Suppliers Archives

For more than 50 years, IDLine (PPAI 111778, Silver), in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, has been a provider of name badges, buttons, membership cards and similar products. The family-owned company operates with a team of nearly 50 employees.

In 2023 and 2024, it was named one of PPAI’s Greatest Companies To Work For, and last year Lindsay Bons, the company’s senior business development manager, won recognition as a PPAI Rising Star. In technology developments, IDLine also hired an outside firm to support and validate its IT processes in 2024.

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For the past two years, Next Level Apparel (PPAI 272027, Silver) has been rapidly retrenching, first with its March 2023 acquisition of Stedman, a Germany-based manufacturer of premium and casual blank sportswear. Next, in March 2023, it partnered with Grupo M, a leading textile manufacturer based in the Dominican Republic. The company also underwent a leadership restructuring in June 2024 when Joe Simsolo, who originally founded the Torrance, California-based company in 2003, returned as CEO and his son, Eric, was promoted to president.

Last year, the company completed its website/ecommerce transformation and continues its ongoing security audits including pen testing. It has also partnered with Oritain to conduct product verification source testing.

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Opti Print & Fulfillment (PPAI 113581, Silver) continues to rack up PPAI Pyramid Awards in Supplier Decorating for its eye-popping custom lenticular graphics. For its most recent Gold win in 2024, the company created a full-motion, holographic-type magazine cover for publishing giant Meredith depicting the West Virginia outdoors transitioning from day to night. The Dallas-based company started in 1970 as a division of the Atlas Match Company in New York, and then got into the lenticular business.

Since 2021, revenue has grown 184 percent and, according to its website, the company has won more awards than any other specialty printing or lenticular printing company in the world.

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For more than 40 years, Pinnacle Designs (PPAI 112704, Silver) has been a provider of emblematic jewelry, keytags, bottle openers, magnets and other products to the promo and souvenir industries. In 2024, the San Fernando, California-based company moved its production from China to factories in other countries and, for the first time, offered in-house solutions for rush lapel pin and key chain orders with a one- to five-day turnaround. It also joined forces with the PromoStandards community giving distributor clients access to order status, tracking and invoicing.

Another major change took place in 2023 when Pinnacle Designs transitioned to an employee stock ownership plan. Not surprisingly, in 2024, it was one of 106 companies to earn a spot on PPAI’s Greatest Companies To Work For list.

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Late last year, Pop! Promos (PPAI 564497, Gold) named Jay Dilley as its new CEO. In the same month, it showed its sustainability commitments by earning a Silver EcoVadis rating, which played a part in the high mark it received in Responsibility. In the past year, the Philadelphia-based supplier Pop! has expanded educational offerings for distributors, integrated SPIN Selling and AI-driven automation and reduced plastic use in packaging.

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For decades, Riteline (PPAI 22626, Silver) has been a reliable source for promotional writing instruments including ballpoint, gel, hybrid and free ink roller styles. In recent years, stainless steel tumblers, mugs and bottles with full-color decoration or laser engraving were added to the line and sales have increased 92.3 percent in the past three years. All Riteline products are manufactured exclusively in the company’s overseas state-of-the-art factory and inventoried, decorated and shipped from its Dallas facility.

The company won a PPAI Gold Pyramid Supplier Star Award in 2023 in recognition of its responsible product sourcing, design expertise, reliable quality and a reputation built on experience.

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Following the launch of Rupt (PPAI 826757, Silver) in January 2024, the Austin, Texas-based company shipped 5,165 orders in its first eight months and is predicting close to 30,000 orders completed this year. Two moves the company says will transform its business in 2025 and beyond are wrapping up its PromoStandards integration in 2024 and completing tech integrations with large industry platforms OMG, Distributor Central, Shopify, Brightstores, Commonsku, Order Desk and Ship Station.

In 2024, Rupt Ventures, the venture arm of the supplier, also made strategic investments in Sweeter Cards, Desk Plants and Swanky Badger. So far this year, two more strategic investments have been made in RIPL Goods and Denik, a supplier of custom notebooks, in what Rupt calls its largest investment to date.

For 2025, Rupt becomes the youngest – and the smallest – company to ever earn inclusion in PPAI 100’s annual holistic measure of industry leadership.

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Like its name says, Scrub Authority (PPAI 387935, Silver) is the go-to source for medical scrubs and nursing uniforms, from tops, pants and jackets to surgical hats, shoes and medical accessories. It also stocks patient gowns, chef wear, school uniforms and hospitality uniforms and apparel.

Based in Littleton, Colorado, and founded in 2009, Scrub Authority and its 10-person team earned a spot on the PPAI Greatest Companies To Work For list last year. With 2024 revenue of $10 million, this is the first time it has made the PPAI 100 list.

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Shepenco (PPAI 114083, Silver ) is a fourth-generation, family-owned-and-operated pencil and pen manufacturer in Shelbyville, Tennessee. Since 2008, the company has been annually audited and certified by the FSC, and last year it expanded its FSC-certified product line to include more products made from recycled ABS and RPET. It also partnered with Acclymate to establish a baseline for its carbon footprint and analyze ways to improve. A new ERP system also provides a more secure payment link/portal that better integrates with the shipping software.

In community involvement, Shepenco partnered with the local school system’s ICON program to provide real-world, paid work experience for full-time students; it has two employees currently in the program.

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AZX Sport (PPAI 224494, Silver) has its headquarters in Tonawanda, New York, and facilities in California and Canada. With a team of more than 85 production and customer service staff, the company manufactures products domestically and in its own overseas factory specializing in a range of hard goods, such as lanyards, bags, can coolers and straws, plus headwear, socks and other products.

In 2024, AZX Sport won a PPAI Pyramid Supplier Star Award of Merit, an annual award recognizing suppliers who deliver outstanding products and services to their customers.

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