PPAI • MAY 2026 • 37 International Leadership Summit in Brussels, Belgium (more on this later). Still, the notion of ecosystems and falling back into regional bubbles is echoed by Steven Baumgartner, CEO of Cybergroup International and chair of the EAC board. “Brands operate globally today, supply chains are global and ideas move instantly,” Baumgartner says, “but our industry is still more fragmented than the brands we serve.” What might hold back constant international business in merch is somewhat natural growing pains. Distributor networks, sourcing preferences, regulations and sustainability standards are simply not uniform across borders and oceans. Europe’s branded merch industry, for example, is far ahead of the U.S. in the sustainability sector due to both regulation requirements and consumer demand. On the other hand, the North American market has a stronger demand for tech products and highvolume orders. None of this is insurmountable, of course, and at an industry level, opportunities lie in those differences once bridges are fully formed. But for an individual firm, it can seem a daunting task to overcome. The answer is to get out there and create that new business and erase those learning curves. Tyler Schooley moved to Uganda from Oklahoma 18 years ago to start a business in East Africa, hoping to create jobs for the community and build up a business for himself. Now, his distributorship, Rocket, has a few dozen employees across multiple African countries. He didn’t know the branded merch landscape in Africa when he got started. As a matter of fact, he didn’t know the branded merch landscape anywhere when he got started. So, he went to The PPAI Expo, as well as trade shows in Dusseldorf, Hong Kong and Johannesburg. “It made sense to invest and say it’s worth the $2,000-$3,000 to fly to a country, to go to a show, meet people and learn, because it exposed me to so much,” Schooley says. The reality is that the ecosystems exist, but compartmentalization is fragmenting, simply because ambitious companies want to do business with multinational brands and expand their business across borders. Take a company like Goldstar, PPAI 100’s No. 16 supplier. The San Diego-headquartered company also has locations in Ireland and the Czech Republic, and its leader, Heather Smartt, holds the title of global head of Goldstar and is based out of Portugal. Unsurprisingly, her European environment affects her sustainability focus; Goldstar signed British Promotional Merchandise Association’s Step Forward Pledge, which requires companies to establish “meaningful” environmental and social goals, and the progress will be reviewed on an annual basis. There’s nothing exotic about that kind of worldly focus among the industry’s most successful firms. It’s not just suppliers or massive companies strategically utilizing outside markets, either. The PPAI Expo has become a meeting place for international distributors and suppliers every year, sometimes their one trip to the U.S. that will include additional legs to meet with clients. “At ASA Brands, we work closely with several U.S. distributors, supporting their EMEA orders – so when their clients have offices across Europe, the Middle East or Africa, we handle that side of things for them,” says Caroline Bourke, COO of Ireland-based distributor ASA Brands. "The moment someone makes that choice, you start to see that this is a very global industry." –Tyler Schooley Pacific Productions / Shutterstock.com Branding Without Borders | Must Read
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