What is the Difference Between “Woven” and “Non-Woven in Fabric?”

Frequently, when ordering promotional products made of some type of fabric (i.e. promotional clothing, tote bags, lanyards, etc.) the terms “woven” or “non-woven” appear in the product description.  The terms can be confusing unless you understand what they mean and how they affect the final product.

“Woven” and “non-woven” are terms that are applied to fabrics of all different types.  Any product that is made of fabric (natural or synthetic) or has components that contain fabric may be woven or non-woven.

All fabric/material begins as a fibre.  For example, cotton comes from a cotton plant.  The cotton that is harvested from the plant is in fibre form.  In order to take cotton from the fibre stage to a piece of cloth it must undergo a particular process.

There are a number of processes that can create a fabric out of a group of fibres.  Weaving them is one such process.   Almost all of the other methods fall under the “non-woven” category of fabric creation.

“Woven” fabrics:  Woven fabrics usually refer to fibres which must first be spun into thread.  The threads are then woven together, usually on a loom.  The result is a piece of fabric that can then be cut and sewn together to create an item, such as an article of clothing.  Woven fabrics may have a loose weave or a very tight weave.  The tighter the weave, the stronger the fabric typically is.

“Non-woven” fabrics:  Non-woven fabrics are made from fibres that have not usually been spun into threads first.  Rather, the fibres are fused together in some other manner to create a piece of fabric.  Non-weaving processes include bonding fibres together chemically or mechanically, or using heat or a solvent to fuse fibres.  Felt is an example of a familiar type of fabric that has been created by condensing and pressing fibres together.

A series of felt squares, examples of "non-woven" cloth

Before weaving looms (even crude ones) were commonplace, non-woven fabrics were widely used.  Fabrics like felt pre-date woven cloth.  Later, methods of weaving were developed and looms became available and woven cloth began replacing non-woven fabric for many applications simply because woven fabric is usually stronger than non-woven.

Next week’s entry: Common applications for woven and non-woven cloth, including applications in promotional products.

 Check out some sample woven and non-woven promotional items on our “Business Promotional Gifts of the Week” page.

The Top Three Promotional Gifts for Ringing in 2010

Ringing in 2010 with promotional gifts is a good way to start the new year off with a bang.  New Year’s Day and the month of January are among the biggest advertising periods of the year.  This is particularly true for retailers and fitness-based businesses (gyms, naturopaths, wholeness/wellness practitioners, chiropractors, etc.) No business should miss out on the opportunity to cash in on New Year’s Day/month, particularly since customers are often more open to advertising and deals in January than at many other times of the year.

We’ve compiled our list of the top three promotional gifts to use and distribute to celebrate the arrival of the year 2010.  They range from the typical to the surprising:

1) Calendars: Promotional calendars are the quintessential New Year’s business giveaways.  In fact, some business owners overlook them as potential advertising tools because they are so commonly given away at this time of year.  Promotional calendars, however, shouldn’t be discounted as effective.  After all, how many other kinds of promotional gifts can you give out that will stay within a person’s view every day throughout the entire year?  They become permanent ( for 365 days anyway) reminders of your business in homes and offices.  The trick is choosing one that your type of customers will love and want to use.  For example, desk calendars make perfect gifts for white-collar businessmen and women who tend to spend a lot of time behind a desk.  Academic planners with built-in calendars are suitable for students.  Wall calendars with lots of space for writing in are great for home use, particularly for busy families with hectic schedules.

Calendars, like this 16-Month "Birds" promotional calendar, make great New Year's advertising gifts.

2) Fitness items: Promotional fitness items may help your customers get in better shape and stay healthy in 2010.  Did you know that 8 out of 10 people who make New Year’s resolutions each year make some type of health or fitness-related resolution?  It may be to lose weight, tone muscles, run faster or further, compete in a race or other athletic contest, learn a new sport or simply eat healthier foods.  This is the perfect time of year to encourage your customers to be fit and healthy, even if your business is not fitness-related.  Excellent fitness promotional gift ideas include pedometers, jump ropes, digital calorie counters and water bottles.

3) Party gifts: Promotional party gifts are almost always welcomed at this time of year.  After all, who doesn’t want to send out the old year and bring in the new one with fun and fanfare?  Popular promotional party gifts for New Year’s include glow sticks and other glow items like mugs and champagne glasses.  Glow bracelets/necklaces are also fun ideas for New Year’s parties.

These three categories of promotional gifts will make memorable New Year’s advertisements for your business.  They may even be just what you need to start your business off on the right foot for 2010.

How Promotional Products Are Like Web Links

Promotional products/business giveaways, like those logo pens, mugs, key chains, tote bags and the like, are an essential part of a business’ or organization’s well-rounded advertising campaign.  Using promotional products along with printed ads (newspaper, circular, etc.,) media (television, radio, Internet,) and visual advertising (billboards, road signs) is a practical way to ensure that every sector of the public is reached with a business/organization’s message.

