The Dish

Every week there are articles published that are of interest to promotional products industry professionals across the land. To save you time, a rotating group of PromoKitchen chefs have culled the internet for the ones you should read and the ones you should skip. This week’s Dish was authored by Chef Patrick Black. 

alphabroder Pledges $120,000 to PPEF Tomorrow Fund – “Must Read” Article of the Week 

I wanted to feature this article due to the generosity and the support for education. The industry's first billion dollar company is using their successes for good by donating a large sun of money to the PPEF Tomorrow Fund. This fund offers scholarships to youth and professionals for collegiate level education. Well done, alphabroder! Since education is one of the two main mandates for PromoKitchen, this type of news makes us happy.

Distributor Sales Reach Record $22.9 Billion

Each year we are updated with sales revenue estimates for the promotional products industry by ASI and PPAI. Over the past few years, the estimates from ASI have been higher than the estimates from PPAI? Which report is more accurate? I have no idea, but these are great indicators to help each of us self-evaluate. For example, if your personal growth or company growth is not keeping pace or outperforming the industry growth, that may indicate a problem? Now what are you going to do about it?

New Coalition Starts Push Against Efforts To Raise Import Taxes

Some people are for import taxes to promote more Made in the USA products and some are against it to protect lower product pricing from overseas production. No matter which way you swing on this issue, it's important to have a plan either way any potential legislation may go. It's important to stay informed about political issues that will affect our industry. Know what is going on and have a plan. Get involved if you feel passionate about the issues affecting our industry.

Magnetic koozies, glowing dog collars and more: see the newest swag before it hits your bag – “Don’t Waste Your Time Reading” Article of the Week

This article popped up in my Google news feed with the title, "Dallas hosted trade show for makers of free stuff you get at conventions." I clicked on this not because it was a great title (this is perhaps the worst title I have ever seen), but because I had a feeling this article was going to be a terrible representation of the promotional products industry. This was one of the those rare times I was 100% correct. While this author thought she was promoting the industry in a positive light, she did completely the opposite. While several superb suppliers were mentioned within the article, it gave way to a cheapened view of our industry and completely showed it as an industry which offers "free stuff." It completely missed identifying the new generation of truly "cool swag."