What do Tiger Woods, Red House, PING and Nike Golf have in common? Not only do these big names appear on the green just about every week, they also appear in SanMar’s new 2007 Premium Collection catalog. The 94-page catalog features more than 109 products from the exclusive brands. “The Premium Collection is a resource for imprintable apparel distributors seeking upscale merchandise and brand name recognition,” said Lee Strom, senior marketing manager of the Seattle, Washington-based company. “This is the collection our industry has been waiting for. It responds to a new level of luxury that end-users are requesting.” This year’s catalog builds on
Read MoreBoardroom Custom Clothing Launches Eco Apparel Line
Boardroom Custom Clothing, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, has launched ecoapparel.ca, one of the first collections of environmentally friendly custom apparel available in Canada and the United States. “We have an opportunity to make a difference to our earth, our employees and our community,” said Mark Trotzuk, president and CEO. Boardroom has been in business for more than 10 years and is an audited socially compliant company and fair trade manufacturer. “We are at the forefront of environmentally friendly fabric engineering and development,” said Trotzuk. “Our 2007 clothing collection minimizes our negative impact on the environment without compromising quality and performance.” ecoapparel.ca’s 2007 collection includes clothing
Read MoreTips of the Trade: “The Myth of the Elevator Speech”
By Doug Stern, www.marketingprofs.com I wish I had a nickel for every time a marketing director asked the elevator speech question: “What if someone asks, ‘What do you do?’ and you have 20 seconds to answer? What do you tell them before the doors open and one of you gets off?” Since professional service providers tend to spend a lot of time in their head, they’re ready to pitch at the slightest glimmer of interest from another human being (prospect). The brain is the default filter for everything. Lawyers, for example, might offer an elevator speech along the lines of “I add value to
Read MoreNew Tuscany Collection at IMC
Looking for fashionable personal and business accessories in finely crafted special Italian material? International Merchandise Concepts’ (IMC), Agoura Hills, Calif., new Tuscany Collection offers the same luxurious, buttery soft feel usually found in some of today’s finest leathers. “[Our] goal with the Tuscany Collection is to continue to offer items with a high-perceived value, yet represent a real value to our distributors and their clients,” said Wendy Simons, vice president of sales and marketing. The Tuscany Collection currently features a lined-page journal, passport cases, luggage tags, a business card holder, a checkbook cover and a jotter. Pricing runs from $6.83(c) to $14.92(c). As part
Read MoreLabel Art Enhances Online Ordering Service
Label Art, Wilton, New Hampshire, has announced the availability of its newly enhanced online ordering service. Customers can use the service to place catalog orders, upload artwork, view proofs and track order status 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The system also offers an automatic notification of shipment when the orders are complete. For more information, call (800) 258-1050 or visit www.labelart.com.
Read MoreKosher Products Available at Captain Foods
Captain Foods, Edgewater, Fla., recently introduced a line of kosher products. Complete with Orthodox Union (OU) certification, the world’s largest and most widely recognized kosher certification agency, Captain Foods offers the following products in its Kosher Products Line: its entire stock of honey, four flavors of cayenne pepper sauces, two flavors of habanero pepper sauces and jalapeno pepper sauce. OU has 600 Rabbinic Field Representatives worldwide that ensure the strict standards required for kosher food production are met. The agency certifies more than 400,000 products produced in more than 6,000 plants in 80 countries around the world. For more information, call (800) 749-5047 or
Read MoreDoctor, Doctor, Give Me The News
ZINC TABLETS TO bolster the immune system. Calcium pills for osteoporosis. Iron supplements for producing hemoglobin. Beta-keratin because people always mention it on television, even though no one knows what it is. Multivitamins with vitamins A, C, D and about 200 different kinds of B. Anti-histamines. Anti-histamine blockers, just in case those anti-histamines get out of control. Vitamin E. Ephedra. Fluoride. Ginseng. And that’s just what people take daily when they are well. An apple a day doesn’t cut it anymore. As understanding about the human body increases, so too does reliance on the medical industry. What is healthful today may be harmful tomorrow, and
Read MorePut It On Plastic
IN AN ERA where “charge it” has become not just a saying but a way of life, it’s not surprising that plastic cards of all kinds have found themselves at the top of the totem pole as profitable and enduring consumer products. To that end, some promotional products suppliers have adopted their own, increasingly popular version of the coveted plastic card—promotional gift cards. Promotional Marketing sat down with Watson Nichols, senior communications manager at Atlanta-based InComm and Steve Pruitt, vice president of marketing and business development at Midland, Texas-based Teraco for an in-depth look at this new wave in gift-giving.
Read MoreT-shirts that Sizzle
CONVENTION AND COUTURE collide often in the fashion industry, and where the clichéd can be seen, chic can be found fleeing the scene. It is rare for something to simultaneously be hip and popular; that common articles can also be cool defies the laws of fashion physics. So it is all the more surprising when one of the most blasé, traditional tops becomes the standard for an industry. Yet across the board, T-shirts are having their spot on the catwalk. As the shirts themselves change and their place in society becomes more prominent, a different kind of T-shirt manufacturer has taken center stage. One that
Read MoreMail This!
Anyone who has attended one of the large trade shows knows the scene well: A long aisle of carpet covering a concrete floor; booths flooded with distributors and suffering a drought of people to answer questions; and little hand carts, blocking every turn and tripping attendees. The “beeping” sound of scanners creates a strange techno-music soundtrack on the show floor as distributors are scanned at each booth for catalogs to be mailed later. These are the trials and tribulations of trade shows in the promotional products industry. In a recent e-mail newsletter, the editors of Promotional Marketing addressed a concern voiced by some suppliers. Many
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