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New Wave Group Acquires Paris Glove

Sweden-based New Wave Group AB, parent company of Counselor Top 40 supplier Cutter & Buck (asi/47965), has acquired Paris Glove of Canada Ltd for $16.3 million. The deal allows New Wave access to several fashion and sportswear divisions and expands its presence in the Canadian and U.S. markets. "We view Paris Glove as a complement to our other apparel lines and global markets," said Torsten Jansson, managing director and CEO of New Wave Group. "The company provides an established base of entry to Canada's retail markets for other New Wave products with Paris Glove's established customer base."

Per the agreement, all 90 Paris Glove employees - including its owners - have joined New Wave's staff. Paris Glove has been family-owned and operated since it was established in 1945. In addition to providing men's and women's gloves, the company offers scarves, headwear, rainwear and high-performance ski gear. Among its divisions are Laurentide, Gloves International Incorporated and Auclair Sport, whose products were prominently on display at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. "Auclair and Paris enjoy one of the longest sponsor-team relationships in all of sports with a 30-plus-year history with the Canadian cross country ski team," said Peter Monk, president and CEO of Paris Glove. "We envision the opportunity for expansion into the European and Asian markets with the strength of New Wave's reach."

One of the oldest specialty companies of its kind in North America, Paris Glove generated sales of approximately $27.5 million in 2010, with an operating profit of $2.76 million. New Wave Group AB, which purchased Cutter & Buck in 2007, has sales divisions in 20 countries throughout Europe, North America and Asia. In 2010, New Wave reported revenues of $630 million, while Cutter & Buck reported North American ad specialty sales of $55 million.

Accolade Rebrands Itself

Counselor Top 40 distributor Accolade Reaction Promotion Group (asi/102905) will be changing its name to Accolade Promotion Group (APG) and will launch a new look as of January 2nd, 2012.

"The change in our name is intended to reflect our commitment to proactively listening, innovating and delivering branded merchandise solutions for you, our customers, every single day," said Dan Craig, the company's general manager, in a release. "While our new brand symbolizes an evolution in our business, our commitment to creating meaningful and valuable connections with our clients, our partners and our people remains unchanged. This change in our name does not reflect a change in our legal entity or ownership structure. APG remains a division of Golf Town and is owned by OMERS Private Equity."

Craig pointed out that any purchase orders issued to Accolade Reaction Promotion Group are still valid, but the company asks vendors and clients to update their accounting departments as soon as possible so that cheques may be made payable to Accolade Promotion Group from January 2nd, 2012.

With regard to contact information, the company's accounting department will be relocating to its Vaughan head office at this time and ask that all cheques be sent to:
55 Interchange Way, Unit 4
Vaughan, ON L4K 5W3

In addition, the phone number for the company's head office in Vaughan will now be (905) 660-0685. However, the toll-free number will remain the same: (800) 450-6452. The company's e-mail addresses will be changing to end in @accoladepg.com. For more information go to www.arpg.ca.

Bullet Line Introduces New Websites to Aid Canadian Distributors

Bullet Line, a subsidiary of Counselor Top 40 supplier Polyconcept North America (PCNA), has announced the launch of two new websites as the company says it has become increasingly more important to offer separate online destinations for U.S. and Canadian customers due to Bullet's recent growth.

"Early on, it made sense to include both Canadian and U.S. pricing in one place," says Bob Herzog, president of Bullet. "However, with our recent growth in the Canadian market, it's more important every day to offer separate websites for both segments of our business. It's always been cost-efficient to do business with us. Now, we want to make it easier too."

In addition to the separation of U.S. and Canadian websites, user-interface has changed in a number of ways to ensure that distributors can find exactly what they're looking for quickly and easily.

• The new navigation and search bar will be present at all times, making it possible to perform a search or view another section of the website with just the click of a button.
• The Canadian website will feature a separate tab for Speeding Bullet items, indicating that they will automatically ship in one day to Toronto.
• Each category will be broken into a listing of subcategories, and a filter option will exist to narrow down the selection by price and color. This will give distributors the power to quickly locate products that fit their customers' needs.
• Items with new colors will include a special callout, making it simple for distributors to find new additions to their favorite Bullet items.
• In January 2012, a flyer customization option will be introduced to make it easier than ever for distributors to re-purpose Bullet flyers for their customers.

To view the new website, visit www.bulletlinepromos.ca.

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

Spector & Co. Hires Social Networking Coordinator

Vanessa Surprenant has been hired by Spector & Co. (asi/88631) to be its coordinator of social networking and communications, effective immediately. She will be part of the marketing team and report to John Thullner, vice president of marketing. Surprenant, who is bilingual, has previous experience in social media with a communications company in the event planning industry.

