Vantage Apparel Partners with Starline to Offer Hard Goods in its New Webstore Platform

Avenel, NJ – Vantage Apparel, an industry leader in custom logo, branded apparel, recently unveiled its cutting-edge, single-piece webstore platform, set to revolutionize the promotional products industry. The platform boasts a range of advanced features, including Pop-Up Shops, points programs, budget allocations, powerful reporting, and order approvals, all designed to enhance user experience and streamline operations.

Notably, the new platform offers strengthened security, with PCI and SOC2 compliance, ensuring the highest standards of data protection and privacy for users.

Building on this innovative launch, Vantage Apparel is excited to announce a strategic partnership with Starline®, a renowned industry leader in hard goods. This collaboration will significantly expand the product offerings available through Vantage's webstores, providing distributors with instant access to a diverse range of single-piece, on-demand branded products, including, apparel, bags, coolers, Bluetooth speakers, flashlights, home goods and drinkware, including consumer-favorite Stanley®.

Rob Watson, CEO of Vantage Apparel, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership: "Our collaboration with Starline® marks a significant milestone for Vantage Apparel. By integrating their high-quality hard goods into our platform, we are not only broadening our product range but also enhancing the value we provide to our distributors and their customers. This partnership exemplifies our commitment to innovation, integration, and excellence in the promotional products industry."



Vantage's collaboration with Starline allows distributors to seamlessly incorporate a curated selection of both apparel and hard goods into their webstore, providing real-time inventory and enhanced ordering capabilities for all products. “Each product in Starline's on-demand lineup offers the same single-piece, decorated option that our customers have grown to love and expect from Vantage," says Chris Alfano, Chief Digital Officer of Vantage Apparel.

Starline has been a long-time, award-winning industry leader in upscale retail-quality gifts in both the United States and Canada for over 50 years. “Vantage is known industry wide for their creative and innovative decoration capabilities, combined with first class apparel,” says Brian Porter, Chief Revenue Officer of Starline®. “This works so well with our award-winning digital Tru Color decorating and best in class product quality, that the synergy was a natural fit. We’re beyond thrilled to expand our “On Demand” capabilities and combine those in a one stop solution for both apparel and hard goods.”

Grapevine Designs Acquires Belleview Branding

Lenexa, KS – Kansas City based promotional marketing agency Grapevine Designs recently announced that they have acquired Belleview Branding, another Kansas City based promotional marketing firm.

The two entities will operate under the Grapevine Designs banner which affords both companies additional service sets and bandwidth. Belleview Branding brings an amazing list of clients and experience to Grapevine.

Grapevine Designs, a Top 100 Distributor (PPAI), brings a sophisticated design-centric agency dynamic, unique capabilities as well as a WBENC certification to the team.

The terms of the deal allow both groups to continue to operate from their respective locations and to utilize their existing personnel.

Charles River Apparel Promotes Jason Lipsett To President

Sharon, MA – Charles River Apparel recently announced that Jason Lipsett has been promoted to president of the company, effective September 12, 2024. 

His appointment marks three generations of Lipsetts at the helm of the New England-based firm, which his grandfather, Walter Lipsett, founded in 1983. Barry Lipsett, Jason's father, will continue to serve as CEO, partnering with his son to lead the company going forward.

“I feel a great responsibility stepping into this role and am deeply mindful of what it means for our employees, our customers and our community,” says Jason. “I’m committed to creating a work environment built around respect, teamwork and a growth mindset. Our customers know they can trust Charles River Apparel for quality and reliability, and it’s my goal to create even stronger partnerships that yield mutual success.”

“Jason’s leadership and dedication have been pivotal in driving our recent successes,” Barry says. “He has an innate understanding of our business, our crew and our customers. His promotion to president isn’t just a reflection of his accomplishments, but a testament to his vision for the future of Charles River Apparel.”

As part of that vision, Adam Heaslewood has joined the company as chief revenue officer, overseeing sales and marketing. Reporting directly to Jason, he’ll begin his new role on the same day that his new boss takes over.

“What really stood out to me about Adam is his impressive track record and how closely his values align with those of Charles River Apparel,” Jason says. “Adam is deeply team-focused, driven and has a vision that I believe will be key in shaping the future of our company, creating opportunities for both our employees and our customers.”

Hicksville, NY – American Nassau Candy, the parent company of NC Custom, and its founders, the Stier Family, were proud to be honored at the 18^th Annual Mildred & Samuel Levine Memorial Golf Classic. With their efforts, the event raised a record $1.5 million in support of Sunrise Day Camp Long Island for children with cancer and their siblings. 

For more information about the Sunrise Association & ways to donate, visit:

www.sunrisedaycamp-longisland.org

In conjunction with the success of the Golf Classic, NC Custom’s commitment to excellence was further recognized as the company secured the 22^nd spot in the Counselor Awards, ranking among the top 40 Suppliers in the industry. 

NC Custom works towards offering product voids identified as marketplace needs. Their donations and continued partnerships with distributor partners and top organizations is part of their strategy in establishing and continuing to have a significant presence in the industry. Delivering world class service, with a focus on caring, customer's wins are thier wins, and losses are their losses. 

ASB Announces Maxx Rochette as Vice President of Canadian Solutions for Business



Glenwood, MN – American Solutions for Business recently announced the appointment of Maxx Rochette as Vice President of the newly established Canadian Solutions for Business (CSB).

In this role, Rochette will oversee strategic initiatives and foster a collaborative environment as CSB evolves within the Canadian market. Maxx brings 12 years of experience in the promotional products industry, beginning his career in sales and working his way up to senior leadership within his previous distributor.

"I’m excited about the opportunity with CSB because it provides a platform to leverage my experience in customer relationship management while contributing to a company known for its commitment to client satisfaction," shares Rochette. "I’m particularly drawn to the chance to work on initiatives to enhance customer experiences and streamline processes, as I have a strong passion for developing strategies that drive customer loyalty and business growth. I’m also eager to work with a team that values collaboration and innovation, which I believe will allow me to apply my skills effectively and continue learning and growing."

Rochette will work closely with ASB’s Founder and CEO, Larry Zavadil, as well as VP of Vendor Relations, Marketing & Events, Dana Zezzo to develop the company’s strategic vision.

“We’re excited for this new chapter ahead,” says Zezzo. “Appointing Maxx in this role is a major milestone in expanding reach within Canada. This will allow new and existing sales associates to best serve customers wanting to do business within Canada.”

How to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile in 6 Easy Steps

Jason Foodman • Entrepreneur Leadership Network Contributor • CEO/CRO/COO of Global Operations Leadership

LinkedIn offers a vast array of configuration options, most don't take advantage of all of them, overlook many and fail to optimize the sections they do use. This article covers a number of high-visibility key areas along with suggestions of how to get the most out of them.

With more than 1 billion users in 200 countries worldwide, LinkedIn is currently the largest professional networking platform. So, whether for professional networking or job search purposes, it's more important than ever to customize and optimize your LinkedIn profile. Similar to advertising, visitors to your profile page will likely spend just a few precious seconds to form an opinion, so it's imperative that everything is clear, concise and on-message. Fortunately, LinkedIn has a robust feature set that enables a lot of customization. Unfortunately, many on the platform overlook key parts of their profile, in some cases not including them at all and often not optimizing what's there.

As you craft your LinkedIn profile, the fundamental objective to keep in mind is that you want to clearly articulate four things in a concise and quick-to-digest manner: who you are, what you are doing professionally, what you have done and what you are looking for — especially for those who are job hunting. You should remove anything that does not contribute to any of these points.

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