News & Updates

Click Here to Visit Our Domestic Inventory Site

While RP & Associates specializes in designing and manufacturing custom products, we can also provide you with access to nearly a million products that are already produced and warehoused domestically. Our domestic inventory is great for quickly getting traditional promotional items like glasses, keychains, t-shirts, pens, and much more; simply search to see if we have it in our domestic inventory.

We also have access to international inventory and can provide you with custom manufacturing. If you can't find what you're looking for in our domestic inventory, contact us and we'll provide you with international sources as well custom manufacturing options. To continue to our domestic inventory search site, please click here or click the search button.

Click Here to Visit Our Domestic Inventory Site

RP & Associates has the ability to source products around the world. Our sourcing division is made up of two components, international and domestic. We have an international presence to ensure you have access to high-quality products at factory-direct pricing. We also have relationships with domestic companies if you need to buy locally and receive your products quickly.

International Sourcing

When you want to get the product you desire, we are able to search for a match in factories all around the world. We get pricing and samples from a variety companies and compare the quality and specifications of the items received. Each of the items undergoes a thorough quality control and inspection process before being deemed a viable option. Once an item is selected, it can be customized using various printing methods. Production time on international items is often the time needed to imprint the item if it's in inventory. If the item is not in inventory and needs to be produced, this process can take up to 30 days.

Whether buying an item that needs to be produced or from inventory, shipping time is much longer for international orders. With these type of orders, most products are shipped by boat, which takes approximately 30 days. Items can air-freighted in (sent by plane), however this is a far more expensive option and is only cost efficient on small items like sun glasses, key chains, etc. A hybrid approach is to ship the items via boat, but have the first batch air-freighted in; this way you have initial inventory and only pay a fraction of the air-freight costs. Due to the nearly unlimited number of products available around the world, we do not have an international inventory system. Please contact us and one of our global sourcing experts will do a custom search tailored to your needs.

Domestic Sourcing

Domestically sourced products are typically customized and shipped from within the United States. These items are manufactured in the United States in some cases, while in others it is only the imprinting that happens locally. Domestically sourced items are typically priced slightly higher than international products, however they will arrive much sooner since they are shipping from within the United States. International shipping typically takes 3 days, whereas domestic shipping usually takes no more than a week. In some cases though, international sourcing can be good for small items even if you need them quickly. This is because if the item is small enough and fits into just a few boxes, the added air-freight cost can be less than the mark-up when purchasing domestically. If you'd like to search our domestic inventory click here.

RP & Associates offers custom manufacturing of our designs or yours! We work with all materials to create a wide variety of products, including drinkware, barware, packaging, gift-sets, containers, barware, signs, POS, and much more. Custom manufacturing allows you to personalize your item anyway you wish, but is usually only viable for larger volumes. We can assist or completely handle the specifications, sampling process, mold creation, production, and all other necessary steps. Through every stage of the process, we keep you up to date and make modifications as specified.

Custom manufacturing is only viable when the item is not needed immediately, since the process takes significantly longer than ordering an item from inventory that has already been produced. The first step is to design the product and its specifications. Next, we create a hand sample which takes approximately two weeks. Once the hand sample is approved, the mold creation process begins. The mold is what allows for large volume manufacturing and takes about 30 days to create. Once the mold is completed, production begins which usually takes another 30 days. Finally the product can be air-freighted in and arrive in one week, or can be sent by boat, taking another 30 days.