With the last post being on drink bottles which are classic summer product (but popular all year round), I thought I would continue the Drinkware theme, and being Winter now here in Australia, Coffee Mugs would be a good product to focus on.

Printed coffee mugs are an ever popular promotional item for the reason that they are genuinely useful, have a large branding area, are kept for a long period of time, and used every day in the workplace. In some ways they are almost the ideal promotional product.

Coffee mugs are also a bit of a danger product for the purchaser of promotional products. There is a lot of price disparity out there, and we can guarantee you will find printed coffee mugs available online for at least 50% less than our prices. An unusual admission, but it’s true, and seems unusual especially if you are aware we print coffee mugs at our own production facility. There is however a very important reason for this, and it’s well worth noting if you don’t want to end up with a product that lets down your marketing efforts!

Lets start with how to do things properly: A quality promotional mug starts with an A-Grade ceramic, porcelain or bone china coffee mugs. Mugs come in two grades, A or B, with A-Grade giving a smoother bump free surface and standards required for high firing and long life print technology.

Secondly, and most importantly is the print. The correct way to print a coffee mug is via a transfer which is applied to the coffee mug using a carrier. The mug is then heat fired in a kiln (also known as high fired or hi-fired) at 650+ degrees celsius – in most cases at 850 degrees. The inks used are also a specialist product, which starts as a powder containing colour pigments specifically designed for ceramics and is then mixed to become a printable ink. This combination of quality mug, quality ink and high temperature kiln firing will ensure the print on your coffee mug is there to last.

Now, the wrong way: Some “budget” and “less than reputable” suppliers of printed coffee mugs use a technique known as “pad printing” to print coffee mugs, and then run them through a small heat tunnel. This is the same way products such as pens and golf balls are printed, and a great printing technique – for the right product! For coffee mugs it’s completely ineffective; not only do genuine ceramic inks not exist for pad printing; and not only is pad printing a technique that doesn’t deliver a thick enough layer of ink for a coffee mug, but the lack of proper firing means that the print will scratch off and wear badly over time, if it even lasts that long – many pad printed coffee mugs lose their ink in the first couple washes.

Global prints coffee mugs in-house at our own printing facility, with all coffee mugs being kiln fired to ensure your print will last. All our coffee mugs are A-Grade quality and confirm to the very high standards required for our high firing and long life print technology. Pad printing or lower temperate firing may look ok, but the will scratch off and wear – there are no shortcuts to a quality job when printing on glassware, coffee mugs and other ceramics.

Only a professional and reputable glass and ceramic printer like Global can give you the print quality and longevity you expect. And with lower minimums than most (from 36 units) and great pricing we are the coffee mug printer of choice.

One product we print in the thousands is the humble t-shirt. We do a really good job on these (see below sample pics), but also have to make sure that we can always provide custom printed promotional t-shirts at good prices, so that our clients can maximise their marketing dollar.

A lot of new t-shirt brands have entered the market lately, importers prices have put prices up and down, and there have been a lot of changes overall. Because of all these changes we have recently compared and tested a wide range of options in order to ensure we are giving our clients the best value possible, and have new favorite standard basic t-shirts from a little known brand called QUOZ. These t-shirts are very well priced and very nice quality – the variation in quality between brands is amazing when you take the time to look carefully, and price isn’t the only guide – the worst two we found (I won’t name them) were the cheapest one available and one mid-high priced model!

We currently have a special on the QUOZ Premiere T-Shirts, prices start from as little as $4.50+gst for coloured t-shirts including 1 colour print, and $3.90+gst for white t-shirts including 1 colour print (price will vary based on the quantity).

If you could like to chat with us about your t-shirt requirements please call us on 1800 060 305.

5 Colour T-Shirt Print Sample

4 Spot Colour Print on a Green T-Shirt

4 Spot Colour T-shirt Print sample

One Colour Print on a Charcoal T-Shirt

The new Saturn drink bottle is a premium quality promotional drink bottle at a budget price.

Over the last few years there has been a rise and rise of bottled water usage, to the extent that over half a billion dollars was spent on the product in Australia last year. Obviously this increase in drinking of water rather than softdrinks ties in with people’s desire for healthy living – a major focus as people become more and more aware of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

We find this bottled water phenomonon a little strange in one respect (despite the fact we sell a very high quality custom bottled water),? given the international focus on environmental awareness and eco friendly products. Obviously this increase in purchasing bottled water brings with it millions of discarded plastic bottles which can be recycled but are just as often simply discarded. While recycling is great, reducing the use of disposbale items and replacing them with reusable ones has a lot more benefit.

Which brings us to custom printed drink bottles – a product that is looking to be the absolute hit promotional item this summer. They an ideal promotional product in the sense that they will be kept and used a huge number of times, as well as reducing waste compared with buying bottled water. And they help your hip pocket as well!

Custom printed drink bottles have always been a good value promotional item, but there has always been two levels of product – those made of LDPE (Low density Poly ethylene – the soft squishy stuff) and those made from either HDPE (High Density Poly ethylene – the more ridid plastic) or a mix of the two. The better quality LDPE ones are generally nicer, but are usually much more expensive – but not any more!

We have just released a new drink bottle called the Saturn Premium Soft Squeeze Bottle. This new style is made of the good stuff (LDPE), has a clear view strip, high quality lid, attractive design, large 800ml capacity, an amazing 28 stock colours including fluoros and metallics, is printed with a very high quality all around wrap print, AND to top it all off is at a better price than most so called “budget” drink bottles! Clients who have purchased this product already are raving around it, and for under $2 each including print on a 1000 unit order it’s pretty much unbeatable. If you would like more info view the product on our website or give us a call on 1800 060 305.