skucast

Episode 322: Vantage Apparel's CEO Rob Watson on Success and the Connected Advantage

Written by Bobby Lehew | Aug 8, 2024 2:08:48 PM

Check out this rich history: With more than forty years of experience, over 760,000 logos, 33 billion stitches, and a ton of creative innovation, Vantage Apparel is now one of the 5 largest suppliers of custom merchandise in North America.

They operate three facilities across the US, an east, west, and central hub, and have close to 1200 embroidery heads, in-house screen printing, laser applique and laser etching, DTG printing, and heat transfer decoration. 

A 13-time winner of PPAI’s Distributor Choice Award, they’ve won the Gold Pyramid Award for embroidery 28 times in a row. Founder Ira Neaman has built one of the most reputable, creative apparel companies in the industry and it started with a small catalog of just six in-stock items. 

Today Rob Watson, CEO at Vantage Apparel joins us to talk about their look into the future and the aspirations and realities they are creating as a tech-enabled pioneer in apparel.  

Rob Watson is a 20+ year veteran of the promotional products industry. He was formerly ASI’s Senior Vice President of Marketing and User Experience.  He has also served as the Global Chief Marketing Officer for several US and UK-based distributor companies.  
 
Rob has helped position Vantage Apparel as a leader in integrated, single-piece, e-commerce solutions --boosting distributor sales upwards of 235% through online, digital revenue.  And most recently,  Rob launched a new collaboration between Vantage and women-owned, made-in-Canada apparel favorite Redwood Classics, with Kathy Cheng. 

Today, we talk with Rob about: 

  • The enormous capabilities of Vantage
  • Why they have become the most respected contract decorator (in addition to being a leader with their own apparel line)
    The moonshot project: 1 pc minimums that are now a profitable reality and how this is even possible.
  • We also talk about the tremendous growth in technology that he is passionate about and our new integration at commonsku with Vantage  and what we can expect in the future as it relates to growth.
  • And finally, we dig into the new partnership with Kathy and her team at Redwood.

    Understanding the Real Value Behind Digital Transformation

     

CommonSKU Connected Suppliers: A Game Changer for Distributors