Steel City Marketing

Steel City Marketing is a branded merchandise supplier based in Sheffield, where it was founded in 1980. It supplies promotional products and branded clothing, with options ranging from exhibition pens to corporate gifts. Its website describes its eco-friendly range as suited to marketing and HR teams sending onboarding packs, event stock or direct mail.

Every order has a dedicated account manager who suggests products, organises artwork, sends a free visual and provides progress updates. The company takes a brief covering the audience, intended use, budget and quantity, then offers a shortlist of five to ten options. It states that nothing goes to print without customer approval.

Products and packs

The catalogue includes tote and cotton bags, water bottles, notebooks, mugs, pens, gadgets and umbrellas. Exhibition products include name badges, lanyards, wristbands, signage and stands, alongside giveaways and ready-made conference packs. Steel City also sources, brands and delivers onboarding welcome packs and client acquisition packs as one job, and offers bespoke clothing and gift kits.

Its stress toys include round balls, brains, hearts, hard hats, light bulbs and vans, with single-colour and full-colour printing. Most shapes are moulded from PU; the Eco Stress Ball is partly made from castor oil. Bespoke shapes can be explored where budget and timing allow.

Artwork, branding and turnaround

Branding methods include screen printing, pad printing, transfer printing, embroidery, laser engraving, embossing, debossing, doming and digital full-colour printing. Its in-house team can convert or redraw PNG and JPEG logos for printing. A redraw sometimes attracts a one-off fee, which the company says it confirms before work starts.

Selected lines have express turnaround options of one, three or five days. Product-specific schedules differ: the exhibition page describes bag options on five, six or seven working-day schedules from proof approval, while stress products usually take around ten to twelve working days from artwork approval.

Materials and membership

The eco merchandise range includes organic and Fairtrade cotton, recycled polyester, bamboo and wheatstraw. Steel City says it can provide material proof and certifications for sign-off, and prioritises products with named standards and written recycled-content claims. Buyers assessing those details can also consult the directory’s guide to checking environmental claims.

Steel City states that it has been a BPMA member for more than 40 years and has signed the Step Forward Pledge.

Source: steel-city.co.uk/contact-us, steel-city.co.uk, steel-city.co.uk/shop