Lawrence, MA-based Top 40 supplier Gemline (asi/56070) has acquired the RuMe brand and its related intellectual property. Financial terms of the deal, announced Thursday, Dec. 17, were not released.

RuMe, short for ReUseMe, designs reusable bags and accessories. The brand began life in the retail space, gaining traction at gift shops and boutiques before expanding into leading retailers that include Target, Whole Foods and The Container Store.

Jonathan Isaacson, CEO, Gemline

In 2014, RuMe entered the promotional products channel, where its often brightly patterned bags and accessories grew quickly in popularity. Four years later, RuMe signed a long-term strategic partnership with Gemline, a deal that accelerated RuMe’s growth in the promo channel.

“RuMe has been a great brand partner to Gemline the past few years due to their strength and depth in cut-and-sew products, encouraging growth and alignment in their desire to offer sleekly designed eco-friendly products,” said Frank Carpenito, president of Gemline. “We are thrilled to leverage our success to advance our relationship with the RuMe brand from partner to owner, and we look forward to growing the RuMe product portfolio with our distributor partners in the future.”

The RuMe Classic Mini-Tote is one of the RuMe products Gemline currently offers.

Gemline CEO Jonathan Isaacson said Gemline anticipates making more key acquisitions in the coming years.

“We continue to see opportunity in being best-in-class brand stewards for both large and up-and-coming retail brands looking to make their mark in the promotional channel, and feel strongly that our culture and reputation make us desirable to brands and businesses looking to be acquired,” Isaacson said.

With reported 2019 North American promotional product revenue of $105 million, Gemline ranked 13th on Counselor’s latest list of the largest suppliers in the industry.

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