44 • JUNE 2026 • PPAI Caribbean International, spending every couple of weeks on a cruise ship. Just when he was ready to move back home to Richmond, Virginia, he received a call from a headhunter for a job with New Jersey-based reward supplier MediaTree. Ten minutes after the interview, he received an offer. A little over a year later, he became president of the company. ASI was his next destination, accepting an executive role focused on marketing and digital user experience. “I consider myself to be a marketing guy with a tech influence because I understand the consumer experience and their needs,” Watson says. “I’m excited to work with distributors to understand what their end users are looking for and find solutions to help us get there. We’ve gone from being a product-focused industry to a service-focused industry where we use branded merchandise as part of those solutions.” Watson’s journey also saw him work for various distributors over the years, opening his eyes to their delicate balance of serving both supplier partners and enduser clients. That’s also when he realized there was enormous opportunity in the industry to capitalize on e-commerce and company webstores. In 2018, with a diverse background covering all facets of the industry supply chain, Watson joined Vantage as chief digital officer and then chief experience officer. It was clear that he was destined to be Neaman’s right-hand man, playing a pivotal role in enhancing customer experience, streamlining operations and driving business development initiatives. Then, Watson’s mother passed away suddenly. With his widowed father suffering from early stages of dementia, he decided to step away from Vantage in 2022 (while staying engaged in the industry) and move back home to help. “I couldn’t do the job I had here because I needed to be there,” Watson says. “Even though I left the organization, I talked to Ira every couple of weeks. He’d always ask, ‘When can we get the band back together?’” On The Cutting Edge In 2023, Watson returned as CEO, picking right back up where he left off. In fact, hardly a week goes by in which PPAI Media doesn’t receive a press release from Vantage touting a new hire, partnership or technological advancement. “Vantage has been a silent quality supplier in the industry that’s getting louder and louder and louder,” Watson says. Under his guidance, the company launched a new webstore platform and created a digital integrations team to facilitate on-demand ordering and fulfillment. As of March, 59% of Vantage’s business comes from orders that are directly integrated with distributors. Ahead of the curve, the company has offered single pieces since 2008, well before it was fashionable. Now that e-commerce has transformed the industry, Vantage has been well-positioned to benefit. In 2024, 14% of sales came from single piece, printon-demand orders. Last year, that figure more than doubled to 34%. Taking pride in those orders being net new revenue, Watson says the company is on track to hit 50% this year. “If I come to Ira with something I think we should lean into or invest in, particularly with AI or technology, there’s not a lot of concern that we’re getting away from what he would consider ‘legacy’ as a means of operation,” Watson says. The integrations fuel Vantage’s ever-growing strategic partnerships with fellow suppliers. In 2024, the firm began an exclusive collaboration with Redwood Classics Apparel, becoming the U.S. provider of the Canadian brand’s premium styles. Other partnerships include Starline and iClick, which became hard goods providers on Vantage’s e-commerce POD platform. The company has also expanded its international offerings through Lynka, a Polish decorator that Vantage acquired in 2021. Vantage is also one of the largest decorators for industry titans SanMar, S&S Activewear and Cutter & Buck. Watson says there are more units belonging to those Must Read | Suppliers “Vantage has been a silent quality supplier in the industry that’s getting louder and louder and louder.” – ROB WATSON
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