Members of Canadian promo once again converged on Toronto this week for a national industry trade show.

Promotional Products Professionals of Canada (PPPC) hosted its annual National Convention (NATCON) on Sept. 12 and 13 at the International Centre. It was the second in-person event since the start of the pandemic.

KLo Canada from Laval, QC, offers outerwear containing 85% recycled content in the fabric. Sustainability was a significant trend at the event.

“The show floor was electric,” said Sam Singh, president and CEO of Full Line Specialties (asi/199688), a certified B Corp in Surrey, BC. “Attendance was good, people were engaging in conversation, and it was nice to see everyone in person again without masks. Plus, my team was presented with some really unique ideas and concepts by our professional vendors.”

Sustainability was undoubtedly the dominant trend on the show floor – upon arrival, attendees received Vila all-purpose totes (SM-5968), made with RPET from 100% recycled water bottles, from Top 40 supplier PCNA (asi/66887) and seed paper bookmarks from Botanical PaperWorks (asi/41273), which had its just-launched curated gift sets on display at its booth.

“Everything here except the beeswax wrap is made by us in Manitoba,” said Rachel Koop, an inside sales rep for Botanical PaperWorks. “The products are eco-friendly, and the boxes themselves are recyclable and compostable.”

Botanical PaperWorks (asi/41273) recently unveiled curated gift sets with low minimums.

Premiums Plus (asi/79392), which focuses on stickers, decals and temporary tattoos, launched its new recyclable EnviroLiner at the show – it’s a sticker backing made of post-consumer content that’s now available on all of the company’s products. Michele Waters, customer service manager, said the company has been developing it for the past decade, and has spent the last four years testing it at recycling plants in Canada and the U.S.

“It’s important for end-buyers that both the product and the packaging are sustainable and eco-friendly,” she said.

Adeo Wood Products offers cutting boards, grill cleaners and trays made in Canada of maple, walnut, cherry and Richlite, a dishwasher-safe composite constructed of recycled paper that can also be sanded like its wood counterparts.

Eco-friendly products and packaging were a welcome sight for distributor attendees. “We want to source sustainable items,” said Nicole Popadiuk, a Burnaby, BC-based senior account manager at Top 40 distributor Genumark (asi/204588). “Suppliers did a great job of highlighting new products and had really professional booths. They turned it up a notch. It was refreshing – everyone did a great job this year.”

In addition, high-end apparel was also on full display. KLo Canada from Quebec had an outdoors-inspired booth featuring outerwear made with 85% recycled materials – the Nordic line of coats and jackets keeps wearers warm at temperatures of -13° F and below, while the Transition line protects at temperatures between -13° F and 14° F. Meanwhile, Just Like Hero, which has offices in Brampton, ON, and Saint-Laurent, QC, specializes in fleece basics with a super-smooth surface ideal for decorating.

Just Like Hero displayed fleece basics with a smooth hand designed for optimal imprinting.

Tom Chiu, founder of Just Like Hero, said the three-layer fleece, made at the company’s factory in Bangladesh, combines an exterior of pill-resistant 100% combed ringspun cotton with an interior layer of cotton/polyester and an additional layer in between that’s made of shrink-resistant 100% heavy-duty polyester.

“Our fleece doesn’t shrink like typical cotton and doesn’t pill like typical polyester, so it creates an extra-smooth imprint surface,” said Chiu. “We do all fleece basics, all year round.”

Levelwear, a Canadian retailer that’s growing in the wholesale space, featured performance wear like polos and quarter-zips, as well as athleisure styles for women as part of its Verve line. They also imprint in unique placements, like the placket and inner collar.

Levelwear can customize plackets on jackets and quarter-zips.

“We’ve doubled sales every year for the past several years,” said John Furnish, principal at J. Furnish Sales & Marketing, the multi-line agency representing Levelwear. “It’s just exploding. We have the retail look, we have really well-made garments and we have the inventory.”

Indeed, end-buyer demand for retail brands has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, as evidenced by the plethora of suppliers entering into exclusive brand partnerships. Loyalty Source in Mount-Royal, QC, offers a corporate gifting solution for distributors – the company collaborates with more than 350 name brands, like BOSE, Michael Kors, Ray-Ban and KitchenAid, to offer premium branded products in clients’ recognition and incentive programs, with one-piece minimums. “End-buyers want retail items for corporate gifting,” said Sales Executive Benoit Massé. “We make it easy.”

