Counselor’s exclusive ranking of the distributors with the most revenue in the promo products market.

Something Inked

(asi/329822)

The company with the largest year-over-year growth on this year’s Top 40 list at 83.9%, Something Inked flew comfortably under the radar for many years, by their own choice. But the business that has multi-pronged promo revenue streams – like the souvenir market (about $3 million-$5 million each year) and a $2 million e-commerce arm (“with record profits last year”) – by far dominates one market for the bulk of its promo business: live music and sports. For example, if Something Inked does merch for the hottest act with a summer tour and promo apparel for the best player in the NBA finals, it’s going to be a very, very good year for the company. In 2022, the firm did extremely well with this business channel. “We took part in over 300 U.S. music tours, and also in XFL, USFL, Monster Jam, Disney on Ice and WWE WrestleMania,” says VP of Sales Todd Schneiderman. “We also took part in a bunch of NBA/NHL playoff giveaways, including all four rounds of both the NBA and NHL, and sold over 300,000 Gold Tees to the Golden State Warriors, the 2022 NBA Champions.”

Also, in conjunction with Bravado – which is owned by Universal Music Group – Something Inked helped produce merch for tours such as Imagine Dragons, Justin Bieber, The Weeknd and Lady Gaga. Not surprisingly, the company was named Bravado’s Vendor of the Year for 2022, and also promoted David Schneiderman, one of the company’s founding partners and an industry vet with more than 50 years of experience, to chief procurement officer.