October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and as I wrote before, from a marketing standpoint, the month of October will be filled with awareness raising events in which companies and organizations are often asked to show their support through donations of time, resources, and yes promotional items.

Here are a few more eco-friendly ideas for Ecopreneurists looking to support local Breast Cancer Awareness events and organizations with branded promotional items.

One item that groups always seem to need are gift bags, and the pre-printed non-woven Breast Cancer Awareness bags from Leeds give the Ecopreneurist a chance to donate a stylish “pink” bag at a low cost.

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A number of manufacturers have started to sell pre-printed shopping bags in their eco-friendly lines. These bags have a pre-printed eco-friendly message to which the Ecopreneurists simply add their own logo.

This is a great way for Ecopreneurists to get more bang for their buck as the full color detail in these bags used to mean that a buyer would need to be doing runs in the 10,000s and pay for full imprint, full bag setups, that could have run as high as $1,000.

As an example let us look at two new bags, the PET pre-printed Jumbo Grocery Tote from Debco and the pre-printed Laminated Non-Woven Large Shopper Tote from Leeds.

The Debco PET preprinted Jumbo Grocery Tote can be ordered at as few as 50 units. Bag size is 4” W x 16” H x 7.75” D,  a size designed to replace up to four standard sized plastic bags. The bag is pre-printed pattern of three environmental messages, like “I USED TO BE A PLASTIC BOTTLE”.

As a bonus, Debco’s PET pre-printed Jumbo Grocery Tote also comes with a hang tag listing the bag’s environmental properties. The bag is SGS China certified. EQP on PET pre-printed Jumbo Grocery Tote is $3.12.

Runs of the pre-printed Laminated Non-Woven Large Shopper Tote from Leeds start higher at 288 unit runs. They feature reinforced handles and binding for added durability, plus a 10 inch drop handle height. Their pre-printed design also supports environmentally friendly themes.

The Laminated Non-Woven Large Shopper Tote is made from 100% recyclable material with an exterior label that affirms this claim.

According to Leeds the bag’s laminated material is water resistant and hand-wipeable, making it ideal for both shopping and beach trips.

The bag size is 14″ H x 6.5″ W x 16″ L and made from 110gm polypropylene (110gLamNWPP). EQP on the Laminated Non-Woven Large Shopper Tote is $2.15.

If you are ASI or PPAI and wish to learn more about the full line of eco-friendly totes at Debco contact Andrew Green. For more on what Leeds is up to contact Mary Beach.

If you are interested in these items to promote your own business contact your local promotional items vendor or email info@proformagreen.com for information and pricing.

I get a lot of questions on how old water bottles, etc., make their way into new bags and other items from manufacturers like Leeds.

Well here is a short video from the Leeds website that explains the basic process of turning old water bottles into bags, totes, padfolios and other items in their Owl Line.

Enjoy.

If you are ASI and wish to learn more about the recycled bottle (PET) items from Leeds email Frank Weissert. If you are interested in these items to promote your own business contact your local promotional items vendor or email info@proformagreen.com for information and pricing.

Spring is in the air and with it the spring line up of new eco-friendly promotional items. Here are a few stand outs from Leeds.

The first of the new items of note is the Tempo 100% Recycled PET Urban Messenger Bag from Leeds. This thing is 100% recycled PET (old water bottles, that type of thing) but you would not know it to look at it. Yes it is green, but it also has some great lines and is a very functional messenger. The Tempo is also manufactured in the US (which helps its total carbon footprint) and it is certified made from eco materials.

EQP on the Tempo 100% Recycled PET Urban Messenger Bag is $8.92 with one color imprint. That is a great price for this good sized H 11.17″ x W 4.33″ x L 15.25″ bag. Again, where is this cost premium everyone is talking about to “go green”?

The Tempo is a solid marketing choice for any Ecopreneurist focusing on a number of audiences such as the urban commuter, the college crowd, or even forward looking IT firms.

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Green business practices are not limited to factories and buildings anymore.  According to Yahoo Finance, some insurance companies are offering clients who drive green cars or live in green homes a break on their premiums.  Still others are offering to rebuild a green home that is lost due to fire or other catastrophes “greener” than it was before.

Novato based Fireman’s Fund is now offering a 5% discount on homeowner’s policies for those who live in LEED certified homes.   Fireman’s also offers a Green Upgrade, which allows a homeowner the option to rebuild it greener with a slight premium adder. 

Farmer’s Insurance offers up to a 10% discount for drivers of hybrid vehicles currently, and is planning to offer a new Green homeowner’s policy in 28 states by this summer.   

Very soon, it will pay to go green! 

