Sandy and Craig from Leeds visited Printable Promotions to tell us about their new drinkware items, the Aladdin Ecycle Tumbler and Paradise Sports Bottle.

The Aladdin Ecycle tumbler is designed to help keep you and the earth happy. Made from FDA approved 100% recycled plastic, this tumbler is also recyclable anywhere plastic is collected.

The Leeds Paradise Sports Bottle has an elegant shape with aluminum wrap, a plastic cap, and comes in black, red and blue.

Craig will now juggle the bottles for your amusement:

Magnetic products are a versatile and inexpensive addition to any promotional marketing campaign.

In addition to basic flat, flexible magnets there are also magnetic calendars, memo boards, and picture frames as well as puzzles, clips, and mailable postcards with magnets attached.

In this video, Jessica Koronka discusses a few unique ways to use custom printed magnets in your next promotion:

This useful toiletry bag is a must for any frequent flyer who likes to take a carry-on. The 6-piece set includes a funnel and five containers that all meet the requirements set by the Transportation Security Administration—two 2-oz. bottles, one 2-oz. spray bottle, and one 3-oz. bottle. All pieces are clear so that security officials can easily see contents.

Present the Air Safe Toiletry Kit to your employees or clients who travel for business. Your logo will go with them on every trip…your logo will go to the bathroom with them!

Craig from Leeds talks up the kit in this video:

An effective yet often overlooked promotional category is Power Clips and Note Holders.

We’ve always said that the best promotional products are useful items. When you give a power clip to a client, chances are they will hang it somewhere…like their home refrigerator or office cubicle…where they will see it and use it every day.

Jessica Koronka talks to Printable Promotions about the numerous varieties of Power Clips and Note Holders that we can print your company logo on:

Printable Promotions is proud to introduce Ecolutions, the new line of recycled pens from Bic. These promotional pens are made from pre-consumer recycled materials like automotive part trays and medical parts and equipment.

And now a few words from Bic about their eco friendly practices:

BIC Graphic USA is committed to safeguarding natural resources for future generations.
That’s why we work so hard to minimize the environmental impact of our products and manufacturing processes. The rising importance of sustainable development is an opportunity to reaffirm the commitment and the values that are the foundation of our identity. Our voluntary approach to social responsibility and sustainable development proves our commitment to ethical and responsible business practices around the world.

Our sustainable development objectives mirror the goals of our company: simplicity, functionality, quality and value.
Although our products are considered disposable, in reality, they are used more than once.

By developing long lasting and lightweight products that are made to last, there is less impact on the environment.

• BIC designs simple, functional products that contain only the essential components.
• Our goal is to reduce the amount of raw materials used during production.
• Most of our pens have over 1.2 miles of writing ink! That is ten times the height of the Eiffel Tower!
• Many of our items are refillable which gives you the ability to use them over and over again.

We offer products and packaging produced using recycled materials.

• Select BIC pens are produced with pre-consumer recycled plastic materials and renewable resources.
• Our corrugated shipping boxes are comprised of a minimum of 30% recycled paper, of which 70% is from post-consumer waste.
• The 2008 BIC Graphic catalogs across the world are printed on recycled paper containing 10% post-consumer fiber.
• BIC Graphic prints sales materials on recycled paper containing 10% post consumer fiber.

Development initiatives are underway with the goal of using renewable resources and less raw materials.

• The NEW BIC Ecolutions product line offers items made with recycled materials and renewable resources. We will continue to expand this line by developing products using renewable resources and recycled materials.
• BIC Tri-Stic Ecolutions and Tri-Stic WideBody Grip Ecolutions are made with 19% pre-consumer recycled plastic. The BIC Round Stic Ecolutions contains 76% pre-consumer recycled materials. The BIC Clic Stic Ecolutions contains 67% pre-consumer recycled material.

BIC is committed to adhering to international quality and product safety standards.

• All BIC inks undergo a toxicological review by the Duke University Medical Center Occupational Health Service (under the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association) certification program. Duke University bases its review on the guidelines set forth by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
• BIC is committed to the follow-up, coordination and support for implementation of the Environmental, Health and Safety (EH&S) management systems within our factories. This includes pollution prevention, risk prevention, regulatory compliance and continued improvements.
• 100% of BIC employees, worldwide, have been trained on BIC’s sustainable development initiatives.

Insert your business card into these sturdy magnetic clips and give them to clients for a useful, lasting promotion. The clips are strong enough to hold multiple sheets of paper, and can be used in the office or hung on refrigerators at home. Your business contact information will always be handy!

You could even have special cards printed up with information about new products, your services, or any advertising message you want to promote. Think of these clips as mini-billboards…the possibilities are endless!

Tracy demonstrates the awesome powers of the Magnetic Business Card Clip:

One of the world’s most ancient plants is now the newest eco friendly trend! Bamboo promotional products are a stylish and green alternative to hardwood and plastic items.

