Charles River Apparel

Despite the tendency to “go big or go home” on the runways of New York’s Fall Fashion Week, it’s important to keep things in perspective. At least designers weren’t insisting we accessorize with a live snake or a headdress made out of bubble wrap. This time.

Go find a cardboard box. It can be square or rectangular. Then, grab a piece of paper (newspaper, wrapping paper, tissue paper, doesn’t matter). Wrap the box. Even those who, during the holiday wrapping bonanza, invariably find themselves covered in little scraps and pieces of tape—not to mention the proud giver of a misshapen, lumpy gift—will agree this is (conceptually) a fairly easy task.

Last year was so chock-full of great ideas, we couldn't fit them all into our 2009 Sales Outlook. Below, you'll find the tips we just couldn't squeeze in.

Charles River Apparel, based in Medford, Mass., an activewear apparel manufacturer, recently launched a social networking campaign to increase online discussion about the company and its active wear products. A perfect example is a recent blog posting from our [vice president] of production regarding the new consumer safety rulings on lead in children’s apparel.

Medford, Massachusetts-based activewear manufacturer Charles River Apparel announced the hiring of Rob Haughey as vice president of sales for the company.

ECONOMY SHMECONOMY. NOT to be glib, but that headline has sold one too many papers these days. Yes, things are not necessarily prospering, however, what the general public should be talking about is how to respond to these given circumstances. Facing the unenviable challenge of helping end-buyers find value in items that can all-too-easily be considered “extraneous,” now more than ever, suppliers and distributors must continuously prove the worth of their wares. Showing how each garment can be used in a practical wardrobe application attaches a tangible benefit to every dollar spent, an essential formula for continuing to drive business through financially uncertain

Medford, Massachusetts-based Charles River Apparel, a supplier of activewear to the promotional products industry, announced its partnership with the charity Gear4Good, a program that reuses donated outdoor gear and apparel. Gear4Good is part of the Albuquerque, New Mexico-based non profit organization The Mountain Fund. The Mountain Fund assists impoverished mountain communities with health care, education and human rights issues around the world. The Mountain Fund’s program Gear4Good collects donated used items such as packs, sleeping bags, boots and outerwear to be reused by trekking porters, search-and-rescue teams and at-risk youth. Charles River Apparel recently donated hundreds of jackets which will be put to good

What does Sir Thomas More have to do with coats? Nothing, actually. But, to get literary for a second, “A Man for All Seasons” was the title of a play about him, written in 1954 by Robert Bolt, and naturally, brought to film in 1966. Neither one of these have anything to do with coats, though, either. The phraseology surrounding him, however? Well, that’s another story. Should coats somehow become personified, the idiom so closely associated with More could very easily apply. Why? Because, simply, they allow companies to advertise year-round with their employees as spokespeople, affirmed Alisa Buckner, merchandise and marketing director at

After three years of research and development, fabric testing, focus groups with distributors and end-users, leading active wear provider, Charles River Apparel, based in Medford, Mass. announced the nationwide launch of Charles River Sport, a shirt line made exclusively with TopShield moisture-management fabric. “We didn’t make this decision lightly,” says president and owner Barry Lipsett. “We know how admired we are as being the ‘experts in outerwear’ however we couldn’t ignore the requests from our customers to apply our expertise to shirts. Lipsett continued, “This was a personal project of mine that I started several years ago and I insisted that the moisture-management properties,

LOYALTY HOLDS POWERFUL sway over many people’s actions. It is difficult to settle for good when the best is just a little further. Loyalty will see the extra mile traveled, the extra call made and the extra cost paid. Often, it is a result of superior quality or superior service, while other times familiarity can be held accountable, and yet other people will have a simple affection toward a brand. This is the dream of any corporation: To be known of not as a source, but as the definitive source for a commodity. Promotional Marketing’s 2007 Supplier Excellence Awards recognize the best in more