Plastic bags are in the crosshairs. Bans have spread throughout the U.S. in the last decade, and the offering of single-use plastic has become heavily scrutinized. It should all spell trouble for a company like Bag Makers (asi/37940), which four decades ago was founded with the premise of producing printed plastic bags.

And yet, the Top 40 supplier continues to thrive. According to founder and CEO Maribeth Sandford, the company’s plastic bag business has actually grown over the past five years. Although legislation for single-use plastic bags varies across the United States, the prohibition usually applies to products made with a very thin plastic. Because Bag Makers prints on a heavier mil plastic, distributors can still sell its bags to customers abiding by the new laws.

Bag Makers employs more than 400 people from its headquarters in Union, IL.

That’s not to mention its most popular category, nonwoven totes, which have become an iconic item in the promotional landscape. In regions under a 100% ban on single-use plastic bags, the Union, IL-based supplier can provide alternatives with its extensive line of nonwoven polypropylene, polyester, PET and cotton/jute bags.

As the legislation and conversation surrounding bags has shifted, Bag Makers has adapted. Perpetually ahead of the curve, with laser focus and outstanding service, it’s easy to see why Bag Makers is Counselor’s Supplier of the Year for 2020.

“We’ve been able to build a great production, office and sales team, as well as maintain a high level of award-winning customer service, imprinting quality and large inventory while continuing to add great new products and multiple imprinting capabilities over the years – all while focusing solely on bags,” Sandford says.

Single-Mom Hustle
Sandford started Bag Makers in 1980. The industry pioneer (she received Counselor’s Woman of Distinction Award in 2004 and Counselor’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013) had previously worked for a company that sold supplies, including plastic bags, to retail stores. Time and again she ran into requests for bag quantities of less than the 5,000 minimum. The repeated queries caused the proverbial light bulb to spark over her head, and she decided to produce smaller runs of bags.

However, a single mom pursuing entrepreneurship faced many hurdles back then. Sandford says five different banks denied her a loan to buy a printing press. Undeterred, she approached her supportive father for a $5,000 loan. He gave it to her, but wanted to be paid back in a year’s time. Thus, her never-ending hustle began. During the day, she called on local stores to sell lower-volume orders of bags; by night, she and her business partner imprinted the bags in an old milk barn on a farm property in Woodstock, IL. Her father received his money on time, and an inspirational 40-year journey was underway.

“I don’t take things as a challenge,” Sandford says. “If something comes up, I accept it and figure out a way to overcome it and go forward.”

“You have to give them the right answer, get the correct artwork and ship on time. Our customers are the bones that have made our company.” Maribeth Sandford, Bag Makers

Sandford entered the promotional products market after exhibiting at a trade show in 1984. In learning about the industry’s traditional supply chain model and seeing the growing desire for low quantity orders, she envisioned endless opportunity. Buying out her business partner, she began building a juggernaut that has grown to 405 employees at the Union headquarters. Five-star ratings in ESP performance categories such as product quality, delivery and imprinting show why Bag Makers is a perennial Counselor Distributor Choice Award winner, having dominated the shopping bag category for 16 years in a row. The company also reported double-digit growth in 2018, reaching revenue of $56.1 million.

“It’s no surprise that Bag Makers has become the industry leader – they’re the experts,” says Dan Zyla, account manager at Denver-based Specialty Incentives (asi/331870). Zyla says the supplier has gotten him out of a few binds before, including when a large Denver-based customer was opening a new brand in Canada and needed retail bags on a tight deadline. From design to processing to proofs to revisions, Zyla says Bag Makers executed perfectly, especially considering it was a custom piece. “I know I can go to them for just about anything,” Zyla says.

Teresa Moisant feels the same way, having ordered from Bag Makers for more than 25 years. The owner of Oklahoma-based Moisant Promotional Products (asi/275276) recalls a basic order for mini shopping bags for a local hotel in which the customer’s logo had been imprinted too low. When Moisant called, Chuck Sandford, Maribeth’s late husband and former president of the company, simply said “we will reprint and get them there ASAP.”

