Goin Green Promos Eco Friendly Promotional Products

For the first time, the Super Bowl Champions wore organic-cotton T-shirts in the locker room, Impressions magazine reports. Canton, Mass.-based Reebok Intl. Ltd. announced that the Super Bowl XLIII Championship locker room T-shirts were made from 100 percent organic cotton. The hang tags on the shirts were also made of recycled materials. Fans can buy the organic Super Bowl XLIII tees at Reebok.com or NFLshop.com.

Of course, if you’d like organic cotton tees for your business or organization, or any other eco-friendly promotional item, just call or email yours truly… :)  Or visit www.goingreenpromos.com

Oh, where to start… so many new goodies this year. I’ll try and stick with just the “green” items. Mostly, anyway. So here goes…

FROSTY TOWEL… eco friendly, all natural towel is formulated with pure essential oils and extracts to cool and refresh you in moments, reduces mosquito bites, softens the skin, and more, and features a great citrus tropical scent. Great for anything from spas to a nice refresher after 18 holes in the hot sun.

TOTE BAGS… There are scads of totes available now, especially useful as a reusable shopping bag. Most are made of what we call non-woven poly. Some recycled, some not, but all recyclable. Other materials are also available, including recycled soda bottles (PET) and others. Some are also insulated for carrying hot or cold food, and even pizza bags can even be purchased.

FSC CERTIFIED… We’re getting papers from FSC certified suppliers in the form of folders and portfolios, binders, Post-it and other sticky notes. Regular notepads as well.

RECYCLED STAINLESS STEEL… First we had stainless steel, then aluminum, then recycled aluminum, and now recycled stainless steel. Mostly made into water bottles, the idea was to get away from the polycarb bottles with the controversial BPA. We now also have lots of plastic water bottles that are also BPA free. Many styles of all of these materials are available. AND POPULAR. Great promotional item.

PLAQUES AND AWARDS… All sorts of eco-friendly materials. Lots of Bamboo (sustainable) and recycled materials such as U.S. cash, sunflower seed hulls, automotive tires, etc. It’s great to see these awards being made of these materials that would normally have ended up in a landfill in most cases.

BALL CAPS… Caps are now available in combinations of bamboo and cotton, recycled PET, recycled polyester, and other fabrics. There’s also a new one that I really liked… Not necessarily eco-friendly, but has strings on the sides, hidden away, that retract. The temples of your sunglasses get attached, and your glasses are attached to your hat via retractors. When you’re not using them, they’re nicely held on the cap, above the visor. Nicely done! (not a $5 cap)

RECYCLED PASSWORD PAD… Seems to me a bit of a way to defeat the whole idea of using passwords, to use a book to record them, but I guess if you do so in some sort of code… So this one’s a recycled pad, or wire-bound book, with color-coded sections throughout, and alphabetized for easy use.

HOODIES… Alternative Apparel, a well known brand for youthful styles, has what they’re calling their Eco-Heather Zip Hoodie. Unisex fit, long sleeves, and a hood free of any ties, it’s made of 38% cotton (6.25% organic), 50% polyester (6.25% recycled poly), and 12% naturally occurring rayon. Low-impact yarn dyed, fabric washed. 3 available colors.

PRO SLEEVE… Okay, this one’s not green… but I thought it was worth mentioning. It’s pretty cool. Think bike races, marathons, concerts, corporate outings, etc. Anywhere a bunch of folks are out in the sun. It’s a dye-sublimated arm sleeve band. UV PROTECTION OF 50+ Takes great 4 color process graphics, and gets you noticed! I think it’s great.

FLASH DRIVES… HUGELY POPULAR today. Great way to disseminate information, and have an up-to-date, usable, tech item that your recipient can and will use for quite a while to come. I found some at the show that are made from CORN PLASTIC, EVEN LAYERED PAPERBOARD. Once you’re done with them, they can be buried, or end up in a landfill, and will decompose without causing problems. Great stuff!

RECYCLED POLYESTER APPAREL… There’s a nice 7 in 1 ladies jacket, as well as men’s and women’s windshirts made from the material. Additionally, there are several t-shirt manufacturers using the material to make their stuff. Really nice to see this industry coming around.

That’s about a quarter of it. Yeah, there’s a lot to tell you about this year. I’ll get some more posted in the next few days. If you’d like any info on any of the above, just shoot me an email - I’ll take care of it right away.

Need any help with your own trade show exhibit? Let me help. I’ve got lots of ideas and experience with trade shows. Have a great day!

Ted Pendlebury
www.goingreenpromos.com

Yes, elephant poop! There were so many new, eco-friendly, recycled, green, etc., promo products out this year, it’s incredible. And yes, an entire line of notebooks made from 100% recycled, sustainable and ecological elephant poop! (it’s odorless and clean as a whistle). A complete list and photos will follow.

I’m not sure why, maybe because Chinese New Year is about to start, but pricing on flash drives is going up, up, up… It’s been getting cheaper and cheaper as time goes by, but it seems to have bottomed out and is now heading in the opposite direction. The special I’ve got featured here on the blog is good through Jan 30, and is for inventory already in stock, so those prices are still good as of today. I suspect these prices are about as good as they’ll ever get, so if you’ve ever considered buying flash drives in quantity, now might be the time to do so.