I shall now describe bamboo for you using terms usually reserved only for Superman:

Faster than a speeding bullet
Bamboo is the fastest growing canopy for the re-greening of degraded lands. It has been clocked shooting skyward at up to 2 inches per hour! Some species grow up to 3 or 4 feet per day! Bamboo reaches maturity in about four years, compared to the typical 25 to 70 years for most trees.

More powerful than a locomotive
Bamboo has a tensile strength greater than steel, making it the strongest woody plant in existence. Over 1500 species of bamboo grow in diverse terrain (from sea level up to 12,000 ft.) and on every continent except Antarctica. It generates up to 35% more oxygen than trees, and is better at removing carbon dioxide from the air.

Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound
Ok, so bamboo can’t jump. That’s because its net-like root system spreads wide to control erosion and prevent flooding. It can be grown in soil that has been damaged by overgrazing and poor agricultural techniques, and can tolerate rainfall extremes - from 30 to 250 inches annually. Because bamboo harvesting leaves the roots intact, the plant is not killed and the topsoil is left in place.

Now that we’ve established bamboo as a sustainable agricultural super-material, it is worth noting that there are eco friendly bamboo products ranging from t-shirts, kitchen accessories and pens to toys and awards - all of which can be printed with your company logo. What a unique way to green your corporate image this year!

The new Strong Arm bag hanger hook is a little portable gadget that you can use to safely hang your purse or bag from the edge of any table.

This promotional product makes a good business gift for women…it can be used to keep your purse safe, in-sight, and out of the way at restaurants or events.

The Strong Arm is also a handy item to keep on hand at your booth when exhibiting at tradeshows, career fairs or recruiting events. Attendees can hang their bags, totes or purses while they fill out contact forms, and you can let them keep the item (engraved with your logo) when they are finished.

Craig from Leeds explains to Sandy why needs one of these hangers:

A must for anyone, this tiny piece of metal keeps totes, purses and other bags off of dirty floors. Round surface protects tabletops from scratching. Can hold up to 15 lbs. Easy to pack.

According to Ecology Communications, Inc., almost 4,000,000,000 trees are cut down each year just to make paper products. That means the average person uses 749 lbs. of paper each year (over five times the weight of an average adult!) Not only does cutting down so many trees hurt the environment with pollution, deforestation, and reducing the wildlife environment for animals, but it also creates a lot of landfill waste. If not recycled, it will account for 35% of all municipal solid waste.

Choosing promotional products made of recycled paper is an easy way for your organization to reduce its environmental impact.

Notebooks, jotters, journals, padfolios, and Post-It Notes are now being made of recycled paper, and can be printed with your company logo. Many companies already use these items in their promotions or for meetings and conferences; switching to the recycled version is an easy way to go green without sacrificing quality or promotional impact.

Just as importantly, remember to recycle these promotional products when they are used up, just as you would your newspaper, cardboard, magazines, and packaging.

As the summer season approaches, companies across American start gearing up for all of their warm-weather activities and promotions – golf outings and picnics, music festivals, block parties, marathons and charity walks. The quintessential gift for participants in these events is a t-shirt.

But if your organization is thinking “green” this year, traditional cotton shirts might be a cause for concern.

According to the Institute of Science in Society, cotton production uses more chemicals per unit area than any other crop and accounts in total for 16% of the world’s pesticides. Pesticides and other agrochemicals not only pollute land and water but have been linked to health risks for farm workers, and residual chemicals in cotton clothing can irritate skin in some individuals.

So what’s a responsible company to do? Organic cotton promotional t-shirts are a responsible solution to these concerns. Each time you choose a T-shirt made from 100% organic cotton, you’re saving one-third of a pound of synthetic fertilizers and farm chemicals.

To be certified as “organic”, cotton must be grown on land that has been free of chemicals for three years. According to the Sustainable Cotton Project there are four components to growing organic cotton:

SOIL
Organic farming starts with the soil. Compost, frequent crop rotations and cover crop strategies replace synthetic fertilizers to keep the soil healthy and productive. Fields must be free of synthetically-derived chemicals for three years to achieve organic certification.

WEED CONTROL
Weeds are controlled by innovative farm machinery, hand labor or flame devices rather than herbicide applications.

INSECT PESTS
Rather than attempting to eradicate all insects with chemicals, organic farmers cultivate a diversity of natural enemies which prey on insect pests, and lure pests away from cotton by planting trap crops. Insect pests can be effectively kept in balance with well-timed introduction of beneficial insects to fields.

HARVEST
In warmer growing regions, where the cotton plants must be killed or defoliated to pick a quality crop before the onset of winter rains, organic growers shut off water early, and apply certified materials to promote cotton boll opening and leaf dropping, readying the fibers for harvest. In the U.S., both conventional and organic cotton are machine-picked; in some developing countries, cotton is still harvested by hand.

Some people still think of organic cotton shirts as bland, natural beige colored garments reserved only for hard-core environmentalists…which is not always the first choice when marketing their companies. Fortunately, organic cotton now comes in a rainbow of colors, and new fashion-forward styles to match any organization’s image.