Wearables University Everything You Need to Know About Bamboo Most folks who are familiar with bamboo apparel will tell you the same thing when asked: Is it an eco-friendly fabric? Absolutely. Is its manufacturing process also eco-friendly? Not so much. Colette Chandler, founder of The Marketing Insider and an expert at spotting the practice of greenwashing (falsely claiming that one's products are environmentally friendly) says bamboo, which is considered a plant or a grass instead of a tree, is eco-friendly in that it grows rapidly without the aid of chemicals. "It's ready for harvesting in about four years, so it reaches maturity pretty quickly, and it doesn't require replanting after harvesting," she says. "It continually has new sprouts, and it does this in a very natural way without the need for pesticides and fertilizers." Plus, it protects the air, says Jennifer Chu, product manager for Ash City (asi/37127), "by extracting vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and releasing 35% more oxygen into the air versus other cellulose crops or forests." Jason Neve, creative director for Boardroom Eco-Apparel (asi/40705), says bamboo is much more sustainable than cotton. "It can grow anywhere from 24 inches to 36 inches in a single day," he says. "It doesn't require loads and loads of pesticides like cotton does, and it doesn't require as much water. Even organic cotton requires a lot of water." Non Eco-Friendly Aspects "It's not that bamboo is not eco-friendly; it's that the production may not be eco-friendly," Chandler says. "When you start transforming it into fibers, the problem you have is the heavy use of chemicals. Some people are saying they're toxic." That's why, according to Chandler, many environmentalists believe that most bamboo fabrics are not worthy of being labeled as sustainable or organic. Neve says bamboo is "the bad boy on the block" compared to other eco-friendly materials. "It's not necessarily the growing of the fiber; it's the dyeing and the finishing that accounts for up to 70% on the impact of the environment," he says. The best way to create bamboo apparel is to treat the water and recycle the chemicals after the process is done, but this is extremely rare. "Our research shows that actually doesn't happen," Neve says. "In Bangladesh, there are 5,000 bamboo manufacturers and only one guy who recycles the chemicals." Chandler says some newer manufacturing processes have emerged that can be considered eco-friendly. A Boston-based company called Greenyarn, for example, has developed a fabric made from nano-particles of bamboo charcoal, and the company states that no dyes or bleaches are used during the manufacturing process. Many Good Things Bamboo's natural properties can be a real plus. "Its inherent absorbency wicks moisture away from the body to evaporate perspiration quickly," says Chu, adding that bamboo is softer and more comfortable than cotton, and has a feel that is similar to silk. Because it's naturally wicking, bamboo lends itself readily to performance wear. "I've seen a number of workout shirts made of bamboo," says Chandler. "It feels like silk, and it wicks. You can't go wrong there." Chandler adds that bamboo is more wrinkle-resistant than cotton. Bamboo is also 100% biodegradable and has natural antimicrobial and antifungal properties, according to Neve. "When you sweat, you basically are depositing your sweat onto the fiber. The smell comes from the bacteria growing on the surface of the fabric," he says. "If you sweat, it won't smell when you wear bamboo. With polyester, they use antimicrobial chemicals. But bamboo has that built in." In addition, bamboo can be combined with other fibers to create a blend. One of the most popular fabrics at Colorado Trading & Clothing Company (asi/45792) is Soybu, a product line that features apparel made of a combination of bamboo and one or more of a number of fabrics, including polyester, organic cotton, soy and Spandex. Aleida Junta, director of design and production, says Colorado Trading wanted to offer a hybrid product at a low price point that can also be considered eco-friendly. The 85% bamboo/15% soy combination is "very good for people with sensitive skin," according to Junta. "It kind of refreshes the amino acids on the surface of the skin." Junta says that the most popular Soybu-based products are its Micro Terry robes and loungewear. Micro Terry is a blend of bamboo, polyester, cotton and Spandex, which has a soft feel and moisture-wicking properties, Junta says. Colorado Trading also just added a T-shirt line that is 70% bamboo/30% organic cotton. "Our general brand approach is we're trying to do a hybrid, value-based product," she says. Negatives to Consider Neve says bamboo can be slightly difficult in terms of everyday care, compared to competing fabrics. "Some of it can peel fairly easily, and some of it is too stretchy, depending on the amount of Spandex that's in there," he says. "That makes it great for women's apparel, but some bamboo out there is too stretchy for guys. It can sort of break down a little quicker." Bamboo also takes longer to dry than other apparel. Use a gentle washing machine cycle with cold or lukewarm water for bamboo apparel, but line dry it instead of putting it in the dryer. Some people have also complained that bamboo is too moisture-wicking. "Some guy told me, ‘I can't wear it next to my skin because it absorbs all the moisture,'" Neve says. "So sometimes, it's the greatest positive that turns out to be a fault." Chu adds that bamboo rayon fiber tends to be delicate and is subject to greater shrinkage than other fabrics. Top Apparel and Industries Neve says bamboo T-shirts and golf polos are popular among frontline staffs. The fabric also allows professionals who attend a lot of trade shows or are otherwise on the go to stay comfortable, according to Neve. "Anyplace where polyester would usually go, the bamboo goes in there as well," he says. "Everybody out there has the Nike pro-fit golf polo, so they want something a little different. This is something they can wear out there and be more street-smart, a little more street fashion." Big corporations and government organizations also love bamboo, Neve says, because of the leg up it provides them in terms of public relations. "We actually have green-colored bamboo fabric, and that gets bought the most," he says. "Not only can they say are they going green, but the shirt is actually green. That does the trick and makes the company look good." Neve does caution that bamboo isn't suited for jerseys for sports like baseball or hockey. "It's not technical enough," he says. Junta says Soybu apparel is popular at sporting goods stores and resort gift shops. "What we do best are classic basics, like everyday hoodies," she says. "We sell them on the fact that it's a strong product for them because it's a good price point. Resorts are able to add their logo to them. It has such a wide demographic. You may have the mother, grandmother and daughter shopping at the same time." To learn more about eco-friendly fabrics and decoration options, attend the "Wearables University" track at the ASI Show Orlando on January 3, 2010. We recommend that you attend "Apparel Sales Primer: Decorating, Sizing, Fabric Selection and More," taught by Ira Neaman of Vantage Apparel, from 9:45 a.m.-10:45 a.m. For more information, visit asishow.com.  Top Hot Niche Markets Millennial Marketing Boomers have long been viewed as the ultimate target market, both because of their strength in numbers and strength in dollars. But, guess what? Those boomers had babies … and those babies are growing up. Millennials, which consist of teens to under-30 adults, are a burgeoning buying power, outnumbering the boomers at 70-plus million strong. Experts say their earning power is growing faster than any other age group. So they matter … big time. Here are two rules for relating to your next top clients. Rule #1: Be Cool, Be Clever Carol Phillips, president of Brand Amplitude LLC, says the number one rule of selling to millennials is that the product must fit seamlessly into their lifestyle. "They are very much about function," she says. "I write on my blog: Be quick, shiny and meaningful. It's about being efficient."