A lot of schools and other organizations will be doing events around Earth Day that are targeted towards educating children and young adults about the environment. In many cases these events will be taking their audience to parks or other extended day out style events.

For the Ecopreneurists out there who are going to be running - or in some other way associated with these  events - I would like to suggest an item that can both help promote your organization and educate your young audience.  The Owl Tempo 100% Recycled Backpack.

This is another item from the the highly successful Owl line from Leeds which focuses on promotional bags, totes, portfolios and other items made recycled materials.

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Ok, the title is a little extreme, but in the run up to Earth Day it is amazing the lengths some of the manufacturers are reaching to get our attention regarding eco-friendly items. It is nice to see that so many manufacturers are now providing green solutions. It really looks like 2009 is a tipping point for the industry.

How do I know? Because the eco-friendly mouse pads have arrived.

What this article’s title was meant to imply is that in 2009 a lot of manufacturers have started to sell eco-friendly computer mouse pads. Really, they seem to be everywhere.

And since tech companies - and tech ecopreneurists - seem to always be at the cutting edge of green, these make really good promo items. Think about it, your client will see them every day. Good for employee gifts as well. Everyone needs a mouse pad right?

Some of our favorites:

The new Eco–Soft™ Mouse Mat® (Patents Pending) from HandStands Promotional likely leads the pack. This pad looks really good and also happens to be made of post-consumer and post-industrial, non-skid, recycled rubber.  The HandStands website claims the material is so luxuriously soft it is often mistaken for suede leather in look and feel.  As a bonus these pads - sorry mats -  also have a antimicrobial surface keeping germs from growing and spreading, so HandStands calls them “CLEAN and GREEN”.  The units measure 8 3/4″ X 7 7/8″ and are 3mm thick with a imprint Area of 4″ X 1 1/2″. Colors are sand, camel, blue and black. EQP is $5.25

The Cork Mouse Pad from Debco uses a very old material - cork - to make a modern day tool. These pads measure 8.75″ W x 7.25″ H x 0.25″D and are from 100% natural, recyclable, renewable and biodegradable cork. No trees are harmed in the harvesting of cork. The pads themselves are both lightweight and durable. Imprint area is 8” W x 6.75” H. EQP is $3.17

The Recycled Cardboard Mousepad from Leeds (not shown) is another basic model - really you would have thought someone would have thought of this before -  made simply from 100% recycled cardboard. The Recycled Cardboard Mousepad features a deboss of the universal recycle symbol on every pad, plus your logo, and it is also easily mailable based on weight and size. EQP is $2.00.

If you are looking for a eco-friendly mouse pad that looks more like a traditional mouse pad, then the RECYCLED Soft Surface Mouse Pad from World Wide Line is likely more to your tastes. This 7” x 8” x 1/8” pad has a soft surface top which allows for full color printing with a full bleed. World Wide actually has three sizes of these pads, all at 1/8” thick. The pads can be turned for both 2 and 3 day rush orders. World Wide says that the ” eco friendly mouse pads consist of 50% post industrial waste combined with 50% materials from sustainable resources”.

For more on these items visit the websites or email us at info@proformagreen.com.

With Earth Day around the corner I wanted to write a few articles focusing on promotional items with a bent towards education. There are going to be a lot of Earth Day events in the next two months, and these event are often the best way for Ecopreneurists to get their message out to a mainstream audience and the mainstream media.

The Conserve Energy Conservation Set from Leeds is a great example of an education focused promotional item that also provides the Ecopreneurist big bang messaging platform.

The Conserve Energy Conservation Set includes EcoHome Magnetic Conserve Booklet (12-page booklet contains helpful how-to tips for living eco-friendly, made from aluminum (recyclable) with a magnetic backing for display in prominent areas), EcoHome Refrigerator Thermometer (2.75″H x .94″W LCD screen and displays the optimal temperature for a refrigerator to help conserve energy and save money), 2 energy-saving 110W compact fluorescent light bulbs, and a gift box that doubles as a battery disposal box.

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As you know we really like the organic cotton totes from Gemline.

Well we often get questions about the source of this cotton and other organic cotton used in our industry so we decided to ask Gemline for some answers. Clif Jordan the Regional Manager (South West) for Gemline was nice enough to send some answers.

According to Clif the organic cotton for Gemline bags comes mostly from Pakistan and sometimes India. All cotton used by Gemline is fair trade product and is Certified Organic Cotton, which means a licensed third party international agency (in this case the Control Union headquartered in the Netherlands) certifies the cotton’s origin and its authenticity. Gemline also offers eco-friendly inks and provides more information on their inks on their website.

