S&S Activewear Completes Acquisition of alphabroder
S&S Activewear, a tech-enabled specialtydistributor of apparel and accessories, today announced that it has completed itsacquisition of alphabroder, a leading distributor of trade, retail, apparel brands andbranded products. Completion of the transaction enables S&S and alphabroder tocommence a thoughtful, multi-year integration process designed to ensure thecombined company continues to deliver exceptional customer service, whileleveraging the strengths of both brand offerings. S&S Activewear CEO Frank Myers will continue to lead the combined company, withsupport from alphabroder CEO Dan Pantano through the integration process. Fornow, S&S and alphabroder continue to go to market under their respective brandofferings backed by their existing distribution channels. “Today marks the start of an exciting new chapter for our company, as we build onthe unique strengths of S&S and alphabroder to enhance the customer experience,strengthen our relationships with our industry partners and continue to invest ingrowing our sales force and technology capabilities,” said Frank Myers, CEO of S&SActivewear. “Over the past few months, we have had valuable discussions with ourcustomers and vendors that will inform the strategic direction of our company andensure S&S is best positioned to deliver for our partners into the future. As we workto bring this combination to life, our top priority is ensuring our employees,customers and vendors continue to succeed alongside S&S.”“We are pleased to officially join with S&S and kick off the integration process,” saidDan Pantano, alphabroder CEO. “Together, we are focused on building on ourbusiness momentum while continuing to exceed the expectations of our customersand our partners as we begin our next phase of growth as a combined company.” S&S Activewear Remains a Member of PromoStandards About S&S ActivewearFounded in 1988 and headquartered in Bolingbrook, Illinois, S&S Activewear is aleading technology-enabled distributor of apparel and accessories in the UnitedStates and Canada. S&S offers more than 80 brands, including basic garments tofashion-forward styles, with over 4 million square feet of warehouse space acrossNorth America. S&S services a broad range of customers through its nationwidenetwork, including retail brands, e-commerce companies, garment decorators,promotional products distributors, entertainment merchandisers, lifestyle brandsand web-based platforms for apparel customization PromoStandards’ Impact “PromoStandards has contributed greatly to standardizing integration conversations with our customers. It’s removed much of the discovery phase and allowed us to get straight into implementation,” said Aaron Anderson, Sr. Director of Software Engineering at alphabroder/S&S. Become a PromoStandards Member! At PromoStandards, we understand streamlining product development and management is necessary to keep up with growing demands and a complicated supply chain. That’s why our standards are free for anyone who needs to use them. We also offer resources for our members, helping them to create even more positive change for their businesses. Members can join events, chat with the entire PromoStandards community through our Slack channel, have full access to our directory of service providers, and more. To get started, join one of our membership levels today! Read More
ASI Chicago – Members Happy Hour
We’re hosting a Happy Hour on July 22nd at 7:00pm at Fatpour Tap Works. Members are invited to join us for networking, drinks, and appetizers. You can sign up here, or email admin@promostandards.org with any questions!
Virtual Office Hours – 6/17/2025
To sign up for our next office hours, use this link!
2025 Tech Summit
During this Tech Summit, we had various guest speakers and sessions. Some of them included the following: General Session – State of Technology in the Promotional Products Industry: Infrastructure Options and Best Practices. Mergers & Acquisitions from a Technology Perspective. Unlocking the Power of AI: A Practical Guide for the Promotional Products Supply Chain And much, much more. Members can watch the events from Tech Summit 2025 here!
New Partnership with EcoPromo Expands Our Sustainable Product Line
We’re excited to announce our new partnership with EcoPromo, a leader in environmentally friendly promotional products. This collaboration allows us to offer a wider range of sustainable options to our clients, aligning with our commitment to eco-conscious business practices.