Ted

One of the most useful promo-tech items on the market, the flash drive. USB drive, thumb drive, etc. Lots of names for this one. We can add your information, make up a widget, so much to do with them, and they won’t throw these away. Two fine styles available, under $10 with an imprint, and fast turnaround. Check it out:

flash drive special through january

People love receiving promotional products. They also love the companies that give them. There’s a certain amount of “implied reciprocity”, and gratitude. We offer the only advertising that garners a THANK YOU.

What really knocks them dead, though, is when the item has THEIR name on it. Personalized! We’ve had personalized calendars for years. I have several clients that give them to their best customers, and God forbid anyone gets removed from the list! They do hear about it, and the following year, they’re back on the list. I’ve seen it happen.

Anyway, this calendar line takes personalization a step far, far beyond anything we’ve had available before. The photos themselves have the recipients’ names featured in them! Name on the back of a jersey, name scratched into the sand on a beach, name in lights on a marquee… It’s incredible. AND EFFECTIVE. I guarantee they’ll hang on to that calendar all year long, keeping your contact info handy the entire time.

Imagine the response you’ll get from this!

There’s a way to demo it, too!  Try it yourself at www.theredk.com

It’s fun, and as I said, Effective. Let me know if you have questions or need pricing.
Have a great day,
Ted

Hi!

For security reasons, I didn’t want to announce to the world that I was leaving for a week, but I just got back from our industry’s big show in Las Vegas. Miles of aisles, and almost 2,000 different product lines. I’ve got lots of really cool stuff to share, but unfortunately, I brought back with me someone’s cold or flu and I really feel awful. Don’t mean to whine, but I’m taking care of urgent issues and orders, then I’ll get this thing going again. I really do have some good stuff to share, so keep in touch. Keep coming back, maybe subscribe via RSS.

And don’t forget, I’m always open to comments and suggestions. Thanks for stoppng by,
Ted

We’ve had decorated wine bottles available for years as gifts for many occasions, one of the most notable being engraved and color-filled. Well, we have a new method of decorating a wine bottle, and I think it looks pretty cool. It’s a metal plate that gets decorated with your information and artwork, then shaped and adhered to the bottle. Definitely something that will be kept as a mememto. Check it out!

decorated wine bottle as gift

Fear cannot be banished, but it can be calm and without panic; it can be mitigated by reason and evaluation. « Vannevar Bush, American scientist (1890 - 1974)

Nichole’s got some good points here - I thought this was worth passing along…

Like many Americans, I have been watching the national news a lot lately. On CNN recently, there was an interview with Suze Orman, personal finance expert. In this interview, she answered the question: Is the financial fear and panic occurring on Wall Street and throughout the nation counterproductive? Her answer, “It is not counterproductive, it’s real. It’s how people feel and the markets are made up of how people feel. They buy or they sell based on their emotions.”

I thought it was a statement worth examining, especially during these uncertain economic times. The two words that really popped out at me were “fear” and “panic,” and while they can be close in definition, the impact and subsequent result of these emotions are vastly different.

Fear is defined as “a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger.” It is a productive emotion, which bolts us into action to protect ourselves. Panic, on the other hand, is defined as “a sudden overwhelming fear, with or without cause, that produces hysterical or irrational behavior, and that often spreads quickly through a group of persons or animals.”

As business owners, salespeople, bosses, budget managers, husbands, wives, parents, etc., we all have a responsibility to ourselves and our loved ones to not panic and act irrationally, because like a virus, panic is damaging and it spreads. What is important, on the other hand, is to feel the fear, be OK with the fear, and act with surefooted and deliberate precision.

If we can accomplish a state of control within our businesses and homes—be the calm within the storm—it will not go unnoticed. Clients will sense safety and will continue to entrust business to you. Family will sleep easily at night. And while it may get rocky, (that is the prediction, so take a deep breath), trust that this too, shall pass.

Nichole Stella

Editorial Director, Promotional Marketing Magazine

Sure, we’ve all heard “reduce, reuse, recycle” and all the other green and eco-friendly phrases. I found a few pertinent facts and thought they’d make for a good reminder…

• Americans use 85,000,000 tons of paper a year; about 680 pounds per person.
• The average household throws away 13,000 separate pieces of paper each year. Most is packaging and advertising mail.
• In 1993, U.S. paper recovery saved more than 90,000,000 cubic yards of landfill space.
• Each ton (2000 pounds) of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4000 kilowatts of energy, and 7000 gallons of water. This represents a 64% energy savings, a 58% water savings, and 60 pounds less of air pollution!
• The 17 trees saved (above) can absorb a total of 250 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air each year. Burning that same ton of paper would create 1500 pounds of carbon dioxide.
• The construction costs of a paper mill designed to use waste paper is 50 to 80% less than the cost of a mill using new pulp.

Check us out at www.goingreenpromos.com!