Seminar Spotlight New Distributor Success Track  ASI Show Orlando Sunday, January 3, 2010 from 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m.  Free Keynote Presentation  ASI Show Orlando Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State General Colin Powell will be giving a private, exclusive Keynote presentation on Tuesday, January 5, 2010, from 8 a.m.–9:15 a.m.  Wearables Sessions ASI Show Orlando Top Sellers: Lessons Learned From the Best Apparel Salespeople, Sunday, January 3, 2010, from 11a.m.-noon. Supplier Success Clinics ASI Show Orlando What Distributors Want From You: The Top 40 Wish List. An exclusive lunch for suppliers only, Sunday, January 3, 2010, from noon-1:30 p.m.   Free Webcasts Distributor Webcast: Secrets of Successful E-mail Marketing for Distributors. Click here to view! Supplier Webcast: Learn How to Use ESP Online to Increase Sales. Click here to view! Distributor Webcast: Overcome 10 Apparel Sales Challenges. Click here to view! Distributor Webcast: Sneak Peek: Best Business-Building Strategies from ’09 Counselor State of the Industry.  Click here to view! Supplier Webcast: Learn the Secrets of Wildly-Successful Suppliers!  Tired of the doom and gloom financial news? Well, we've found some industry suppliers who have experienced double- and triple-digit growth, despite the turbulent economy. Click here to view! Distributor Webcast: Become a Web 2.0 Marketer: How Small Businesses Get Noticed If your business doesn’t have an online presence beyond a company Web site, you’re already losing potential customers. In this fast-paced Webinar, we’ll tell you how smart distributors and decorators are leveraging easy-to-learn Web technology. Click here to view.  Supplier Webcast: Amp Your Trade Show ROI with Exclusive New Sales Tools from ASI The ASI Show and its partner vendors are working together to make your 2009 trade show selling season the most profitable ever. Join us for this Webinar to learn about exclusive new tools, metrics and emerging technologies developed especially for ASI Show Exhibitors. Click here to view. Distributor Webcast: 30 Sales Ideas in 60 Minutes Quick tips to boost business now! Click here to view. Distributor Webcast: Operation Rebound: How to Survive and Thrive in 2009 Don't let the uncertain economy stall your sales efforts. There are plenty of distributors who are surviving – and even thriving – in 2009. In this session, moderated by Counselor magazine's Andy Cohen, you'll learn strategies, selling secrets and more. Click here to view. Distributor Webcast: Capitalize on the Latest Hot Apparel and Decorating Trends Click here to view. Distributor Webcast: Supercharge 4th Quarter Sales Boost your holiday and 4th quarter sales with the hottest new products, styles and trends. Get holiday gift ideas, tips for selling awards and strategies for designing the most creative sales incentives for 2009. Click here to view. Distributor Webcast: How to Sell Clients on a Price Increase Click here to view. Distributor  Combat the Credit Crunch  Join our panel of industry experts and practitioners to learn how they are addressing current issues and flourishing in the wake of economic challenges. Click here to view. Distributor Webcast: Prove to Your Clients That Promotional Products Work! See the results of ASI's revealing new study on the effectiveness of promo products. Learn how to use this information to acquire more clients and sell more promotional products to existing clients. Click here to view. Distributor Webcast: Become a Master at Selling Apparel Programs Click here to view.   Free E-Newsletters Counselor® PromoGram® Advantages™ Hot Deals Wearables Style  Successful Promotions® Trend Report™ Stitches Small Business™ Embroidery Business Insights™ Uniforms Trends Report™   Industry Magazines Counselor® Advantages™ Successful Promotions Stitches Wearables