Member Spotlight – HALO Branded Solutions
PromoStandards is committed to improving supply chain and transactional efficiencies in the promotional products industry. The business was created in 2014 when a dedicated group of distributors, suppliers, and service providers created the first set of industry standards. Over the years, the number of standards grew, and PromoStandards became a nonprofit in 2019. In this member spotlight, we’re highlighting HALO Branded Solutions, one of the founding organizations of PromoStandards. HALO Branded Solutions is the largest promotional product distributor in the United States and has purchasing agreements with more than 250 of the world’s largest suppliers. This robust supplier network allows them to provide excellent pricing and value to their clients. Continue reading to learn more about HALO and how adopting PromoStandards integration helped move their transactions forward. HALO Branded Solutions Established in 1952 and headquartered in Sterling, Illinois, HALO Branded Solutions is the global leader in branded merchandise, company uniforms, and employee recognition and incentive solutions. With a team of over 1,800 members spread across 42 offices worldwide, HALO serves businesses of all sizes, from Fortune 500 companies to thousands of mid and small-size organizations. PromoStandards’ Impact Before integrating PromoStandards, HALO team members had frequent and repeated follow-up calls and emails with suppliers about order status and shipping information. With PromoStandards, this was significantly reduced, and the company experienced more timely communication between account executives and customers on order progress and shipment tracking information. “PromoStandards is a foundational element to our data integration strategy,” said Kevin Pollack, COO of HALO Branded Solutions. “We continue to build around and upon PromoStandards to streamline and standardize a wide variety of order-related processes. We see great value in expanding the use of PromoStandards in the future.” Make Your Business Even Better With PromoStandards PromoStandards makes it easy to communicate with others in the industry. Your business can also reduce the number of phone calls and emails received, thereby saving time and labor. With four membership levels, you can choose the one that works best for you. Join PromoStandards and start your journey!
2024 Tech Summit
Hosted at the Don CeSar in St. Pete Beach, Florida. The 2024 PromoStandards Technology Summit is the premier Promotional Products Technology Event. The Technology Summit features three days of education tracks focusing on industry relevant technology, PromoStandards Integrations and provides ample opportunity to network with industry peers. This event anticipates 200 attendees from over 75 companies. Attending Companies: AIA, AIM Smarter, Alphabroder, ALPI.NET, American Solutions for Business, Amla Commerce, Antera Software USA, AnyPromo, Apollo, ASI Central, AWS/Artwork Services USA, BallPro, BamBams, BAMKO, Boost Engagement, Brikl, Broken Arrow Wear, Calibre International, Cap America, Charles River Apparel, commonsku, Consolidus, Custom Logo USA, Distributor Central, Dubow, epromos, eRetailing – FAST Platform, Essent Corporation, Executive Advertising, eXtendTech, Facilis Group, FulFill Engine, G&G Outfitters, Inc., Gallardo Solutions, Geiger, Gemline, Get Moore solutions, GNS World, Goldstar, Halo Branded Solution, Headwear USA, Hit Promotional Products, HPG Brands, iDex International, Integrity Inspired, Innovation Line, iPROMOTEu, Koozie Group/IMAGEN, Kotis Design, Logomark, MadeToOrder Inc, Merch, Midsouth Apparel Solutions, OMG, Overture Promotions Inc, PCNA, Peerless, powerweave, PrintNow Technologies, Proforma, PromoHunt, Robertson Marketing Group, SanMar, Snugz USA, Spector & Co, Staples, Starline, Storm Creek, The Image Group, Summit Group, S&S Activewear, SwagFlo, Thumbprint, TechLiere, Triple Crown Products, Vantage, Web Services Pros, WolfMark, ZOOMcatalog, and more. Event Agenda Sunday, Feb 4, 2024 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm Registration 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm Annual Members Meeting Monday, Feb 5, 2024 7:00 am – 8:30 am Registration 7:30 am – 8:30 am Breakfast 8:30 am – 8:45 am Welcome 8:45 am – 10:00 am Keynote Presentation: AI & Cybersecurity Legal Trends 10:15 am – 11:00 am Scaling PromoStandards Breakout Session Intro to PromoStandards Breakout Session 11:00 am – 11:30 am Networking Break 11:30 am – 12:15 pm Implementing PS Directory APIs Breakout Session PromoStandards Best Practices Breakout Session 12:15 pm – 1:15 pm Lunch 1:15 pm – 2:30 pm General Session: AI in Promo, A Deep Dive with our PromoStandards Hack-A-Thon Participants 2:45 pm – 3:30 pm The Credentials Conundrum: Panel & Discussion about successes and challenges in PromoStandards 3:30pm – 4:00 pm Networking Break 4:00 pm – 4:45 pm Addressing Decorators Integration Needs Breakout Session SOC2 Journey 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm Opening Reception, Dinner and Entertainment Tuesday, Feb 6, 2024 7:30 am – 8:30 am Breakfast 8:30 am – 8:45 am Welcome 8:45 am – 10:00 am Keynote Presentation: Generating Value from Data: Building a Data Science Practice 10:00 am – 10:30 am Networking Break 10:30 am – 11:45 am General Session: An Exclusive Panel Interview with Promo Industry CIOs with Q & A 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm Lunch 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm Industry Technology Round Tables 2:30pm – 3:00 pm Networking Break 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm Committee Meetings & Free Time 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm Dine-around Dinners Wednesday, Feb 7, 2024 7:30 am – 8:30 am Breakfast 8:30 am – 9:00 am PromoStandards Person of the Year Awards 9:00 am – 10:00 am Keynote Presentation: The Key to Successful Projects 10:00 am – 10:30 am Networking Break 10:30 am – 11:15 am Introduction of New PromoStandards Services – Order Management, Order Status 2.0, OSN 2.1 11:15 am – 12:30 pm Introduction of What’s Next with PromoStandards – PPC 2.0, Credentialing, Decorator Services 12:30 pm – 1:00 pm Tech Summit Wrap Up 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Closing Lunch
