SPONSORED CONTENT Goldstar: 25 Years Of Full Color IN 1999, AS THE WORLD WAS PREPARING to welcome a new millennium, Goldstar (PPAI 114031, Platinum) seized an opportunity to make its mark in full-color decorating on writing instruments. At the time, the industry was mostly limited to single-color silk screening and pad printing. Seeing a viable gap in the marketplace for true four-color decoration, Goldstar’s parent company developed a proprietary, high-speed process that deposits ink directly on the substrate of a pen using a unique sublimation process to print a high-de inition, 360-degree imprint. Some of the irst pens decorated using the method – such as the Colorama and Grip-White – are still available today and continue to be molded at Goldstar’s manufacturing facility in Shelbyville, Tennessee. Later named SimpliColor®, the revolutionary process ran on equipment built in-house by company engineers who retro itted a popular commercial printer to produce intricate designs in nearly limitless colors. It was a sizeable investment for the then-mid-sized supplier but the risk paid off by transforming the world of product decoration and irmly establishing Goldstar as the industry expert in full color. From its enormous success with writing instruments, the company began broadening its multi-color printing capabilities beyond pens to include bags, backpacks and coolers in 2017, followed by drinkware of all kinds and then stationery products such as spiral notepads, journals and sticky notepads. “Most people still know us as a writing instruments supplier because that’s how we established ourselves,” says RJ Hagel, global marketing director, “but now half of our SKUs are in bags, drinkware and stationery.” Today, this pioneer in full-color decoration offers a depth of techniques designed to optimize and maximize the best process for each product including silk screen, laser engraving, sublimation, direct-to- ilm and heat transfer. The latter is a water-based ink process introduced earlier this year that elevates messaging on non-woven and cotton bags, coolers and backpacks. When Hagel started at Goldstar in 2013, he was one of about 25 employees. In the decade since, those ranks have swelled to more than 220 people, not including factory personnel, and annual sales in 2023 topped $58 million placing the company at No. 16 on the 2024 PPAI 100. Hagel gives much of the credit for the company’s impressive growth to its legacy of excellence in full-color decoration. In the past 25 years Goldstar hasn’t swayed too far from what worked in the beginning. It still maintains a team of engineers who build many of the machines in-house to maximize speed and ensure its ability to meet customer demands. “Our capacity for decorating in full-color – especially on writing instruments – is pretty impressive,” he says. “We can turn large programs quickly in a cost-effective manner that makes our simply all-inclusive pricing an undeniable value!” GOLDSTAR FAST FACTS 83% of Goldstar’s line is available with full-color decoration. Seven unique full-color decoration techniques. The average production on full-color decorating is three days. SimpliColor offers the largest fullcolor decoration area on writing instruments –up to ive square inches. PPAI • SEPTEMBER 2024 • 53
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzU4OQ==