Tag Archives: Leeds

Leeds Video: From Plastic to Product

31 Oct

Owl® 51% Recycled Deluxe Compu-Messenger Bag Made from 51% post-consumer recycled material. Large main compartment with built-in 17″ laptop sleeve. Front zippered pocket with media pocket, headphone port and zippered accessory pocket. Full organization under flap. Rear zippered pocket and trolley handle. Two side mesh pockets. Detachable, adjustable shoulder strap. Carry handle.

Saw this video from Leeds (Polyconcept) regarding the making of recycled PET fabrics.

Leeds has a number of items in their EcoSmart line made from 51% to 100% recycled materials, like the Owl Recycled Deluxe Compu-Messenger Bag.

The video is no where near as informative as the TED TALK given by Mike Biddle.

Still nice short overview, and we get this question all the time.

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If you are an ASI distributor Michael Dunsworth is the contact to talk to about complete EcoSmart line. If you are interested in EcoSmart items for your own business or event, contact your local promotional items vendor or email info@proformagreen.com for information, pricing, and samples.

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Jute Non-Woven Evolution Messenger

24 Sep

Jute Non-Woven Evolution Messenger (NATURAL)

In a video last March I talked about a new material that hit the market earlier in the year, a blending of Jute (natural fiber) and Polypropylene (#5 plastic).

The new Jute Non-Woven Evolution Messenger from Leeds is another example of the adaptation we often see in our industry. Simply, a new material is introduced, it sells, so the industry works to figure out new ideas for the new material. Voilà, the Jute Non-Woven Evolution Messenger is born.

The Jute Non-Woven Evolution Messenger is certainly a step up from its simple shopper tote forbears. This is a hip, eco-friendly item aimed directly at the young professional and college markets. Messenger bags have long been very popular as simply book-bags and urban carriers, and with the dawning of the iPad age we are seeing a resurgence of this design as a fun computer carry as well.

With the natural feel of the Jute Non-Woven Evolution Messenger, I think this unit will complement those canvas, leather, and nylon messenger styles already on the market. To review, Jute is a renewable, natural resource. Non-woven Polypropylene is a number #5 recyclable plastic – where #5 bags are recyclable – and for that reason the new material is currently being marketed as recyclable.

Jute Non-Woven Evolution Messenger (BLACK)

The Jute Non-Woven Evolution Messenger measures H 15.5″ x W 3.5″ x L 12.5″, with listed material of  100 gram Non-Woven Jute, which seems to be the name the industry is giving to this new blended material. The imprint area on the Jute Non-Woven Evolution Messenger is L 6″ x H 6″, and Leeds reports they are designed to hold up to 40 pounds. Add a Velcro closure flap, front pen loop, inside flap storage, and an adjustable shoulder strap, and the Jute Non-Woven Evolution Messenger is ready to roll.

The Jute Non-Woven Evolution Messenger is offered in Natural and Black. The imprint for these bags is much closer to the imprint quality of a fabric bag than a non-woven poly, and the fabric itself has a very nice, unfinished texture to it.

I think the Jute Non-Woven Evolution Messenger will be a winner with its target audience and look forward to more ideas from Leeds and others using this new material.

If you are ASI and want more information on the Jute Non-Woven Evolution Messenger contact Mary Beach at Leeds. If you are interested in the Jute Non-Woven Evolution Messenger as a marketing idea for your own organization, contact your local promotional items vendor or email info@proformagreen.com for information and pricing.

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Videos From ASI Dallas

18 Feb

ASI is the Advertising Specialty Institute, the trade organization for the promotional products industry. This year at ASI DALLAS (one of several yearly ASI trade shows) I was joined by Brady Anderton of FUELED FILMS (http://fueldfilms.com/). Brady is working on a project related to the greening of the promotional products industry, so similar in topic to my writings here at ecopreneurist.com.

Since Brady is a film guy he didn’t take notes so much as have his team film me while we talked. What we ended up with was a kind of rambling dialogue about industry changes for 2010 and the evolution of green in promo.

I figured we would edit some of these conversations into more manageable bits and post some of the footage here. For more visit http://www.youtube.com/ProformaGreen.

Enjoy.

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If you are an ASI distributor talk to the vendors directly about these new items. Items seen are from AMERICANNA, ASH CITY, NUMO, LEEDS, QUICKPOINT, SHEPENCO. If you are interested in these items to promote your own business contact your local promotional items distributor or email info@proformagreen.com for information and pricing.

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Green Goes Pink for Breast Cancer: Pre-Prints

10 Sep

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.

Indeed the pre-printed Support The Cause line from Leeds provides pre-printed art for a wide range of eco-friendly and traditional promotional items including bags like the 100% Recycled PET Lake Convention Tote and PolyPro Big Grocery Tote and water bottles like the Optimus Stainless Bottle and Santa Fe Aluminum Bottle.

Another great idea for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month is the BreastCancer Awareness Journal ThemeBook from JournalBooks.

ThemeBooks personal guides provide helpful information on a variety of topics including Breast Cancer Awareness, Healthy Heart Tips, Recycle Tips, Fitness Tips, Nutrition Tips, Travel Tips and even Wine Journals.

The BreastCancer Awareness Journal is 5″ × 7″ with 100 sheets of ruled, 100% recycled, 60# quality writing paper. The journal includes stock imprint on front cover plus a full color information sheet printed on 80# gloss cover stock. The EQP on these journals is $5.79.

Pricing also includes foil color imprint or deboss up to 16 square inches. Black binding wire is standard with white, silver, or bronze wire optional. These units are made in the USA.

These items work great for Ecopreneurists looking to attach their brand to a seminar or other gathering discussing cancer awareness that is asking for donations of journals/notebooks for attendees.

If you are a promotional items distributor contact Joel Kaufmann for more information on ThemeBooks and Mary Beach for more information on Leeds’ pre-printed line.

If you would like to use these items to support Breast Cancer Awareness projects in your own community and promote your own business, contact your local promotional products vendor or email info@proformagreen.com.

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Preprinted Shoppers at Low Runs

7 Aug

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

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.

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From Plastic to Product: Recycled PET Non-Woven

19 Jun

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

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.

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A Better Messenger Bag And Day-Timer

4 Jun

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

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.

Continue reading →

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Earth Day Ideas: Tempo Recycled Backpack Great for Education Crowd

28 Mar

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

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. Continue reading →

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Exploding Mice

20 Mar

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

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.

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EarthDay Ideas: Conserve Energy Conservation Set

4 Mar

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

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.

Continue reading →

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