Anup Gupta, president of AG PrintPromo Solutions (asi/101271), says customized flash drives fit that bill. "They're looking for something cool and trendy," he says. Other hot high-tech-related items, such as earbuds and laptop skins, are also big sellers with this crowd, and you can't go wrong with carabiners.

They were one of five products that Gupta offered to a local university that was putting together a no-smoking campaign. The university outsourced the job of finding distributors to a local public relations firm. Fortunately, the school and AG PrintPromo had worked together previously on athletic events and at high-school recruitment activities.

For this no-smoking campaign, Gupta provided carabiners along with lip balm, silicone bracelets, and popcorn bags. Each item came in several different colors and featured the anti-smoking Web site that the client had set up.

Gupta also supplied T-shirts that contained a clever anti-smoking message on the front and back, such as, "We're sick of staring at your butts," to encourage students to actually wear them. "That kind of stuff works with college students," he says.

Altogether, the university ordered 150 T-shirts at $5.23 each, 100 tubes of lip balm at $1.55 each, 250 orange bracelets at $1.29 each, 250 carabiners at $1.18 each, and 500 popcorn bags at $0.47 each. AG PrintPromo's received a 40% profit margin on the order.

Rule #2: Use Your Connections
When Jay Kapadia, certified multimedia specialist for Proforma On Point Marketing (asi/300094), thinks about the right promotional products for Millennials, he considers his own preferences. After all, as a man in his late 20s, he's just few a few years removed from that age group, and he has plenty of ties to that community.

"I believe I have a specific advantage in this industry because many of my clients range from college groups like Greek organizations, to youth organizations, to social networking groups," he says. "I'm also an avid user of social networking and I see what my peers are purchasing, and we come aboard and promote these to our clients."

Kapadia has no problem getting creative. He provided purple oriole drawstring backpacks for a parade for Pride for Youth, a New York-based advocacy group for gay and lesbian teens, and threw in a purple T-shirt for kids to find inside the backpack. "My client was thrilled at the product selection and they had other people asking where they got the bags from," he says.

One of the most popular apparel categories among millennials, according to Kapadia, is T-shirts from leading apparel brands that feature some of the latest embellishments.

One of his clients is Sexification, an online magazine similar to Maxim and GQ that caters to the college-aged crowd. He was asked to provide 1,000 shirts to promote the magazine – T-shirts for guys and tank tops for girls. "They wanted a shirt from a leading apparel retailer," he says. "They wanted a shirt that had a soft-comfort feel to it."

