Sri Lanka Wants to Import Workers to Boost Struggling Apparel Industry

Workers in Sri Lanka’s apparel industry are seeking government concessions to allow them to import labor from surrounding economies, like Nepal and Bangladesh, to help support the country’s shortage of skilled workers. Harsha de Silva, Sri Lanka’s deputy minister for national policies and economic affairs said that thousands of jobs are open in Sri Lanka’s…

Read More

College Athlete Might Lose Eligibility Over Water Bottle Company

Ryan Trahan, a freshman cross country runner at Texas A&M, says his life pretty much revolves around two things these days: running and his line of water bottles that he and a friend developed in high school. Because of his involvement with the latter, the budding entrepreneur is in some trouble with the NCAA. The…

Read More

AST Sportswear Adds New Vice President of Brand Development

AST Sportswear, Anaheim, Calif., announces that Nadir Zulfiqar, former vice president of sales for Direct Tees and national sales manager for Cotton Heritage, has joined AST Sportswear as its vice president of brand development. Zulfiqar has an impressive and versatile background, from being a military veteran graduating from West Point Military Academy in 1986 to…

Read More

Positive Promotions Inc. Acquires Quality Planners Inc.

Positive Promotions Inc., Hauppauge, N.Y., acquired the assets of Quality Planners Inc., including its entire portfolio of student planners and customization capabilities. “This acquisition will enable Positive Promotions Inc. to broaden its already extensive portfolio of educational products that we currently sell to our over 50,000 school customers throughout the United States,” said Nelson Taxel,…

Read More

Stran Promotional Solutions Acquires Lindon Associates

Stran Promotional Solutions, Quincy, Mass., has acquired Holliston, Massachusetts-based Lindon Associates, making it Stran Promotional Solutions’ first major acquisition. The financial details of the purchase haven’t been disclosed. Lee Cohen, president of Lindon Associates, will continue at Stran in a business and development role. “Lee has built Lindon Associates over the last 22 years by…

Read More

What the Equifax Breach Could Mean for Promo Distributors

Promotional products industry distributors must have felt as if business would proceed as usual on September 7, with that day presumably offering early-month opportunities to generate prosperous fourth-quarter results. However, the late-summer occasion likely melted away significant chunks of their…

Read More

Michigan School Bans (Then Unbans) U.S. Flag Apparel

A school in Michigan banned and then unbanned (and apologized for banning) American flag apparel in school. This week, parents of students at Roseville High School outside of Detroit received an email detailing the school’s dress code, which included “U.S. Flag” on the list of prohibited…

Read More