbits, here are a few points I found of particular interest:
Women’s Wear: Learning Curves (page 67)
Faced with an ever-growing wardrobe of tops and blouses, I’ve recently realized that I avoid shopping for pants like the plague. The reason for this is twofold: 1) finding the right fit is
Charles River Apparel Secures Exclusive Rights to TopShield Moisture Management Apparel
After three years of research and development, fabric testing, focus groups with distributors and end-users, leading active wear provider, Charles River Apparel, based in Medford, Mass. announced the nationwide launch of Charles River Sport, a shirt line made exclusively with TopShield moisture-management fabric. “We didn’t make this decision lightly,” says president and owner Barry Lipsett. “We know how admired we are as being the ‘experts in outerwear’ however we couldn’t ignore the requests from our customers to apply our expertise to shirts. Lipsett continued, “This was a personal project of mine that I started several years ago and I insisted that the moisture-management properties,
Read MoreMid-Year Eco-Friendly Styles from Bodek and Rhodes
Philadelphia-based Bodek and Rhodes announced the launch of a new, mid-year catalog that focuses specifically on the company’s eco-friendly styles as well as mid-year additions. “This mini-catalog really gives our customers the handiest tool to sell green products to their customers,” said company president Mike Rhodest. “We introduced a number of new eco-friendly styles at the beginning of 2008, but we’ve gotten such good feedback about the category that we’ve expanded it mid-year to include even more organic cotton and recycled styles.” The catalog centers only on organic cotton and recycled styles, including the new 2008 UltraClub Organic line of ring-spun organic cotton
Read MoreLeed’s Launches Reloaded Full-Line Catalog and Updates Pricing
Pittsburgh-based Leed’s, a member of Polyconcept North America, the second largest supplier within the promotional products industry, unveiled its final phase of completely revamping its collateral approach: a mid-year catalog. For the past several years, Leed’s has been one of the only suppliers to launch new products on a rolling basis throughout the year. Now, in an effort to keep the full-line catalog as comprehensive as possible, the “2008 Catalog Reloaded,” includes all of the new products that have been rolled out during the first part of the year, plus a large sampling of products that will be new in Leed’s “Wrap it Up”
Read MorePro Towels Etc. Appoints Jules Scheck Associates as Northeast Rep. Group
Pittsburgh-based Pro Towels Etc., a leading supplier in the towel category, announced Jules Scheck Associates (JSA), a prominent independent manufacturer’s representative and consulting firm, will be working to provide Pro Towel Etc. products to industry distributors in the Northeast sales region. Dana Zezzo, vice president of sales for Pro Towels Etc. stated, “We look forward to the exposure the JSA group will provide to Pro Towels Etc. with their extensive coverage in the Northeast region.” Jules Scheck, president of JSA added, “We are extremely proud to be representing Pro Towels Etc., their management and sales team are the best in their product category and
Read MoreTRG Group Employees Rally For March of Dimes
Employees of the St. Louis-based TRG Group recently marked the 5th year working with the March of Dimes to help fight birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. TRG participants raised both awareness and money through a variety of company-wide events all leading up to the March for Babies, an annual walk with thousands of participants. Together, TRG Group and parent company, Centric Group, helped raise $57,000 to help the cause. Throughout the months of March and April, TRG held raffles and silent auctions, collecting money and volunteers for the 39th annual March for Babies. “The response from everyone was overwhelming,” said March
Read MoreAll New Way To Rubik’s Cube
Prime Line, headquartered in Bridgeport, Conn., announced the relaunch of the Rubik’s Cube Web site (www.rubiks.com), the only official source of Rubik’s information on the Web. The enhanced, easy-to-navigate site features news and information about new products, events, games, videos, tips from the pros, facts, history, online shopping and chat rooms. “Prime Line is proud to be the exclusive supplier of this classic, popular game in the U.S.,” said Jeff Lederer, executive vice president. “We are excited to see our partners continually improving their products and services, allowing us to offer the same benefits to our customers,” he added. Since becoming popular
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