Distributors | Must Read DISTRIBUTOR NO. 70 SPECTRUM DESIGNS Very Welcome This distributor is unlike any other. But it offers lessons that everyone in the industry could learn. By Josh Ellis Less than 10 minutes after I arrive at Spectrum Designs, Brian, a stocky middle-aged production worker, is standing inches in front of me, looking deeply into my eyes. I’m snapping photos on a quick tour of the organization’s Long Island headquarters and being introduced to a handful of staff members, most of them on the autism spectrum. Brian, dressed in jeans and an untucked royal blue Spectrum polo, walks onto the printing room floor, and my host says we have to meet. It happens fast. We shake hands and introduce ourselves. He tells me I look great and lunges for a big, chest-to-chest hug. And then he pulls inches away and drops a bomb I waited months to say to my own wife after we started dating: “I love you.” It’s the first time a man has told me this since my dad died in 2017. And it feels every bit as genuine as any time I’ve ever heard it. “I love you, too, brother,” I say. How could I not? There’s no pretense here. Everyone is very welcome at what has to be the most remarkable organization in the promotional products industry. The View From Main Street Spectrum Designs (PPAI 673690, Silver) may be the ultimate test case for a person’s willingness to accept an inherent value in inclusion, acceptance and belonging, or their newsier moniker – DEI. In this place, everyone is different, literal plot points on a wide spectrum. And yet they bring unique strengths and personalities to make the sum greater. A promo distributor operating as a nonprofit, Spectrum doesn’t sit in an industrial zone or tucked away in a suburban business park. It lives in a PPAI • JUNE 2025 • 55
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