Mike Empey, VP of Marketing at ImprintID, might be the funniest person I have ever met. And I’ve met the comedian Demitri Martin. And it’s always really nice to catch up with Mike – he’s a former coworker, after all!
So, we complained about the normal Texan things – the weather and how hot it is for this time of year (120-degree heat index, FYI, I’m dying). And how much we love Texas in general. Mike and I also spoke, of course, about ImprintID!
Most of you know ImprintID for their lanyards. Lanyards are their bread and butter – their best sellers! In fact, I would almost guarantee that you have at least one ImprintID lanyard that you got outside of the industry, whether it’s from a convention or an event. They are powerhouses when it comes to lanyards. But they’re also a powerhouse in another area you might not know about: apparel.
ImprintID’s apparel line is extensive and it’s impressive. From hoodies to shirts to everything in between – they can do it! Mike told me that their dye sublimation process is state-of-the-art, and along with their cut and sew; they’re practically unstoppable. You see, they do the dye sublimation process before they even cut the fabric. This allows the artwork to become one with the fabric, for lack of a better term, and when you stretch it out, you don’t see the white fabric that the image is printed on. It’s pretty cool.
But, of course, ImprintID wouldn’t be ImprintID without some big things on the horizon! And when I asked Mike, he practically vibrated with excitement. Mike is easily excitable anyways, so this just made him EXTRA excited.
I asked him about drop shipping – a buzzworthy phrase that’s been popping up around the industry as of late. And he is very excited about the prospect of bringing distributors and their end-users high-quality promotional products quickly. I love the idea of drop shipping – for example, I ordered a pair of vinyl figures of the main character from my favorite video game. They packed it and shipped it directly to me. There was no middleman. It was manufacturer to me, and while it took a while – it made shipping far more affordable.
Another thing that he told me he was super excited about – even offering to give me a personal tour via Zoom (more on Zoom in a second) of their brand new facility that’s opening up next year. It’s going to be absolutely massive and will house everything from their corporate offices, creative space, manufacturing, and warehousing. They’ll be able to have tons of product on hand to decorate at a moment’s notice and ship right to your customer’s doorstep. He promised it’s going to be amazing!
So, speaking of Zoom – you can schedule a Zoom meeting with them at any time. They pride themselves on their accessibility to distributors. You can schedule a Zoom meeting for pretty much anything, too – from getting to know them to their processes. They want to make sure that you can get in contact with them at any time.
I look forward to talking with ImprintID again next year – like I said, it’s always fun to catch up with Mike (and Joe!). Plus, I can’t wait to see their brand-new facilities, and I’m really hoping that I can bring you more behind-the-scenes looks soon. To check out ImprintID (SAGE #69609) and all they offer, click here! To check out more Supplier Spotlights, click here!
