Re-gifting takes on new identity
Scrap fabrics from producing modular office panels that make up cubicle walls go to make gift bags. The leftover leather from an office furniture maker is reused for small toy bears, tote bags and pouches. And the blueprints a construction company once used on a job are cut up and reused to make notebooks.
Each of the products comes from Promotional Impact, a Grand Rapids company that custom designs corporate gift products from used materials. As the sustainability movement progresses, it’s driving new business opportunities for Promotional Impact.
Few clients five or six years ago requested gift products that use recycled materials or were based on sustainable principles, President Karen Scarpino said. Now, Scarpino said, nearly every client is doing it.
“It’s accelerating,” said Scarpino, showing off a paper gift bag that a client wanted produced with at least 60 percent post-consumer recycled paper and water-based glue and soy-based ink. “Customers are pushing the envelope for what they want. Before, customers never asked. They only looked at price point and style.”
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