Did you know: JanSport, one of PCNA’s brand partners, has upcycled more than 13 million water bottles?
JanSport is one of the many brands supplied by PCNA, a leading promotional products supplier that offers thousands of high-quality products. With the mantra “Inspire Pride,” PCNA is on a mission to create a positive customer-centric experience – one order at a time.
Meet Patti Muller, Field Sales Manager at PCNA. Hayley Bell from OMG’s Product Team “virtually” sat down with Patti to discuss what PCNA is doing to alleviate supply chain stress, the sustainable products that are changing the game (like JanSport backpacks), and more. Watch the full interview below!
Hayley Bell (HB): Can you give me a brief overview of PCNA and the different brands you offer?
Patti Muller (PM): Within PCNA, there are four different business units:
- Leed’s, which is more of our premium brand. So, within that, you’re going to find CamelBak, Skullcandy, and some really fun retail brands that everyone is familiar with. PCNA also has its own private label as well.
- Bullet, which offers items at a lower price level, but heavy stock. So, it could be those tradeshow giveaways you’re looking for like a tote bag.
- Journalbooks, which allows you to customize a notebook from front to back with details like a thank you note or different colored ribbons.
- Trimark, which is our apparel division. What makes us different than the mass suppliers within the industry is our pricing structure is different. We offer one price, all sizes – up to 5XL, talls included. Within Trimark, we also offer UNTUCKit, American Giant, and Roots as some of our brand partners.
We also offer six different decorating methods including fusion, laser, deboss, embroidery, and more.
HB: One of PCNA’s mantras is “Inspire Pride.” Can you please tell us more about what that means?
PM: As a leader in the promotional products industry, we provide everything from backpacks to water bottles, wireless power banks to stylish jackets and hoodies – thousands of products that all can be imprinted. Ultimately, we do this to inspire pride. We want our end-users to be excited to wear the jacket with their branded logo at a tradeshow. We want students to feel pride when they carry a backpack with their school mascot around campus. It all starts here with our team. We take pride in delivering to our customers; we take pride in the culture of our inclusiveness. All of our employees are treated with respect, dignity, and fairness; together we do that by inspiring pride.
HB: What types of products are you seeing trending right now?
PM: Right now, sustainability is huge for us. Anything with an eco-initiative of giving back has been a huge part of PCNA. We started back in 2019 by providing some eco products and partnering with two charities. One is Well Aware, where we give money back to building water wells, and then One Tree Planted, where we plant trees. Within the last few years of starting this segment, we have helped 12,000 people in East Africa access clean water, and we have helped plant 2.5 million trees.
Then, as we look forward, by the year 2024, 75% of the workforce will be Millenials, who really embrace that way of life. We all want to give back. We all want sustainability. There is no Planet B, this is our planet, and we have to take care of it.
One product that we’ve introduced is Popl, which is a digital business card. It can go on the back of your phone, and there is an app involved where you can connect your social media, collect leads from a tradeshow, or share information at a networking event.
HB: What else is PCNA doing to be a more eco-friendly company in the promotional products industry?
PM: We just introduced a new platform called ProudPath™, which offers hundreds of sustainable gift options from dozens of forward-thinking retail brands. We recently brought in JanSport, which since 2019, has upcycled over 13 million water bottles.
We’re proud to lead the way as a partner for environmentally and socially responsible gift solutions. Now, we’re taking a big step in strengthening our commitment to the planet, to its people, and to you.
Whether you want retail brands that give to great causes, need products made with eco-friendly materials, or would like to support a small business, ProudPath™ is designed to empower you with the right solution.
Also, not only are we offering eco products, we’re also working on bringing in women-owned businesses. Right now we have six, which I’m very proud of. Then, we’re currently looking at bringing in minority- and veteran-owned businesses.
HB: What insights can you share with us on what PCNA is doing to help alleviate some of the supply chain stress?
PM: Going back to when all of this was starting, I think our management team did a great job getting ahead of it. They brought in containers and containers of products by working closely with our retail partners to make sure we had inventory. On our website, we also have a Deep Inventory tab, so you can see those items that have 4x the quantity available. Before we only did 2 to 4 launches per year, now we are also doing 12 to 14 launches a year. So, that just shows you the newness of products coming in and the availability for us to be able to assist you with those large orders. I think PCNA has done a great job of keeping everything afloat in regard to the supply chain.
To learn more about PCNA’s initiatives, visit www.pcna.com.
About OrderMyGear
OrderMyGear (OMG) is an industry-leading sales tool, empowering distributors, decorators, and dealers to create sleek, retail-like online stores for every customer – big or small. Since 2008, OMG has been on a mission to simplify the process of selling branded products and apparel to groups and improve the ordering experience. With easy-to-use tools and unmatched support, the OMG platform powers online stores for over 3,500 clients generating more than $1.5 billion in online sales. Learn more at www.ordermygear.com.
Media Contact: Lauren Seip | lauren.seip@ordermygear.com | 281-756-7915
