Counselor Top 40 distributor Boundless (asi/143717) wanted to take the guesswork out of sustainable sourcing. As the Austin, TX-headquartered company notes on its website, brands don’t necessarily have the time to investigate every promo item that crosses their paths, but that doesn’t mean sustainability is unimportant to them.

Andrea Stoll, Boundless (asi/143717)

To thread that needle, Boundless developed PRISM, a patent-pending scoring system that allows end-buyers to compare branded merch according to a curated set of metrics. Andrea Stoll, chief marketing officer at Boundless, explains how the program works and why sustainable sourcing is a competitive advantage.

Q: What exactly is PRISM?

A: We feel that the sourcing strategy is as important as the product strategy. If you’re going to have the most impactful merchandise solution, I think aligning the product with sourcing is really key. For instance, if we do veterans programs for Coca-Cola, it should feature Made-in-the-USA goods. And since sustainability is an important part of their overall ESG initiatives, we want it to be made from recycled bottles.

So, we’ve been connecting those dots, and that informed what we launched in May as PRISM, which stands for Product Responsibility and Impact Scoring Method.

We saw a market opportunity where a lot of people were sharing their sustainable products in different ways, which was confusing as a buyer. So, we came up with this method where we look at the process of how a product is made, the materiality of it and the impact it has – whether its supply chain is traceable or it’s made by a B Corp certified company. Then we give the product a score.

Q: How does the scoring work?

A: We score products from 1 to 10 for process, material and impact, then group them into tiers: good, better and best. A Tier 3 “best” product might be a Cotopaxi bag that checks all the boxes in terms of how they go to market and how their products are sourced and made.

Is it a perfect science? No, but we spent a lot of time building it and vetting it with our suppliers. We don’t want to make it overly complicated, and the scoring process is a little manual right now, but we’re trying to be as mindful as we can with capturing the process. One of the things we’re working on is creating an AI agent to help us automate the process, because right now, scoring products is very manual and takes a long time.

Q: How have clients responded?

A: They’re extremely excited. We exhibited at the Natural Products Expo West trade show this year, talking to people about how their whole business is focused on natural, organic, sustainable sourcing and being mindful of environmental impact. And then, you’re giving away cheap plastic stuff. They never really thought sustainable branded merch could be part of their go to market, that they could further their storytelling and match their goals with it. We had very positive feedback.

Q: What’s the biggest barrier you see in the adoption of sustainable merch?

A: Education is really key. It’s just letting clients know there are these options that are equally as affordable as conventional merch. You have to connect the dots for them.

Q: What’s next for PRISM?

A: We’ve been getting feedback on the program from supplier partners and clients to help inform what we’re doing. We’d love to be able to provide the data to show clients the impact they’re having – tapping into traceability software or showing the carbon reduction achieved. We think

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