Loyalty Source provides retail items from more than 350 brands (and counting) for corporate gifting, recognition and incentive programs.

Both sustainability and retail brands were areas of focus for distributors, said Eric Vachon, national sales manager at ADG Canada (asi/97249), part of Top 40 supplier ADG Promotional Products (asi/97270). “Clients asked us about our high-ticket items, like Iron Flask tumblers and cooler bags,” he said. “Traffic was up, people were energized and Q4 gift-giving was a topic of conversation.”

Liza Tam, president of Markham, ON-based Alliance Creative Marketing (asi/117852) and an ASI Media 2022 Distributor Salesperson finalist, said she was satisfied with the number of exhibitors at the show, including U.S.-based suppliers, and the variety of products, like the Swiss-made Prodir line of writing instruments offered by Pagani Pens Corp. (asi/79688).

“We attend NATCON every year,” she said. “We always need creativity and sales tools from suppliers to educate us on selling these products.”

A number of suppliers promoted their eco items and giveback partnerships, like Top 40 supplier Spector & Co. (asi/88660), which donates to reforestation organization One Tree Planted through purchases of its Ora drinkware and Ashbury bags.

Jen (Carver) Plourde, senior sales coordinator at Brymark Promotions (asi/149287), spent many years as a supplier before becoming a distributor in January. She said the experience has been eye-opening.

“Suppliers were engaged and passionate, though the exhibits were on the small side,” she said. “But that’s a positive since the offerings were drilled down to only the newest and hottest sellers, which helped keep things clear for me as I learn the distributor side of things. I was surprised at the number of suppliers producing sustainable and made-in-Canada items.”

Plourde said attending a show as a distributor is “far more relaxing” – she was able to browse products and take in information at her own pace, compared to the pressure of being an exhibitor trying to maximize her time and speaking to as many people as possible. She said it’s a very different experience selling as a distributor.

“End-buyers can be disorganized,” she said. “Our lack of information is often due to that, not to us failing to ask the right questions. Our customers often don’t know all the information for their own project, shockingly.”

The 42^nd annual PPPC Awards at the nearby Royal Woodbine Golf Club capped off Day 1 – the ceremony recognized more than 40 suppliers, distributors, multi-line agencies and individuals, including Sam Singh’s Full Line Specialties as the Western Distributor – Small Enterprise of the Year; Promotional Source (asi/301292), named both the Distributor of the Year – Large Enterprise and National Distributor of the Year; and Debco, part of Top 40 supplier HPG (asi/61966), as the Supplier of the Year – Large Enterprise.

Hosts Jenny Le Bricon and Paul Wieleba presented awards to more than 40 honorees at the Royal Woodbine Golf Club, followed by an afterparty.

Hosts Jenny Le Bricon of Levelwear, the PPPC Board Chair, and Paul Wieleba of multi-line agency {WE} Promotional Advertising, the PPPC Board Vice Chair, also presented seven Momentum Awards, including to Gen Zer Mikas Agarwal of Akran Marketing (asi/522788), while Merrick Falkenstein, CRO of St Regis Group (asi/84592; Canada, 84595), was inducted into the PPPC Hall of Fame.

“Never give up and always follow your dreams,” he told the enthusiastic audience. “Always remember the people who helped you along the way.”

Agarwal was also recently named a Top 30 Emerging Leader Under 30 by FoundersBeta, a digital tech community. “The PPPC Momentum Award is a pat on the back for my efforts,” he says. “It encourages me to delve deeper into this industry, especially after my undergraduate studies.”

Brother Manav Agarwal, along with parents Monica Channa and Raman Agarwal, were also in attendance at the awards ceremony. “We’re launching some fresh marketing strategies as we head into Q4,” says Manav, the assistant manager of operations at Akran. “We’re not in this for quick wins with each client. Our real aim is to cultivate meaningful, long-lasting relationships that benefit both parties.”

Jonathan Strauss, president and CEO of PPPC, recorded a video message to mark the conclusion of the show. “‘Thank you’ – that’s what sums up these last couple days for me,” he said. “Thank you to everybody who participated in NATCON 2023 and made it such a huge success. … Thank you to our supplier members, distributor members and multi-line members. It’s with the support of all of you that we’ve had such a successful event.”

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