This has been tote bag week. For the fourth year in a row (or is it 5?) I produced totes for the Essence Music Festival. This year they ordered 3500 Leeds tote bags. Since it’s basically a reorder, there was nothing special about printing this, just the logistical challenge of getting 3500 imprinted tote bags from the Leeds factory in PA to the New Orleans Convention Center. They were delivered yesterday.
The School of Visual Arts in NYC was looking for totes that are environmentally friendly, and made in the USA so that the shipping doesn’t create a huge carbon footprint. They also wanted bags that the male as well as female students would utilize. We came up with an organic cotton drawstring backpack that is manufactured in the USA by our production partner “Sport Systems Custom Bags.” We are imprinting 1400 of them for the students’ return in August.
The California Labor Federation wanted messenger bags made in the US in a union shop. They were also on a budget. One of our production partners is a union shop in Ohio, & they had the perfect item, just $12/each for 600. We’re on a tight deadline, and they expect an order within the week for 20,000 bags for a major corporation, so they moved us to the front of the line & are knocking these out immediately.
All in all a busy but extremely satisfying week!