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Starline Partners With uni-ball

The Grand Island, NY supplier will begin selling uni-ball writing instruments to the promo products market.

Starline (asi/89320) has announced a partnership with uni-ball that marks the Grand Island, NY supplier’s expansion into writing instruments. Starline executives said Tuesday, Aug. 25 that the company will become the exclusive supplier of the uni-ball brand to the promotional products industry beginning in January 2021. 

“Our strategic partnership with Starline provides a compelling new platform to deliver customized solutions utilizing Starline’s unparalleled digital production technologies,” says uni-ball President Mike Parker in reference to solutions like TruColor, Starline’s digital print process. “Our teams are enthusiastically engaged and excited about our future.”

Starline and Uni-ball

Uni-ball is a leading manufacturer of quality pens and pencils for more than 130 years. Notably, uni-ball holds more than 1,050 patents, including its acid-free Super Ink, an archival-quality pigment ink that offers what the company says is extraordinary levels of resistance to water, chemicals and light.

“Uni-ball is one of the single most respected names in writing instruments worldwide,” said Brian Porter, Starline’s SVP of sales and marketing. “Although this is a new direction for Starline, we feel so strongly about the brand and the quality that it is a very easy decision to make and we’re honored to have been chosen to partner with them.” 

Starline was most recently a Counselor Top 40 supplier in 2018. That year, the company ranked 40th on Counselor’s list of the largest suppliers in the industry as determined by North American promotional product revenue. This year the supplier was a winner in the Counselor Distributor Choice Awards for flashlights & tools as well as a finalist in two other categories (coolers and sunglasses). Starline also won a 2020 Counselor Promo Campaign Award for Best Use of Social Media.