Kevin McCracken knows the importance of second chances. After all, he got his start in the promotional products and decorated-apparel industry after completing a drug and alcohol rehab program. Clean and sober for nearly a quarter of a century now, McCracken co-founded Social Imprints (asi/164607) to help give back to others who need that same helping hand.

In this episode of Promo Insiders, McCracken talks with ASI Media Executive Editor Theresa Hegel about what it means to be a “fair-chance” employer, how other promo companies can give back to their own communities and why he wants to lead the industry in sustainability efforts.

Earlier this year, Social Imprints committed to planting 40,000 mangrove trees in Kenya through veritree as a way to offset carbon and create jobs. In addition, the distributor built a new ERP system that also will automatically assign its clients a community score, based on how many social responsibility and sustainability boxes their orders check. “We’re building that directly into our app, so that it’s basically a customer relations tool,” McCracken explains. “We’ve really committed to this as a long-term solution. … I want other promotional products distributors to do this. We want to be the most sustainable promotional products distributor in the world, but I want other companies” to get in on the solution as well.