It’s 3 PM CT on a Friday. The finish line is closing in, and the promise of the weekend (and sleeping in) is on the horizon. Joe Lankasky of ImprintID says he’s feeling the same way. Though based in Virginia, just outside of Washington DC, he’s an hour ahead of me – which means he’s got an hour before he’s home free! He briefly fusses with his camera, and I open my questionnaire, joking about how we both can’t type, but there’s never an awkward pause between us or a lull in the conversation. That’s what makes Joe so good in his role as Vice President of Sales at ImprintID – he’s so easy to talk to, which in our industry is paramount.
Interestingly enough, ImprintID’s start has direct ties to SAGE. ImprintID was founded in 2008 by a software engineer who was tired of his job at the time. The commute was long; the hours were long, so he started to sell lanyards after work out of his home. His friend owned a luggage company who could make the straps they produced into fully-customizable lanyards in small quantities. It wasn’t until ImprintID listed their products in the SAGE database that things blew up.
Joe tells me that 60% of their daily orders are still lanyards. But that doesn’t mean they are just manufacturing and printing the same old lanyards every day. Distributors and their customers have some pretty cool ideas for making them unique, and ImprintID goes above and beyond to make those ideas a reality. For example, he told me about a company that wanted to show off its pens to customers when they entered their store to shop. ImprintID was able to sew a small pen-shaped pocket onto the lanyard for their store employees to showcase the pens. He says that’s an idea that genuinely would have never come to him before, but ideas like those open the door for some extraordinary possibilities!
Joe is also very hands-on in his role and insists on staying involved from inception to shipping to ensure each order, no matter the size, is on time and perfect. He says he also loves to sell their full-color fanny packs and drawstring bags most because they have the coolest designs (he admitted those are the ones he likes to use as samples for trade shows).
ImprintID is growing exponentially, too. They’re moving from a 9,000-square-foot warehouse to a 36,000-square-foot warehouse to bring more of their production to the states. Not only will this allow them more product storage for quick shipping, but it will also allow them to control more aspects of the production process. Plus, it will help reduce the environmental impact – which always scores big points with us (and your customers)!
Not only will they store products stateside, but they will also be able to produce dye-sublimated items within their new space. This means ImprintID can print, sew, and ship fully customizable apparel and accessories in the US – making their already fast turnaround times even faster!
So, we can definitely say that ImprintID has a very big and bright future ahead of them – and we hope we’ll get to see a video tour of their new space. For more information about ImprintID (SAGE# 69609), click here. To catch up on other Supplier Spotlights, click here!
