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Strategy June 04, 2019

Pride Month Presents Opportunity for Promo Pros

By  Christopher Ruvo

Pride Month is increasingly becoming an opportunity for the promotional products industry.

Held in June, Pride Month spotlights the LGBTQ civil rights movement, celebrates achievements and contributions of members of the community, and often involves events that range from the solemn to the carnivalesque.

From a promo business perspective, Pride Month represents ever more fertile ground for sales, as a growing number of potential end-buyers are investing in Pride-themed merchandise to show their support for the LGBTQ community.

Those end-buyers include everyone from presidential candidates and mega brands like Disney, to small businesses, hospitality clients, nonprofits, corporations, musical acts and more.

For Pride Month 2019, Disney launched a Rainbow Collection that includes a glittery travel tumbler, a plush toy Mickey, T-shirts, caps, buttons, keychains, a backpack, a tank top, Mickey and Minnie ears, jewelry and more. Rainbow coloring and similarly bright patterns feature in the line, and a number of pieces bear a logo that is Mickey’s gloved hands shaped into a heart. Text on the tank top reads “Believe in Love.” Disney is donating 10% of the proceeds from the Rainbow Disney Collection to the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), a nonprofit that works to create safe and inclusive K-12 schools for LGBTQ youth.

Meanwhile, politicians are using promotional products to proclaim their support for Pride Month too. Democratic presidential candidates have been particularly active in this arena. Elizabeth Warren, for instance, has T-shirts, tank tops and totes for sale. A couple of the tanks and tees feature the transgender pride flag colors within the phrase “We Persist,” while other tees, tanks and the tote say “Dream Big, Fight Hard, Live Proud” in rainbow lettering.

Elizabeth Warren Pride collection tank top featuring the colors of the transgender pride flag.

Similarly, Kamala Harris released a collection called “Pride for the People.” It features buttons, stickers, T-shirts, hats, tank tops, totes and patches with the words “Kamala” or “Fearless” in rainbow colors.

Pride button from the Kamala Harris “Pride for the People” collection.

Joe Biden’s Pride merch featured a clever interweaving of his “E” logo into text and graphics on T-shirts, tanks, buttons and stickers. Perhaps the standout piece, though, is the tank that features Biden’s trademark aviators in rainbow.

Joe Biden Pride Aviator Tank Top.

Various musical acts came to market with Pride-themed swag, too. The band Walk the Moon was among them. A rainbow tie-dye bandanna, a T-shirt that says “equality” in rainbow, and a tote with a rainbow design and the text “We Carry Each Other” are part of the act’s collection.

Brands that operate in the promotional products space are releasing Pride-themed lines, too. American Apparel, owned by Top 40 supplier Gildan (asi/56842), has debuted a Pride capsule collection that centers on statement T-shirts. American Apparel is donating 100% of the proceeds to the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

View this post on Instagram

Our #Pride collection is officially here! 🌈

A post shared by American Apparel (@americanapparel) on May 28, 2019 at 10:24am PDT

Fossil, parent company of supplier Fossil Corporate Markets (asi/55145), has produced a limited-edition “Love in Color” watch. Fossil will donate all proceeds to the Hetrick-Martin Institute, which focuses services on LGBTQ youth.

Also, HanesBrands’ (asi/59528) Champion brand teamed up with fashion designer Todd Snyder to create Pride Month shorts (see below). Twenty percent of sales from the collection will go toward the National Park Foundation to support the Stonewall National Monument.

Image courtesy of Champion.

Various retailers/fashion brands are also showing support through special Pride-themed wearables. Participating brands include Adidas, Converse, Alexis Bittar, Bloomingdale’s, Diesel, Gap, Bombas, Teva, Levi’s and more. H&M is donating 10% of the global sales price from its Pride capsule collection to support the work of the United Nations’ Free & Equal campaign, which is focused on LGBTQ equality.