Scan the separate ‘accessories' section in the catalogue and on the website and even more products are to be found. Umbrellas, towelling items, flags, pennants and teddy bears all feature.

Customer services manager, Andrea Charteris, comments: "All the ancillary products we stock are promotional items in their own right and can perform a function totally independently of any other product. They can also provide valuable add-on sales. For example, if a hotel is buying chef's clothing or aprons for waiting staff, are ancillary products such as tea towels also needed? Taking a fresh look at accessories from every angle and investigating the opportunities can lead to some valuable new business."

Top sellers include Towel City's TC42 Sports Towel, TC13 Luxury Golf Towel, and TC41 Tea Towel. Towel City's high quality robes and slippers are also in demand from hotels, fitness centres, spas and beauty salons.

Best sellers in this category are the brand's TC21 Kimono Towel Robe made from 400gsm heavyweight cotton which has excellent absorbency properties and the co-ordinating TC64 Classic Terry Slippers.

As a promotional item, teddy bears open up myriad opportunities. Andrea adds: "Bears have a great ‘feelgood' factor which makes them a safe and happy choice for all sorts of promotional purposes. The opportunities for using these adorable characters really are limitless."

PenCarrie stocks Mumbles teddies, known for their cheery smiles. Clothing for the teddies is sold separately and includes the best-selling MM71 Teddy T shirt. The Teddy T shirt comes in sizes to fit eight different Mumbles bears. Some bears including the popular MM21 Honey Bear come ready dressed in a T shirt (removable for decoration).

This year, a Supersize Honey Bear is also available: MM24 is just under three feet tall (86cms) and wears a cream velour shirt.

One of summer's best sellers is the SC10 Splashmac Rain Poncho, a one-size PVC hooded cape which doubles as a groundsheet. It comes in a carry case which can be decorated and is available in five colours.

This is perfect for selling at any outdoor sports or other open air event (including music festivals and theatre productions). It is also a good product for holiday organisations of any size to sell, whether a major tour operator, hotel, campsite or B&B.

"PenCarrie are happy to supply any quantity of any product that we stock, from a single item up to thousands," comments Andrea. "It means you can decorate a single item as a sample to show to a potential customer and then sell them whatever quantity in whatever sizes or colours they might require. Using a decorated sample to sell in to a customer is one of the most effective sales techniques we know of," she adds.

Caps and bags are always big sellers in particular for sports-related activities from local club and school team level through to major sponsored events where spectators love to have some kind of souvenir. The principal brands available from PenCarrie are Beechfield for headgear, plus BagBase and Quadra for bags.

The golf umbrella is another year-round favourite. A prestigious give-away at any corporate event, other demands for golf umbrellas come from hotels, restaurants and others in the hospitality sector who all like to have brollies available for guests; as do executive limousine companies for their clients. Quadra's QD360 Pro Golf Umbrella, with its windproof and anti-lightning design features, is a good choice.

"Opportunities for accessory sales exist at every level and all are worth investigating," says Andrea, adding, "at PenCarrie we do all we can to support decorators with a raft of marketing materials that include the ‘ebrochure builder' facility available on the website. Customers tell us they find this easy to use and successful in generating business."

For more information call 0800 252248, email: sales@pencarrie.com or visit www.pencarrie.com

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