After a few grim years in the promotional products industry 2010 appears to represent a total turnaround.  ASI recently reported that on average distributor growth was up almost eight percent in total over last year.  A closer look at the numbers shows that suppliers on average are up by twenty or more percent.  The leading categories continue to be bags and items like pens.  Calendars are always popular especially this time of the year but have slipped to only about ten percent of the industry sales.

There are thousands of pen manufacturers.  Many of these pens look identical from vendor to vendor making promotional pens purchases difficult because it is tough to compare head to head.  Leading manufacturers like Hub Pen have made a living producing high quality but inexpensive writing instruments that have a one to two year run before they get knocked off by the competition.  The trouble is that by the time they pull a patent on an item it has fallen out of favor and the costs of getting it patented prohibit most manufacturers from taking that step.

To read more about the ASI story on industry growth you can visit the ASI website. If you are interested in trying to find a pen for your budget you can find various tools on the ASI site that will allow you to search by price or brand.  Alternatively you can go direct to manufacturers sites which will detail over the coming days.