Counselor Top 40 supplier Gemline (asi/56070) and Netherlands-based supplier XD Connects, Counselor’s 2024 Sustainability Advocate of the Year, are teaming up to make conducting cross-continental promotional products business easier.

The companies have launched TransAtlantic Advantage, a program designed to simplify sourcing and delivery of branded merchandise across the U.S., Canada and Europe.

Crafted particularly for distributors that need to provide consistent solutions in North America and Europe, the program enables the sourcing and shipping of identical branded gifts on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, without “the delays, complexities or shipping costs typically associated with cross-border logistics,” Gemline said.

How does it work? It’s all based on local fulfillment solutions.

Gemline President/CEO Frank Carpenito, a member of Counselor’s Power 50 list of promo’s most influential people, explained that the suppliers have developed a curated collection of 80 bestselling products from the two companies, with categories covered including bags, drinkware, tech accessories, notebooks and pens.

“The essence of the program is that if a multinational corporation wants to use the same product on both continents, we can solve that without having to ship over the pond.” Frank Carpenito, Gemline (asi/56070)

Stock housed in North America and Europe is the same, which allows the firms to decorate and fulfill locally. So, say, a North American distributor wants to deliver the precise product for a retention initiative to team members in both the United States and Germany. With TransAtlantic Advantage, the distributor can do that in a streamlined way.

“The essence of the program is that if a multinational corporation wants to use the same product on both continents, we can solve that without having to ship over the pond,” Carpenito told ASI Media. “It also simplifies the coordination and logistics of the project for companies.”

“This collaboration with Gemline allows us to bring a true transatlantic solution to life.” Albert van der Veen, XD Connects

In a statement, Carpenito said that Gemline and XD Connects spent about a year collaborating to create the turnkey program. The fundamental idea, he said, was to eliminate logistical and cost barriers for distributors engaged in cross-continental business.

Both Gemline, a certified B Corp and a State of Massachusetts Public Benefit Corporation, and XD Connects, which goes to great lengths to prove the veracity of sustainability claims on its products, have made environmental focus a foundational component of the TransAtlantic Advantage collection.

To wit, products feature certified recycled materials and AWARE digital product passports, which provide full transparency into material origins and verify the use of recycled materials. Additionally, every product includes carbon footprint impact data.

“This collaboration with Gemline allows us to bring a true transatlantic solution to life,” said Albert van der Veen, CEO of XD Connects. “With this project, we solve an issue for our distributors who have to deliver the same product as well as in Europe as in North America for their customers. Global brands can now gift with consistency and ease, no matter where their employees and customers are based.”

The promotional products industry has long had a global sourcing network. But more recently, distributors have been increasingly conducting business across national and continental borders to meet the needs of end-clients in different geographies. Distributors have done this through strategic acquisitions, partnerships and new sales offices in countries in which they seek to service customers.

Founded in 1986 under a different name, XD Connects underwent a seismic shift in the way it approached its environmental impact in 2021, ultimately developing the model it now operates upon, which offers products with certified recycled materials and AWARE digital product passports.

Established in 1958, Gemline ranks 12th on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest suppliers in the North American promotional products industry based on reported 2024 continental revenue of $134.5 million.

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