With responsibilities including managing the company's social media platforms, spearheading public relations campaigns and event planning, Surprenant will play an integral role in the development and growth of Spector & Co.'s social media department to increase the visibility of the company, in addition to having direct contact with customers.
For more information, contact Surprenant at vanessa@spectorandco.com.

PCNA Makes Changes to Representation in Western Canada

Polyconcept North America has announced several changes to field sales representation in Western Canada, in order to provide greater support to the area's distributors, the company says. Each of the field sales managers will now represent the full range of the Polyconcept North America brands - Leed's, Bullet, Trimark Sportswear and JournalBooks.

Effective January 1, 2012, Shaun Rolfe and Matt Herod will join the Polyconcept North America sales team covering British Columbia and Northern Alberta, respectively. Rolfe has been representing Trimark for the past three years in Calgary; Herod has worked from Trimark since 2006, originally in customer service and most recently as a sales representative.

Paul Olmstead will continue to represent Polyconcept North America, now with the addition of the Trimark line of products, throughout Southern Alberta. Olmstead has spent the past seven years as a Polyconcept North America sales representative, and the five prior to that as a representative of Aware Marketing Group, which was acquired by Leed's in 2004.

"We continually strive to provide our distributors with the best service, sales tools and resources," says Craig Morantz, vice president of sales. "With this restructuring, PCNA has tripled our coverage in the field in Western Canada. This will result in more attention to our distributor base, ensuring our best customers fully understand how to leverage our sales resources and marketing tools." For more information go to www.polyconceptna.com.

PSL Canada Gets New Representation

Brian Hillhouse, national sales manager for PSL Canada (asi/90344), has announced that the Caton Stevenson Agency is now representing the company in Southwest Ontario. Luke Caton can be reached at lcaton@rogers.com and Eva Stevenson can be reached at effielousales@sympatico.ca.

Starline Announces New Reps

Cindy Soles, vice president of sales for Starline Industries (asi/89213), has announced a newly-formed partnership with Agence Imapro and Agence Sportive C.L., beginning on January 1, 2012. For more information, contact Cindy Soles at csoles@starline.com.

IN THE NEWS

Akran's Monica Channa Named as One of Canada's 2011 Most Powerful Women

Akran Marketing (asi/115329) has announced that Monica Channa, its executive director of operations, has been awarded a spot on the 2011 Canada's Most Powerful Women Top 100 list.

Canada's Most Powerful Women Top 100 award winners are honored by the Women's Executive Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement and recognition of women, for their leadership and professional achievements. The recipients are chosen by an independent advisory board and span nine categories. Channa was selected for the CIBC Entrepreneurs award.

Channa took part in the Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Summit at the Allstream Centre in Downtown Toronto, where an audience of over 1,200 celebrated the accomplishments of those chosen for this distinction.
"It's such an honor to receive this prestigious award," says Channa. "This just shows that more and more Canadian woman are rising up to become great leaders and entrepreneurs."

Akran is an award-winning branding company and industry leader in providing unique and creative promotional product solutions to the public and private sectors throughout North America. With offices in many major cities, Akran prides itself on its around-the-clock customer service, quick turnaround times, the exceptional quality of its products and its affordable prices. Akran has received several awards, including the Better Business Bureau's "Market Place Ethical Award" in 2010 and being named the "Mid-market Fastest Growing Company in Ottawa" in 2009 by Ottawa Chamber of Commerce. For more information go to www.akranmarekting.com.

SHOW NEWS

It's Happening Next Month!

Have you registered? ASI Orlando is taking place January 16-18, and you can attend for FREE. Register today and enjoy all this and more:

• Quality time with 700+ leading suppliers - including nearly all the Top 40
• The debut of thousands of new items and catalogs for 2012
• The industry's largest education conference
• Daily networking, including a special reception in your honor
• A heavyweight debate between Bill O'Reilly and James Carville

(Co-sponsored by Pepco Poms, asi/77280 and Showdown Displays, asi/87188)

Click here to register and attend ALL THREE DAYS for FREE. ASI distributor and decorator members ALSO receive discounted tickets to the Gala at Disney's Animal Kingdom and a FREE hotel room.

Visit www.asishow.com for more information on ASI Orlando. Follow The ASI Show on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook today!

Plus, don't miss the ASI Canada Seminars AND the ASI Advantages Roadshow this spring when these two GREAT events come to Canada!