Walk into the coolest, local, craft coffee shop in your market and the likelihood is high that you’ll see coffeeware and insulated drinkware on the shelves from our guests today, Jeremy Moss and Ryan Schneider, who started Created Co in 2015. Learn how Created Co and Numo’s Jim Martin are partnering together to make cool products for discerning buyers!

Today, we’re chatting with Issac Childs, founder of Rustico, one of the most beloved brands who closed their doors after a very successful run of 22 years.

Today we talk with Shed about so much, you’ll love the depth of his thinking, we talk about: candor with care, the most important traits of a leader, the struggle some of us have moving from roles like a sales driver to an organizational leader, and more - join us!

Shelley Stewart is the CEO, the Creative Experience Officer, at Red Promotions based out of Seattle WA. As a women-owned, led, and fully operated team, they have become a powerhouse for their clients and have worked hard to build an incredible culture and a fiscally vibrant business.

Danny’s talk walked us through the sometimes rocky and now incredible journey the branded merch industry has been through, from an advertising add-along to today’s intimate merch experience that is embraced by brands and adorned by fans.

Lia Garvin, author and speaker, is known as the team whisperer: She’s the bestselling author of Unstuck and author of a new book released just this week titled The Unstoppable Team: A simple formula for managing your team, reducing overwhelm, and increasing revenue.

Today, we talk with Ryan about this incredible business they’ve built in California, their expansion into the industry providing workwear, plus how their audiences have widened to include not only the trades but also this huge market for transitional workwear.

Our guest today is Ben Higgins, best known from season 20 of ABC’s hit series, “The Bachelor.” Ben stays connected with his loyal Bachelor following with his iHeartMedia podcast, “Almost Famous,” which he co-hosts with his friend and former Bachelor contestant, Ashley laconetti, which has over 150 million downloads.

Linni Kral is a Brooklyn-based writer, editor, and educator. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, the BBC, Condé Nast Traveler and more.

Denise is the CEO and co-founder of one of the industry’s most respected brands, Fairware. Prior to starting Fairware, Denise spent seven years as the Director of Sustainability and Community for Mountain Equipment Co-op, Canada’s largest outdoor retailer.

Today, we’re sharing an episode that we recorded live from skucon where Jeremy and Jonathan answer questions from Catherine Graham, commonsku’s CEO, on a broad range of topics including: US/China relations and its impact on the supply chain, deglobalization efforts, the impact of international trade, the labor market, and a financial outlook for 2024.

Jason Lucash and Mike Szymczak, the two founders behind one of the industry’s most ingenious company’s Origaudio, are back. Jason and Mike sold their very successful company, Origaudio, to HPG in 2018, and after a few years, both retired from the industry. The two entrepreneurs, known for their innovation in product, production, and distribution, have launched a new brand with a bold new mission. The company is called Rupt — and it sounds just as it was intended, an idea meant to disrupt the industry, particularly the status quo when it comes to transparency in sustainability.

Frank Carpenito was a five-year board member on Gemline’s board of directors, and he loved the company so much that he wanted to help lead it; in 2019, he became President and recently was promoted to CEO and is now responsible for the day-to-day running of the business at Gemline.

Logomark’s story is one of innovation, not just in product but in production, masters at obsessing over speed and accuracy, we begin our chat today with Clive by talking about his entry into the industry, what the pandemic taught him and the team, and how it impacts their work today.

When we began our podcast adventure over 300 episodes ago, we had no idea the number of incredible people we’d meet along the way and the impact they would make on us and the commonsku community. 

David Priemer has had 20 years leading top-performing sales teams, including his tenure with Salesforce, where he was not only the Vice President of Commercial Sales, he was the creator of the Sales Leadership Academy program, and he’s often referred to as “the sales professor.”

PromoCares is an all-volunteer-driven organization; their mission is to inspire, educate, and provide actionable strategies to encourage social and environmental responsibility in the promotional products industry and the industry's communities. Each year, the board at PromoCares picks a new initiative called their “4 good events” to rally the industry around a cause and use the collective energy of suppliers, distributors and service providers to make an impact on the world.

Today, we’re talking mergers. KG Specialties is a Portland-based distributor who, this year, merged with Premier Press. Premier employs over 200 people, and they handle a wide variety of print, fulfillment, and logistics management for clients. Our guests are Kyle Gibson, the owner of KG Specialties and now Director of Promotional Merchandise at Premier, and Premier’s Vice President, Manuel Saez.

Sam Brown is one of the very few marketing strategists whose expertise is solely in the promotional products business. Sam has been the chief marketing strategist at some of the most notable brands in the industry including Summit Group and Brandvia.