Phillips-Van Heusen To Purchase Tommy Hilfiger
Clothing company Phillips-Van Heusen announced yesterday it will purchase fashion label Tommy Hilfiger for $3 billion in cash and stock. PVH Career Apparel (asi/75633), the corporate arm of Phillips-Van Heusen, has no immediate plans for the Tommy Hilfiger brand. "We will look at our opportunities for this brand going forward," says Erwin Schiowitz, senior vice president for PVH Career Apparel.

Apparel suppliers Bodek and Rhodes (asi/40788), River's End Trading Company (asi/82588), Heritage Sportswear (asi/60582) and Atlantic Coast Cotton (asi/37355) are all listed on ESP Online as carrying Hilfiger apparel. Phillips-Van Heusen owns many high-profile fashion brands, including Calvin Klein, Izod, Kenneth Cole New York and more. A representative for River’s End told Counselor that no talks have occurred yet regarding the Hilfiger brand. “Right now we see it as kind of a good thing because we carry IZOD, we work with Van Heusen, we have connections with them, they’re in the industry,” says River’s End Marketing Manager Lori Anderson. “So there are some good things that might make doing business and carrying Tommy a little bit easier. Beyond that, as far as what’s going to happen to the line, we don’t really know anything yet.”

PVH was spurred to purchase Hilfiger (previously owned by British private equity firm Apax Partners) in part because of the latter's strong presence in Europe and Asia. The clothing company believes the acquisition will create combined revenue of approximately $4.6 billion between the two companies. Tommy Hilfiger's revenue for the fiscal year ending at the end of March is expected to be $2.25 billion, 46% of which is derived from wholesale sales.

Survey: Business Confidence Rising
Nearly half of all business owners expect to see an increase in sales during the next three months, according to results of a national survey conducted by research and networking firm MerchantCircle. Survey data also shows that seven out of 10 small business owners now believe the economy is the same or better than it was one year ago. "Many of these signs point toward a healthier small business environment in 2010, and we're hopeful the macro economic climate can support that direction," said Darren Waddell, vice president of marketing for MerchantCircle.

While more small business owners are positive about sales, many are still struggling to access credit. A full 59% of those surveyed say credit availability has worsened since December, with just 5% saying access to credit has improved. The tight credit market has tempered overall optimism as well, with only 24% of respondents believing the most difficult economic times are in the past.

Additionally, MerchantCircle survey data shows wide divergence among respondents when considering future marketing and hiring plans. While 17% of small business owners expect to increase staff before June, 11.5% are anticipating making staff cuts during the same time period. Meanwhile, about 30% of respondents expect to increase marketing before the summer, contrasted by 25% who are planning on cutting marketing expenses. "While we see merchant confidence in the current economy beginning to return," said Waddell, "our data reflects that local businesses are reluctant to respond with increased spending on marketing and hiring. We are encouraged though to see that revenue expectations are up."

Staples Introduces Integrated Web Site
Staples Advantage, the business-to-business division of Staples Inc., has launched a new procurement-based Web site, offering companies a full-range of office, facility and marketing services, including ad specialty items from the Staples Promotional Products (asi/334634) division. The site, www.staplesadvantage.com, provides products and business technologies across several categories, all marketed toward companies looking to consolidate vendors and reduce costs. "Businesses today are eager to create efficiencies in procurement given reduced human and capital resources," said Jay Baitler, executive vice president of Staples Advantage and a member of Counselor's Power 50.

While promotional products are one element of the new service, throughout the site, visitors can also download case studies, watch videos and browse online catalogs. "Our new StaplesAdvantage.com Web site helps our current and potential new customers understand how we can deliver much more than office supplies," said Baitler.

The Joe Show: New Products
In this episode of The Joe Show, Counselor Managing Editor Joe Haley shows off some of the newest items to hit the ad specialty market. Want to show clients some innovative new items? Start with these. 

Click here to see this new-products edition of The Joe Show.

Want more videos? Subscribe now to our YouTube videos.

Small Business Hiring Increases
For the second consecutive month, small business hiring and salary levels rose nationally, according to data from the Small Business Scorecard survey, released by research firm SurePayroll. Additionally, small business optimism improved dramatically in February, with 61% of respondents having a positive outlook on the economy.

"Truth is, while the numbers are telling us we've bounced off the bottom and are now heading in the right direction, only the actions of the small business owners will demonstrate when we're completely out of the water," said Michael Alter, president of SurePayroll.

Nationwide, small business hiring increased 2%, while by region, the West saw the most improvement at 2.2%. Hiring spiked significantly in California and Illinois, while falling in Colorado and Pennsylvania. Salaries rose very slightly, up 0.2%, but broke a consistent downward trend, possibly triggering salary stabilization amid renewed confidence from business owners.