Member Spotlight – Hit Promotional Products
Distributors, suppliers, service providers, and decorators drive the success and growth of the promotional product industry. PromoStandards is an organization where those entities can collaborate to create and integrate industry-changing order communication and management standards. In this member spotlight, we highlight Hit Promotional Products, a top industry supplier that provides premier design services with your favorite in-demand brands. Please keep reading for more on Hit and how PromoStandards has helped its business. About Hit Promotional Products Hit Promotional Products (Hit) is a family-owned business—a leader in the promotional products industry for over 50 years and ranks among the top five suppliers in the U.S. As a PromoStandards Advisory Supplier member, the company holds two spots on our 2024 Board of Directors and a spot as a 2024 Executive Committee member-at-large. The supplier is headquartered in Largo, Florida, and operates production facilities across four states: Florida, New Jersey, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Hit’s collective production space, totaling 1.4 million sq. ft., and 3,000 team members allow the company to produce more than 3,500 orders daily, with about $200 million worth of inventory on the ground, water, or on order at any given time. Throughout its years of operation, Hit has continuously evolved to meet the demands of changing times and customer needs. Today, customers can expect a supplier that: PromoStandards’ Impact “PromoStandards has changed the way we do business internally. Serving up data for order status, tracking, invoice, (etc.), nearly in real-time and at scale has allowed Hit to upgrade systems and build robust internal business processes,” said Raj Mukherjee, CIO at Hit Promotional Products. “It [PromoStandards] has become key to our customer sales cycle.” Before adopting PromoStandards’ industry standards, Hit faced the challenge of integrating with distributors on a case-by-case basis to communicate and manage inventory, invoices, orders, and products. As any supplier in the industry will confirm, specializing their communications systems for each distributor is tedious, time-consuming, and increases the risk of clerical errors and miscommunication. Hit Promotional Products sits among the list of fellow distributors, suppliers, and service providers collaborating to create the first industry standards before PromoStandards’ official founding in 2019. Since then, the company has maintained its leading position in PromoStandards development and integration. Benefits that Hit has observed with PromoStandards integration include: Drive the Industry as a PromoStandards Member! At PromoStandards, we aim to develop, improve, drive the adoption of, and facilitate the integration of promotional product industry communication standards. Our members comprise an extensive community of distributors, suppliers, service providers, and decorators who, by integrating our standards, can send and receive order information in real time. Join PromoStandards today by selecting one of our four membership levels so you can streamline your operations and scale your business.
Members Only Open House Luncheon
Las Vegas Join us for an exclusive Open House event hosted by PromoStandards on Tuesday afternoon, January 16th, from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM. We’re excited to offer a complimentary lunch for our valued members. Be sure to secure your spot by reserving your ticket now – it’s an opportunity you won’t want to miss! This event has concluded.
Looking Back and Looking Forward – Letter From the Chair
PromoStandards started back in 2014 when a group of highly committed industry technology leaders rolled up their sleeves to create the first set of industry standards from the ground up. “Working in a cramped conference room with fellow executives from the industry’s most prominent companies was an exhilarating and incredibly productive experience,” said PromoStandards Chair Eric Alessi. “These are some of my fondest memories of collaborating in the industry.” The industry, what we expect from technology, and PromoStandards have changed over the course of a decade. As 2023 comes to a close, Alessi reflects on how PromoStandards has evolved. Our Volunteers While many board members maintain a hands-on approach, there has been a notable increase in dedicated volunteers who generously contribute their time and expertise for the betterment of the industry. This influx lightens the load for board members and fosters a more united and cooperative approach toward achieving progress. Our Focus The board is still laser-focused on our mission to facilitate the development and adoption of open interoperability standards. We continue to create new standards, and now we’re at a place where we can update these standards. Order Status 2.0.0 and Order Shipment Notification 2.0.0 are new versions of standards that were released in 2023. Our Future PromoStandards has firmly established itself as the industry standard for digital integration. We’re looking to the future to prepare for what’s next and continue to care for the standards and community we’ve built. We are ready to journey into the next decade and hope you join us. Here’s to a great year in 2024 and the years that lie ahead!
