The PPAI Expo began with a major industry announcement.

During Monday's opening session in Las Vegas, Chris Anderson, CEO of Boston-based supplier HPG (PPAI 110772, S11) announced the company's acquisition of fellow supplier Evans Manufacturing (PPAI 110747, S11), based in Garden Grove, California.

The deal brings Evans Manufacturing together with HPG and its many industry brands – Hub, Beacon, Best, Debco, BCG Creations, Origaudio, Handstands, Batch & Bodega, Mixie and SugarSpot – and adds new North American manufacturing capabilities to HPG’s portfolio with the addition of Evans’ facilities in Southern California and Nogales, Mexico.

The Acquisition

Evans was founded in 1983 as an injection molding company with a focus on retail markets. It moved into promotional products in 1992. Today, it specializes in plastics and fabric products for the promotional merchandise field.

• It operates in many categories, including healthcare, household, office, drinkware, pet, writing instruments, travel, auto, golf, outdoor, tech, spirit, school and more.
• Most of its products are designed and manufactured in-house.
• It added a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Nogales in 2008. There, it produces tote bags and other cut-and-sew items. In the U.S., it produces more than 200 additional products.

The supplier has won numerous industry awards, including the PPAI Supplier Star award, and has been named to the PPAI Magazine Greatest Companies To Work For list as recently as 2021.

As part of the transaction, Alan Vaught, president of Evans, will continue to lead it as division president and is a significant HPG shareholder.

In Their Words

“The partnership with HPG represents the culmination of many years of hard work and dedicated service by the entire Evans team,” says Vaught. “I have been blessed by the talents of so many key contributors throughout the journey, and it is humbling to see this business that started as a two-person operation evolve into the respected market leader that it has become.

“I am thrilled to embark on this next chapter, in partnership with the proven team at HPG, and our shared values and perspective on the bright future of the combined Evans-HPG enterprise, and the industry, generally, has made for a seamless transition.”

Anderson says, “Evans has rightfully earned a stellar reputation for promotional hard goods and customer service excellence, which makes it a perfect fit for the HPG family. I am delighted to welcome the abundance of talent and expanded capabilities Evans has to offer and can reassure customers HPG’s philosophy is to do no harm – we will not disrupt what clearly has been working so well. We look forward to knowledge-sharing with our new team members and working together to make HPG the preeminent promotional hard goods supplier.”