"When they're feeling positive, we'll see their safe-bet decisions, such as hiring contract workers rather than adding full-time employees, turn into more aggressive actions, such as adding headcount and making capital expenditures," Alter says. "We'll see paychecks holding steady, without erratic dips or slight increases. We'll also see our optimism levels return to 2007's highs of nearly 80%."

Tuesday Morning Radio Show Live On The Air
Every Tuesday morning from 10:30 a.m. eastern time to 11:00 a.m., a team of ASI editors debate the most important topics facing the industry. We also, of course, offer our own off-beat look at the market. This morning, we talked about how to get out of a career rut, shared strategies for dealing with difficult co-workers, and debated how to resolve employee conflicts. Plus, we even took calls from audience members looking for ways to improve their customer service.

If you missed the show, don't worry. A recording is now available at www.asicentral.com/radio. And, don't forget to join us next Tuesday, March 23, for our next broadcast. Log on to www.asicentral.com/radio at 10:30 a.m. eastern time and give us a call at 215-953-4979. We want to hear from you!

Vote Now For Best Ads Of 2009
The finalists have been chosen for the Advertising ASI Spirit Awards. Now, all we need is your input. Please click here to vote in the Best Ads categories for Counselor, Email Express, ESP Online, catalogs and Advantages, and for Best Innovative New Product. You can select up to three per category; limit of one ballot per person, please.

Take The State Of The Industry Survey
Counselor is currently polling professionals in the industry – both distributors and suppliers – to see how the market did in 2009 and to get impressions on where the industry is headed in 2010. We need your input. Please take some time to click the appropriate link below and complete the annual State of the Industry survey. Your responses will remain anonymous and you'll be helping to create Counselor's annual State of the Industry report.

Distributors click here to take the distributor State of the Industry survey.

New Course Available On ASI Education's OnlineLearning Center 
Be sure to register at http://www.asicentral.com/asionlinelearning for some exciting new courses available exclusively to ASI members. Brought to you by ASI Education, Online Learning is the newest and most convenient way for distributors to get educated.

NEW: Social Networking Tactics That Get Results
Social networking for business? Lots of businesses are using social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn; creating videos and podcasts; and using blogs to connect with prospects and clients. We'll cover all of these cool, social media tools in this course, so when you're done, you'll have an overview of which ones might be right for promoting your business. Register now! {http://www.asicentral.com/asionlinelearning}

Coming Soon:

In The News
Bag Makers (asi/37940) has announced that it has lowered prices on its Big and Little Thunder grocery totes. The company will also continue to offer one free screen charge.

Barker Specialty Company (asi/132690) recently held its annual vendor dinner, recognizing the following as its award winners in 2009: HumphreyLine (asi/62050) as Supplier of the Year; Mike Merkin of Bullet (asi/42424), Leed's (asi/66887) and Journalbooks (asi/91340) as Supplier Sales Representative of the Year; Linda Evans of NES Clothing (asi/72808) as Customer Service Representative of the Year.

Broder Bros. Co. (asi/42090) will host an open house at its newly-expanded Houston distribution center on Wednesday, March 24.

Fields Manufacturing (asi/54100) has purchased an additional web press to further increase efficiency in producing its adhesive note line.

Global Promotions & Incentives LLC (asi/208338) is relocating to: 3375 Gilchrist Road, Mogadore, OH 44260. Beginning Monday, April 19, the company can be contacted at 330-733-8208 (phone) and 330-733-7301 (fax). Global Promotions will be closed on Friday, April 16, to complete the relocation.

Hanes (asi/59528) will offer its Beefy T-shirt with a tag-free neck label this spring.

iPROMOTEu (asi/232119) will be organizing Dunk Fest 2010, the annual NCAA basketball tournament bracket contest, held exclusively for the advertising specialty industry. For rules and to participate, go to: www.ipromoteu.com/dunkfest.html.

Numo Manufacturing (asi/74710) is offering distributor salespeople 25 free Pocket Coolie can holders to use as self promotion items. The offer began yesterday and it is limited to the first 1,000 distributor salespeople who place an order. For more information, go to: www.numomfg.com/Order-Form/Free.

OraLine (asi/75205) has introduced a biodegradable adult toothbrush called the Bio TB 41.

Spector & Co. (asi/88660) has announced that its facilities are being audited by an independent firm to ensure social compliance and fair employee practices and polices.

The Creative Solution (asi/170768) has announced that Dennis Sweeney and Judy Sweeney are no longer affiliated with the company.

People On The Move
Genumark (asi/204588) has announced that Randy Freedman has joined the company's account management staff.

Hub Pen Co. (asi/61966) has added Heidi Forsyth to its sales team.