Although most bag construction is done overseas the imprinting is done in the United States, unless the order is large enough for a full overseas production, say 10,000+ units. Most orders are under 100 units.

If you want to contact Clif directly with questions on Gemline’s items his email is cjordan@gemline.com. The Gemline website also has details on many of their products, www.gemline.com. You can of course also contact me at info@proformagreen.com.

So the bottom line for Ecopreneurists is, if you have questions about your vendor’s sources ask them. If vendors can’t answer your questions, I suggest you move along to someone that can.

We have asked the same questions about organic cotton supplies to Norwood, Leeds and Debco Bag. We will post their responses - when we get them - as well.

As we predicted, it seems 2009 is becoming the year of the great green push in our industry. Leeds is again up front with a number of functional and stylist additions to their Owl line of 51% & 100% recycled material bags, portfolios and totes (see certificate from Leeds website).

One of the new items is the Owl 100% Recycled Deluxe Compu-Backpack. Made from 100% post-consumer recycled material (product label affirms claim) the backpack holds most 17″ laptops.

The backpack has a large main compartment with built-in laptop sleeve, allowing access to the laptop from top or through side zippered access pocket. The Recycled Deluxe Compu-Backpack also boasts a media pocket and headphone port.

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Leeds is adding to their partnership with Aladdin® with the introduction of the Aladdin® Ecycle Travel Mug.

Aladdin® mugs are common items in many stores, the program with Leads offers Aladdin® items that can be branded with a company name, logo, etc.

Like other Aladdin green items this unit is made of eCycle(tm), an Aladdin® proprietary 100% recycled polypropylene made of FDA-approved recyclable containers. 25% of the recycled material is made of post-consumer goods and is formulated and tested to match FDA food safety material standards.

These tumblers are recyclable anywhere that resin code 5 plastics are accepted. The Ecycle Travel Mug pictured on the right has a snap-on lid, double-wall construction, a large grip handle and includes a one color imprint and 1-piece Aladdin gift box at EQP $10.17 per unit.

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Gemline, Leeds and a few other vendors leading in the move to eco-friendly promotional items are now using a technology from a company called Technologo to produce virtual catalogs for their clients. The Gemline catalog is located here, Leed’s here.

It is an interesting platform and this solution from Technologo might be a good way for Ecopreneurists to market to clients of their own without the need for paper catalogs, but I see two main problems.

First, these files are large and reside on a server, so yes you can email the link to clients but I don’t understand how you can email the whole catalog. The system is designed to allow you to send individual pages from the catalog, but you already need to be on the site to do this. Second, how are these any better than a normal web page display?

I guess if you look at it as a living catalog, something that could be loaded onto a PC and taken out to clients, or loaded on a CD or flash drive and mailed, that might make more sense to me, at least that way the catalog is not tied to the PC.

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I have written before about the great eco-friendly products from Leed’s. Their EcoSmart brand covers a lot of territory from totes to notebooks using both post-consumer recycled materials and organics. It is very popular with green clients.

I have been after Leed’s and other manufactures to start offering eco-only catalogs as many of our clients only want to see eco-friendly items and it is a waste of paper and shipping costs to send them a 200+ page catalog if only 10-15% of the products are green.

Well yesterday I got the attached letter in the mail (click image on right to see full letter). Apparently Leed’s sees it as wasteful as well and is sending out letters to distributors to ask them if they wish to stop with catalog mailing entirely.

This works for me as our office generally works from the Leed’s website at www.leedsworld.com not from catalogs. Now I only wish they would supply us with .pdf versions of their green catalog pages Iike what we use for our green overview, and the transition away from bulky paper will be complete.

Of course I realize that a large driver of this change is likely the cost of printing and sending 100,000s of catalogs each year. Still it is a good change.

It will be interesting to see if the other industry leaders like Norwood and Logomark follow Leed’s in this offer of no more catalogs.

For more information on Leed’s green line visit their website or email us at info@proformagreen.com.

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of ProformaGreen, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy. John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

Leed’s is teaming up with AmericanForests.org. “Leed’s makes a donation to American Forest’s Global ReLeaf program for every EcoSmart imprint order we produce”.

The thing I like about this new deal is that you don’t have to do anything extra. If the client purchases Leed’s EcoSmart promotional items the donation is automatically made.

Simple. But….

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This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of ProformaGreen, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy. John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

From leather to leader is how Leed’s explains it on their website. How about from bottles to briefcases? That might be a better description for Leeds line of 100% recycled promotional items made from water bottles and other recycled everyday items.

Leed’s Owl line of bags and other items made from recycled water bottles has added a new product to their list of made from 100% post-consumer recycled material (product label affirms this claim).

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