Promotional products are a lot like links on the Web.  When it comes to building a web-based business or spreading the word about an organization, web links are a crucial part of developing a public awareness of that business or entity.  In particular, links scattered throughout the web help to direct web traffic to that particular site, both directly (when users click on those links) and by helping to boost a website’s search engine rankings.

Promotional products, like this flask and mug set, are to business what links are to the Web.

Promotional products function in a similar manner.  Distributing promotional products by putting them directly into the hands of individuals or by making them available for people to help themselves to is much like flooding the Internet with web links.  The more of them that get out into the public, the better the odds that business will be directed to your store.

Some people who manage to come across a promotional product that advertises a particular business may not even patronize that store themselves.  However, the name of the business will still be imprinted in the receiver’s mind, and may end up serving as a referral to your business for someone else in the receiver’s sphere of influence.  Those promotional products become the public’s “link” directly to your business or organization.

Businesses which manage to have all of the other players in place in terms of advertising methods (print, media and visual) but fail to recognize the significance of promotional products in a well-rounded advertising campaign may not achieve maximum success.  It would be akin to trying to make a web-based business work without having those critical web links scattered across the Internet.  Promotional products are your “links” to the public, and ultimately, to your potential customers.

Check out the great “links” on our “Business Promotional Gifts of the Week” page.

Business Promotional Gifts Reaches 2,000 Hits Thanks to Loyal Customers

The approach to Christmas seems like a good time to spread the love, so to speak.  Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, the season is filled with good cheer (even if parking spots at your local mall have to be fought over.)  Thanks to your support, Business Promotional Gifts and its partners (ArtPromos.com, LiftPromos.com and ArtPoly.com) has seen 2,000 visitors (and more) to its website.

Business Promotional Gifts proud to serve business owners and managers around the globe.  Our passion is helping businessmen and women make the most of their business advertising dollars through the effective use of promotional gifts.  Promotional products are one of the most cost-effective methods of advertising a business or organization.  Even the smallest of businesses can find affordable promotional products that, when put directly into the hands of potential customers/clients, will make a lasting and memorable impression and increase the chances of generating future business/profit.

Business Promotional Gifts is passionate about helping businesses reach their target audiences with effective promotional gifts.  We’ve covered dozens of topics over the past year of our operation in an effort to help serve our readers in the business world.  Here’s a look back at some of our most read and popular entries:

Ordering Right: Three Ways to Stretch Your Promotional Gifts Budget (January 22, 2009):  Whether your advertising budget is ample or shoestring, everyone wants to save as much money as possible.  This popular entry helped business owners discover three ways to stretch that budget when ordering promotional gifts.

Lance Armstrong and Those Little Yellow Bracelets: Using Promotional Gifts to Benefit a Cause (February 12, 2009): The Lance Armstrong Foundation has made an art out of using promotional products to further the cause of cancer research and awareness.  Their popular “Livestrong” bracelets have sold in the millions in recent years.

The Top Five Promotional Giveaways for Children (March 12, 2009): Businesses and organizations looking for promotional products for children and children’s events hail this entry as one of the best.

Businesses looking for promotional gifts for children, like this color-change putty, found this entry helpful.

Supporting Health and Wellness with Promotional Gifts (April 3, 2009): A greater awareness of health and wellness in North America has prompted businesses to recognize health and wellness promotional gifts as effective business tools.

Promotional Pens: Not Your Average Ballpoint (July 28, 2009): Promotional pens top the list of the world’s most popular promotional product.  This entry helped readers “see outside the ballpoint” and discover some of the most innovative and quirky advertising pens.

Back-to-School Promotional Giveaways for Every Budget (August 11, 2009): Back-t0-School time is almost as lucrative as Christmas in terms of retail sales and profit possibilities, make this time of year one of the best times to advertise with promotional items for back-to-school.

Customized Promotional Products for Churches: Non-Profits Benefit from Advertising Too (September 29, 2009): Churches and non-profit organizations can also benefit greatly from using promotional gifts to further their cause.  This entry helps groups like this understand how and why.

Mall of America Trick or Treating: Proof that Mall Events are Ideal for Promotional Gifts Distribution (October 8, 2009):  The Mall of America has some of North America’s most successful mall promotional events, like its annual Trick-or-Treat event.  But even small malls can plan successful events that will build future business and increase profitability.

Business Promotional  Gifts appreciates its loyal visitors, and we look forward to providing you with more practical advertising advice in the future.

 

The Local Santa Claus Parade: The Perfect Place for Distributing Christmas Promotional Products

Christmas is one of the most opportunistic times of the year for retailers, service providers and other businesses to pass out those promotional products that are languishing in boxes in the back room.  The weeks between November 1 and January 1 are historically packed with more public, private, semi-private and group events than any other time period of the year.  Among other events, late November/early December signals the official arrival of St. Nick at many communities’ local Santa Claus Parades and other Christmas/holiday parades.

The local Santa Claus Parade is all about seeing Santa for kids and kids-at-heart.  For businesses, though, it’s a time to showcase the products, services and opportunities that they offer in and around the local community.  Many of North America’s most well-known Santa Claus Parades are sponsored by department stores as large-scale, live, moving advertisements.  They are “commercials” not only for the sponsoring entity, but for every business, group or organization that participates in them.  Some of the oldest and most famous holiday parades include the Toronto Santa Claus Parade and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. 