“He made me a supporter for life,” Moisant says. “Bag Makers continuously goes above and beyond. We get communications from Bag Makers if there’s a concern about the text or the clarity of the imprint color on the bag. I love when a supplier is proactive.”

Adapting With the Times
Innovation has been a major factor in the supplier’s success. More than a decade before legislators targeted plastic products, Bag Makers unveiled its Big Thunder tote bags for shopping at grocery stores, selling more than 75 million to date. Moisant recalls a customer mentioning how other nonwoven tote bags were eight cents less than Big Thunder. Moisant says she would compare the bags by putting four cans of Campbell’s Soup inside. “The difference in weight and quality was very evident,” she says. “Bag Makers came to be known as the ‘good bag company’ to our customers.”

Sandford credits her son Paul, vice president of research and development, with examining the market to discover new bag materials. His arrival to the company fresh out of college coincided with the opening of Bag Makers’ factory in China, which also employs 400 workers.

However, importing has become a burden during the trade war between the U.S. and China. All the company’s bags from China were affected by the increased tariffs, according to Bag Makers’ CFO Scott McFadden. “We had a lot of internal discussion before contacting our customers and partners about our plan,” McFadden says. “We’ve been up front and transparent throughout the entire process, but it’s still difficult to plan because of the uncertainty of when things may change.”

Sandford (bottom center) poses with the Bag Makers sales team.

When a 10% tariff rate went into effect in late 2018, Bag Makers absorbed the higher costs on stock catalog bags until Jan. 1, 2019, and then it incorporated the additional costs into its prices. When the tariff rate jumped to 25%, the company was forced to build the additional cost into product pricing. While some customers stopped ordering from Bag Makers, McFadden credits the sales and customer service teams’ proactive efforts, with the company largely maintaining its business.

“Instead of salespeople, I call them storytellers,” McFadden says. “They really work hand-in-hand with our distributors to educate them on our products and help them tell stories to sell our bags. We do a lot of case studies to give distributors sales tools. Our reps will even go on sales calls with the distributor and end-user or spend extra time at trade shows to answer any questions.”

In order to navigate the geopolitical hurdles, Bag Makers has invested in other aspects of its business. In 2018, the company added digital full-color plastic to its bag offerings, which has been a big hit with customers. The company has also worked with a select few distributor partners to develop program business that has built its bottom line.

“Bag Makers came to be known as the ‘good bag company’ to our customers.” Teresa Moisant, Moisant Promotional Products

“You have to please the people that you’re working with,” Sandford says. “You have to give them the right answer, get the correct artwork and ship on time. Our customers are the bones that have made our company.”

There’s a lot of family blood running through the company, too. In addition to her son, Sandford has had her daughter, grandchildren, nieces and nephew come work for the company. Even employees have recruited their siblings and children over the years. The turnover rate is very low, with some employees having been around for 35 years.

“We’re a family and we treat people right,” Sandford says. “Our culture is hard working, creative and based on a customer-first attitude. Of course, we still have fun. We have pajama days, ugly sweater parties, a Super Bowl chili cooking competition.”

Bag Makers makes its distributor partners feel like family, too, according to Wayne Greenberg, sales partner at Top 40 distributor Geiger (asi/202900). Greenberg, who has been working with Sandford’s team for 30 years, says the supplier has never missed a shipping date. “They’re people of their word,” he says. “All of their reps take a genuine interest in their customers and care about the final product, whether it’s a 250-piece order or a 50,000-piece order.”

While Sandford has outside interests these days – owning race horses, for instance, including a colt that ran in the 2012 Kentucky Derby – she’s not planning to retire any time soon. The energetic, self-made CEO plans to be at the forefront, propelling growth at Bag Makers – and within the industry – for years to come. “I’ll be here,” says the 76-year-old. “I love working with these people. Whether it’s the distributors or employees, they’re my friends.”

Bag Makers founder and CEO Maribeth Sandford appeared with her family on the cover of the supplier’s 2020 catalog to celebrate the company’s 40th anniversary.