In this episode, we sit down with Rod Brown, the CFO of MadeToOrder, a $25 million Bay area distributor and we ask critical questions regarding some of the most important numbers in business.

Amazon has won a patent for on-demand apparel, and the news headlines suggest panic for all apparel manufacturers. Is this news an opportunity or a threat? Does this impact the corporate apparel business, and if so, how? We cover these questions and more in this episode.

This special edition of skucast was recorded live at The PPAI Expo during Mark Graham's Podcasting 101 class. As a part of the class, we demonstrated the power of podcasting by discussing a distributor's unique value proposition. Through this conversation we discovered insights into how you might discover your unique voice, not only for podcasting, but also for attracting passionate, dedicated customers.

Join us in this episode as we trace the business journey made by Casey Schorr and Kevin Materi of Printfection and learn how they created a robust swag management platform that found its stride after continuous acts of transfiguration.

In this episode, you’ll learn about Ted’s passion to distinguish himself and his company from the plight of the “me, too” promotional world and you’ll learn about his journey from atypical promotional company to a discerning agency that works with customers who value his service.

In this episode, we speak with Tom Goos, President of Image Source, about the speed of change in the industry. As a former chairman of PPAI, Tom has a unique perspective on the health of the industry and what the future may hold.

In this episode, Mark Graham and Bobby Lehew travel to California for a site visit of the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs to give you a taste of the skucamp experience.

In this episode Mark Graham and Bobby Lehew continue their look into the future of the industry and discuss the trends that are shaping this movement, highlighting just a few of the key players who are becoming dominant forces in the race to emerge as winners of the new creative class.

This episode was sparked by a controversial article published in The Counselor magazine entitled, "The Big Squeeze: Are Promo Distributors Putting Too Much Demand on Suppliers?" Samantha Kates, commonsku's Vice President of Sales, joins Mark Graham and Bobby Lehew as they wade into the controversy to discuss supplier rebates, price negotiations, and more!

In this episode, Mark and Bobby discuss how the industry has splintered into specialties, namely four distinct market segments:

smaller distributors (usually 1-person, less than $500,000 in annual sales), pure e-commerce players, agency or niche verticals and company store providers.