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Trump Spends Big On Promo

Presidential candidate Donald Trump is investing heavily on promotional products to help propel his campaign for America’s highest office.

During the third quarter, the Republican frontrunner spent $825,000 on branded merchandise, according to a campaign finance report released last week. Trump’s investment in ad specialties outpaced his spending on any other single category in the quarter, the report revealed.

The real estate mogul and former reality television star sells the swag through a website and distributes it to attendees at his high-energy campaign events. In the webstore, Trump’s campaign slogan – “Make America Great Again” – is embellished across a gamut of products, including hats, bumper stickers, yard signs, T-shirts, hoodies, can coolers, pennants, megaphones, buttons and even a raglan-sleeve shirt for dogs.

Trump’s hats have proven especially popular, which has been good news for Ace Specialties, a Lafayette, LA-based distributor that has provided the campaign with branded caps. An analysis from The Wall Street Journal says the industry firm billed Trump’s campaign about $500,000 during the third quarter. Newark, NJ-based supplier Unionwear, which offers Made-in-the-USA items produced by unionized employees, has produced promotional items for seven campaigns this year, including Trump and Hillary Clinton.

“Campaigns look for distributors who can handle everything from product development through fulfillment, including running the web stores,” says Unionwear President Mitch Cahn. “Those distributors with experience in the political merchandise market have an advantage because they can project volumes and work on a week-to-week basis with their suppliers. All campaigns vet their suppliers to make sure the goods are really made the way they’re labelled so merchandise doesn’t become a source of embarrassment.”