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News Roundup With ASI Media’s Writers

Theresa Hegel, Sara Lavenduski and Chris Ruvo give synopses of recent stories involving the supply chain, product trends, sustainability, apparel and more.

If your company sources any products or components from China’s Xinjiang province, it’s time to make a change.

That’s the message from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which recently put into effect an import ban on anything originating from Xinjiang, where officials say the Chinese government is involved in genocide against the Uyghur minority group there. That includes promotional products.

“They’re paying particular attention to products like cotton, which is produced heavily in that region, and they’re trying to prevent those products from entering the U.S.,” says Chris Ruvo, digital news director for ASI Media. “So, if you’re an importer, you better make sure you have a lot of supply chain transparency and understand where everything is coming from, including the raw materials, and then have documentation of it.”

In this episode of Promo Insiders, Ruvo and Executive Editors Theresa Hegel and Sara Lavenduski give a run-down of the must-know ASI Media news stories from the past month, including supply chain updates, traditional promo categories’ continuing dominance of the Top 10 searches in ESP, and trends in apparel and sustainability.

Eco-friendly soy candles from KarmaLit

Eco-friendly soy candles from KarmaLit (asi/63906).

“Suppliers are releasing more sustainable products or those that have a sustainability element,” says Hegel, who oversees ASI Media’s Promo for the Planet resource. “Refresh Glass (asi/81255) makes drinking glasses out of old wine bottles, so they’re taking things out of landfills. And KarmaLit (asi/63906) is a family company that makes hand-poured, eco-friendly soy candles. It’s a husband-and-wife team making them out of their house in Colorado, but Top 40 suppliers are buying from them.”