The annual Toronto Santa Claus Parade originated in 1905 as the brainchild of the Eaton department store.  The first parade featured just a single Eaton float.  Today’s Toronto Santa Claus Parade, traditionally held in mid-November, features over 25 floats, more than 20 bands, and stretches for six kilometers through Toronto’s downtown streets.

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, originally known as the Macy’s Christmas Parade, began as a grassroots effort by Macy’s department store staff.  The store’s employees were largely immigrants who desired to combine their collective love of their new country with the types of holiday festivals that were common in Europe during the early 1900’s.  Their first parade was held at Thanksgiving in 1924 and was organized entirely by Macy’s employees.  This year Macy’s will hold its 85th annual Santa Claus parade, which is now a three-hour nationally-televised event featuring high-quality performers (both amateur and professional) and those famous balloons that the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has become synonymous with.

A dachshund float from a 1950's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Today, thousands of cities, villages and small towns hold Santa Claus parades of their own.  Many are organized jointly by local Chambers of Commerce, businesses and organizations in a city or region.  Every Santa Claus parade typically has its own unique, local flavor.  But generally speaking, they are open for participation by any business or organization with an interest in that particular locale.

This year millions of people in North America will attend Santa Claus parades in their own cities.  With hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of live spectators, the local Santa Claus parade is one of the best means for businesses to connect with the patrons they serve as well as to reach out to potential customers.

Anyone who has ever attended a local Santa Claus parade will probably remember coming home with hands-full of promotional products.  Handing out promotional products to spectators is an excellent way to directly advertise to those who are most likely to patronize a local business. 

Businesses that can afford to enter a Santa Claus parade by paying the entry fee and creating a float can use promotional products to further enhance their local community profiles.  Parade goers will be more likely to remember a particular parade entry when they can take home a tangible reminder of that business.

Even small businesses who don’t have the money or the resources to have a parade float can still take advantage of captive audiences.  By simply mingling with spectators and passing out promotional products the business increases its chances of benefitting residually from the local Santa Claus parade.

 

Branding Your Business: Promotional Products a Critical Part of Your Marketing Strategy

PART THREE: LESSONS FROM LANCE ARMSTRONG: BRANDING FOR THE NON-PROFIT

In Part One and Part Two of this series we examined the crucial role that promotional products play in branding a business.  The examples of companies like Coca-Cola, Disney and McDonalds are powerful persuaders of the tremendous benefits of brand marketing.  These three companies and others like them have become some of the world’s most recognized brands thanks to marketing campaigns that include placing logos on promotional products.

But what about branding for the non-profit?  Non-profit organizations (churches, charities, etc.) have considerably different goals than most businesses.  However, the means to an end are the same for both non-profits and businesses: both must concern themselves with generating income.  For a business, generation of income is critical for paying overhead and generating a profit.  For the non-profit, income must be generated to pay overhead expenses and to accomplish the mission of the organization.  If either the business or the non-profit fails to generate more income than what is necessary to simply cover overhead expenses, the entity will fail (or will simply function as nothing more than a job factory.)

Unfortunately, many non-profit organizations overlook the significance of using promotional products as a means of branding themselves.  Usually a number of reasons exist for this, including:

1) Reluctance to spend money on advertising:  Naturally, many non-profit organizations have meager, tightly controlled budgets.  These budgets may include little or nothing in the way of advertising funds.  Those that do plan for advertising tend to spend the bulk of it on media advertising rather than direct forms of advertising, like promotional products.  The bulk of the organization’s income is focused on overhead and on accomplishing the mission of the organization and little or nothing is spent on advertising.

2) Ignorance/inexperience/obliviousness: Many times those who are in a position to influence or make expenditures within an organization simply do not recognize the significance of branding and/or using promotional products as a means to further the organization’s mission.

3) Fear of board or supporters’ reaction:  In other cases, some organization leaders may desire to spend money on promotion but are unwilling or unable to convince the board (which is accountable to the supporters) that spending money on branding is a good idea.

In reality, a non-profit can and should spend a portion of its annual budget on advertising and branding through the use of promotional products. An excellent, high-profile example of the effective use of promos to not only raise money for a cause but also to brand an organization is the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s “Live Strong” promotional wristband.

These silicone bracelets from ArtPromos.com are similar to the "Live Strong" wristbands.

The foundation has in recent years become practically synonymous with their little yellow “Live Strong” bracelets.  The strongest evidence of their popularity and their association with the Lance Armstrong Foundation may be the sheer number of “knock-off” wristbands that began appearing after the “Live Strong” wristband began circulating.  The “Live Strong” bracelet literally gave rise to a brand new fashion trend.

Other non-profits, even small ones, can gain insight from examples of successful brand marketing by other organizations, like the Lance Armstrong Foundation.  The lesson to be learned includes, among other things, that even the most inexpensive promotional products can be powerful catalysts in the drive toward branding an organization.