"For decoration, we did screen printing with a design going across the shirt and an imprint on the bottom-right going from top to bottom," Kapadia says. "My client wanted these shirts because they were looking for popular retail-brand shirts that are geared toward their target demographics."

Each shirt and tank top cost Kapadia $3.76, and he sold the shirts at $6.71 each. His total cost was $4,758.75, and the shirts retailed at $6,598.25, resulting in a 28% profit margin.

The key to this kind of success in the millennial market is to stay as fresh as possible, and your ability to stay on top of trends is crucial. "A product could be in and hot one minute, and by the next week, the hype is over," he says, "so in an ever-changing marketplace, you always have to be on top and see what's hot or not in the market."

For more great niche marketing strategies, attend the "Hot Niche Markets" track at the ASI Show Orlando on January 3, 2010. For more information, visit asishow.com.

Hire Your Next Sales Superstar

One undeniable fact about the current economy: many people are looking for jobs. With the unemployment rate nearing double digits, now is the perfect time to be on the lookout for top salespeople. They're out there – you just need to have a plan for how to identify the best ones and how to hire them.

It takes a scripted effort, one that will take up a good deal of time and effort. But distributors who work hard at recruiting are often rewarded with salespeople who can immediately impact the company's top and bottom lines.

Here are some steps for identifying the best candidates, as well as interviewing them and offering them a position.

Step 1. Take a step back
Ken Thoreson, president of business consultancy Acumen Management Group, says employers need to know exactly the kind of role that they expect a new salesperson to play within their company before they begin their search. They need to ask themselves some important questions such as, "Do I want them to go after new accounts or go after existing accounts?" he says. "Do I want to open up a new territory where I have no business? Do I have a new product line that I need to introduce into an existing territory? They need to understand what their objectives are."

Step 2. Look for heart and hunger
Jody Ferrer, owner of The Perfect Promotion (asi/293518) for 14 years, says it's important for distributor owners and leaders to look for traits in a prospective sales rep that mirror their own. The point: To go to market with a consistent approach and message. "In my company, I think I'm the benchmark for a salesperson," she says. "I think they need to have a competitive nature and have an internal hunger to succeed."

Frank Hood, principal of management consulting firm Revenue Enhancement Strategies, says "heart" is the top quality to seek in a sales rep. "The ideal salesperson has a hunger for both success and recognition; one does not usually come without the other," he says. "I have found you can teach a person the technical details of your product or service, and you can teach them the industry lingo. What you can't teach them is the ability to keep going back, to not take ‘no' for an answer, and to keep being persistent."

Step 3. Is industry experience important?
This is something a manager has to determine before really beginning the search for a new sales hire. Don't be prejudiced, though, against people who aren't in the industry currently.

Thoreson has found top performing sales reps in all industries and with a variety of market experiences. For the ad specialty industry, "the real key that I would be looking for is someone who has sold intangible items or services," he says. "The people who have sold the intangibles are people who can talk about the benefit of promotional items. If you're into talking about what the benefits of these things are, that's important."

Ferrer says she will gladly hire a sales rep with no experience in the advertising specialty industry if she believes that person has outstanding customer service skills. "I was in a restaurant and had a waitress who was exceptional. I gave her my card and said, ‘If you want to go into another industry, give me a call,'" she says. "We're really selling the experience of working with us."

Get Educated!

Be sure to register at http://www.asicentral.com/asionlinelearning for some exciting new courses available exclusively to ASI members. Brought to you by ASI Education, Online Learning is the newest and most convenient way for distributors to get educated. Here are some of the courses from our New Distributor Success Track available now:

NEW
Managing Your Business. You're through that first phase of opening up shop and getting those initial few deals under your belt. But are you prepared for growth? Are you ready to start hiring new people, making decisions on when to get an office outside of your basement and managing your cash flow when you're overseeing multiple deals at any one time? Consider this course your operational guide. We'll discuss staffing strategies, expense and investment policies, and how to build credit with suppliers. Register now at http://www.asicentral.com/asionlinelearning.

Course Track: New Distributor Success
* Nailing Down the Basics
* Marketing Your New Business
* Steps to Selling Success
* Creative Case Studies
* Avoid These First-Year Pitfalls

Coming Soon: 
* Wearables Crash Course