They are “antimicrobial products” and/or stainless steel. This means you can safely use and distribute these products knowing they fight off the microbes that can cause disease.

What is Antimicrobial?

In contrast to antibacterial agents, antimicrobial substances offer a greater level of product protection by continuously inhibiting the growth of microbes on surfaces for very long periods of time.

1)     REFINE Antimicrobial Pen

REFINE’S anti-microbial material, Sanitized Silver®, inhibits the spread and growth of microbes such as bacteria, fungi, yeast, algae, etc. Available in four trim colors pre-branded with Antimicrobial identification imprinted on the clip.

Refine’s antimicrobial treatment, Sanitized Silver®, begins working immediately upon contact and provides continuous product protection. Because the additive occurs at the manufacturing level, it doesn’t wear off and remains effective for the life of the product.

How does the additive do that? First, the additive destabilizes the bacterial outer cell membrane. Then it cuts off air to the cell.  Next, food intake is blocked. Finally, the ability of the cell to divide and reproduce is cut off. Once this happens, the bacteria deteriorates and can no longer spread.

2)   Colorama Antimicrobial Pen

Our new USA* Colorama Antimicrobial Pen includes an antimicrobial additive that fights against the growth and transmission of over 99% of bacteria, molds, yeasts, algae and other micro-organisms. The additive is molded into exterior plastic parts, lasting the entire life of the product.

With a full-color imprint, this retractable ballpoint is ideal for business focused on safety & hygiene.

3)    CSANTI Retractable, Antimicrobial Pen

The most popular, retractable pen in promotional products is now available with an antimicrobial additive – protecting the pen by suppressing the growth of bacteria, algae, fungus, mold, and mildew on the pen.

PrevaGuard products contain an EPA registered antimicrobial additive that is molded directly into the pen’s plastic components. This helps protect the pen by suppressing the growth of bacteria, molds, mildew, and fungi, especially in high-moisture environments.

4)    Mouse Pad With Antimicrobial Protection

Antimicrobial Mouse Pads are tried & true promotional workhorses. The soft fabric surface provides the comfort and superior mousing performance computer users have favored since the mouse pad was invented. As an added value, your customers will love the antimicrobial protection.

Even in today’s wireless world, mousepads are great for all businesses using desktop computers.

5)    Stainless Steel No Touch Tool with Stylus and Bottle Opener

PERFECT ZERO-TOUCH GADGET TO PREVENT GERMS

The Hands-Free Door Opener Tool is designed to keep you safe and stop the spread by limiting exposure to infected surfaces in day-to-day activities.

This Multipurpose Door Opener includes a stylus and bottle opener. The key or germ hook can be used as a sanitary door opener, no-touch button-pusher tool, keychain tool, keychain stylus, anti-touch stick tool or anti-germ utility tool for infected handles, locks,  elevators, ATMs, keypads, switches, sinks, gas pumps, levers, payment machines, trash bins. The stylus tip works on most touchscreens, and much more.

Comfortable, compact & durable – This stainless steel tool can hook or attach easily in pockets, belt straps, bags or purses, and a small hole for a keychain or carabiner.

Contact me, or start a quote to get you started on promotional products that will truly tell your customer, prospects, and employees that you care about them.

We are here to help!

Debbie Smith

p.s. We will most likely be using precautions for a while. If you’re interested in putting your brand on COVID19 supplies such as masks (for adults and kids), sanitizers, and more, check out the last blog: A Variety of COVID19 Supplies.

You would be surprised at how many promotional products you can provide that are earth-friendly. From ballpoint pens to bio-degradable disposable cups, utensils, and keychains. Below are a few that you can choose from.

1. This eco-friendly, click-action ballpoint features a wheat straw trim to complement its bamboo barrel.

2. This classy bamboo stylus pen is tech-savvy and eco-friendly, which enables it to be used on the iPhone, iPad devices.

3. World’s first pens made from recycled bottles! Made from 89% post-consumer recycled bottles. Vibrant gel ink for smooth, effortless writing.

4. The wheat straw barrel, silver trim, and capacitance stylus of the pen below make it both eco-friendly and highly functional.

5. Save the earth while you write with this eco-friendly, click-action pen is made of wheat straw.

6. The 18 oz wheat cup below is BPA free, dishwasher and microwave safe, and suitable for hot liquids.

7. Below are boxes and straws made of wheat. The box comes in 3 parts that screw together and can be assembled in seconds. The box and straws are reusable. Cleaning brush included. Great for travel, purse, office, sports bag, glove box, or even your pocket.

