Forget those boring pen sets, bottle openers and conference folders – give gifts of substance is what I say. These knee blankets make great companions on those cold winter nights out on the porch. I’m proud to say that Lava Ink has perfected the process of manufacturing and branding of these knee blankets which are proving to be a popular item of choice for large corporates. It costs about the same as a branded t shirt and is a much warmer gesture than a pen set. We make these up in an array of fabric and blanket stitch colours.

We have just completed some excellent gifts for Glacier (a division of Sanlam). The task was to manufacture and brand some polar fleece knee blankets. At the start it was a bit tough because their vision entailed a specialized finishing process, namely blanket stitching. After one week of searching we finally found the machine that could do the job, but it took another week of training and fine tuning until we were satisfied with the quality of the operation. It is great when your bounderies are shifted by a client (ie, she knows what she wants and won’t settle for anything less) because the result is a positively coerced product development process which is educational and uplifting. Lava Ink is now a polar fleece blanket supplier (with binding, overlocking or blanket stitching).

More about this client (taken from www.glacier.co.za)

Glacier was launched in August 2006 to spearhead Sanlam Life’s expansion into the local affluent market, in line with Sanlam’s retail strategy of customer centricity through market segmentation.

Our aim is to assist affluent individuals to create and preserve their wealth. We achieve this through:

• Partnering with highly competent intermediaries to create a sustainable business advantage for all
• Customising our solutions to meet clients’ individual needs
• Providing access to an extensive range of financial services providers
• Facilitating best financial and governance practice
• Delivering superior customer service at all times

Glacier is backed by Sanlam, one of the oldest and largest life insurance companies in South Africa.

More about Glacier.