#15 Ira Neaman & Rob Watson

Vantage Apparel (asi/93390)

2025 Rank: #16

Ira Neaman – President & Executive Chairman

Industry Experience: 49 years

Previous Appearances on Counselor Power 50: 20

Rob Watson – CEO

Industry Experience: 19 years

Previous Appearances on Counselor Power 50: 2

The first 7 months of the year saw Counselor Top 40 supplier Vantage Apparel (asi/93390) on an enviable trajectory with massive momentum and a checked-off to-do list of wins. The company grew its sales by 16.4% to $64 million; announced a partnership with apparel supplier Lane Seven; developed the Swagee webstore platform to give distributors a fully branded, customer‑facing store with Vantage handling fulfillment and production behind the scenes and shipping to over 200 countries; and increased factory capacity in all manufacturing areas, tripling print on demand capacity to meet the rush of requests – so much so that 40% of the company’s revenue is coming from POD.

But in August, when CEO Rob Watson passed away suddenly at the age of 48, 2026 became the company’s annus horribilis literally overnight.

With team members, and the industry writ large, in collective shock, Ira Neaman – the company’s founder, president & executive chairman and promo statesman – became consoler-in-chief for both Vantage and the merch marketplace. He was tasked with doing the unimaginable: supporting an emotionally gutted team and not only keeping the train on the tracks in the wake of such a devastating and unexpected loss, but motivating and supporting his people to stay focused on moving forward in the face of the unbearable.

“While Vantage’s business is headed to one of its best years, we, of course, suffered an immeasurable loss in the sudden passing of our CEO and dear friend, Rob Watson,” Neaman says. “What was an unthinkable time of devastation for us has become a rallying cry for the company, with everyone on the team stepping up and embracing our mantra, ‘Be Like Rob,’ in that we are laser-focused to continue on, stronger than ever, in advance of our 50th anniversary in 2027. Rob would want nothing less, and we’re going to honor that.”

Proving its resilience, as of press time, Vantage announced that it had acquired an NFL license that allows distributors to use Vantage apparel when selling to the pro football teams they may work with.

Vantage was also named to Counselor’s 2026 list of the Best Places to Work in promo, something of which Neaman and Watson considered to be a notable achievement for the company. “We’re building a culture,” Watson said in April of this year when Vantage was announced as a member of Counselor’s annual list. “And culture isn’t just a check mark; it’s not a transaction. … I’m very proud of the infrastructure we’ve built of thoughtful people coming together every single day to do something pretty dynamic. Good energy is infectious, and we’ve been able to bring in excellent talent and smarter voices to our organization who aren’t prescribed to do what’s told of them, but to open their minds and infuse any idea into the equation. How fantastic is that?”