8. The buildable box and tube set below are made of wheat straw. It comes in 3 parts that screw together and can be assembled in seconds, The straw is reusable. A cleaning brush included. Great for travel and it clips on to any purse or sports bag, fits in the glove box, or even your pocket.

9. Below is a bamboo, 3 piece set includes that includes a fork, spoon, and knife in a convenient carrying case. The set is perfect for being on the go and eliminating the use of disposable plastic utensils!

10. Through a partnership with 1% For The Planet, one percent of sales of EcoSmart products will be donated to nonprofits dedicated to protecting the planet. Below is a mug made with wheat straw. It comes with a push-on lid with twist secure closure. Double-wall construction with a stainless steel liner.

As you can see, there are lots of eco-friendly, promotional products to choose from!

It’s very exciting to be able to provide products to our customers that not only promote a positive image of your brands but also are good for the planet.

It’s a win-win, don’t you agree?

Contact me and I’ll help you get started.

Debbie Smith

It got me thinking of how we take all the “things” we have in our home for granted.

How many pens do you have in your home? Dozens? Hundreds? We went from writing with sticks and chiseled rocks, to feathers, to  pens dipped in in bottles to ball point pens.

Writing was at one time romantic… look at Santa with a feather dripping with ink in candle light, writing on parchment paper. Ahhh.

Just for fun, here is a basic history of the pen (the word pen is derived from “penna”, Latin for feather).

Around 4000 BC – Man scratches the surface of a moist clay tablet with a bronze or bone tool. 

Around 3000 BC – The Egyptians used thin reed brushes or reeds to  on papyrus scrolls scribes used thin reed brushes or reed pens. 

1300 BC – The Romans have been developing form of writing, that they scribed into thin sheets of wax . Romans used a metal stylus.

400 – 600 AD – As well as writing on parchment, the Anglo-Saxons also used tablets filled with wax for notes and for planning the layout of large books. They wrote on the tables with a metal or bone stylus, that had a pointed end and rubbed out the words with flat end. 

600-1800 AD – The Europeans found that writing on parchment with a quill pen altered the style of writing. At first they used capital letters all the time, but later they developed faster styles with small letters. Quill Pens were the writing instrument from 600 to 1800 AD. 

1790s – Pencil lead was invented independently in France and Australia. 

1800-1850 – A metal pen point was been patented in 1803 but patent was not commercially exploited. Steel nibs came into common use in the 1830s. By the 19th century metal nibs had replaced quill pens. By 1850 quill pen usage was fading and the quality of the steel nibs had been improved by tipping them with hard alloys of Iridium, Rhodium and Osmium.

1884 – Lewis Edson Waterman, an insurance broker invented the first proper fountain pen. 

1888-1916 – The principle of the ball point pen actually dates from the late 19th Century when patents were taken out by John Loud in 1888 for a product to mark leather and in 1916 by Van Vechten Riesberg. However neither of these patents went commercial. 

1940s – The modern version of ball point pen was invented by Josef (Lazlo) and Georg Biro. In 1943 the first commercial models were made. The rights to Lazlo’s patent were bought by the British Government. The ball point pen is more rugged than the fountain pen which may be why sales rocketed during World War II when the Military needed robust writing implements to survive the battlefield environment.

Now it gets interesting to all you entrepreneurs out there!

October 1945 – The ball point pen was introduced to the U.S. market.

While putting the finishing touches on his gravity-fed pen with hand-assembled body made of war-surplus aluminum, the entrepreneur, Milton Reynolds stumbled onto the fact that it wrote, without blurring, on a soggy cocktail napkin.  A tag line was born: “It Writes Under Water!”

Who, other than Jacques Cousteau, would need that? But Reynolds guessed it would get people talking and some 10,000 were sold at the launch at Gimbel’s department store in New York on October 29th 1945 for the hefty price of $12.50 (which is about $165 dollars today). 

1953 – First inexpensive ball point pens were available when the French Baron, Bich, developed the industrial process for manufacturing ball point pens that lowered the unit cost dramatically (BIC, Co.) 

Today, we type on computers, tablets and phones. It seems that writing with a pen and/or pencil is once again a romantic notion. It’s almost nostalgic, a skill we need to pass down to our children so it’s not a forgotten art.

Maybe it’s why adult coloring became so popular. We collectively miss the days of using the creative process of writing and using out hands to create and communicate.

Maybe Santa should put a few nice pens, pencils and/or markers in your holiday gifts and stockings this year.

I wish you the happiest of  holidays and a prosperous, joyous new year.

Debbie Smith
(614) 519-2392
debbie@advantageprintsolutions.com