April – Monthly Newsletter
Accelerating Innovation: Inside PromoStandards PromoStandards committees meet with one goal: to standardize the flow of crucial information that makes your business run. Want to have a say in the future of promotional products technology? We encourage all members to participate in the committees or workgroups that align with their expertise. It is the best way to collaborate with industry leaders, gain early access to new tech, and elevate your company’s profile. Read on to discover how this month’s committee updates translate into direct benefits for your team! Best Practices Committee: The goal of Best Practices is simple: reduce the friction of adopting standards so your development team can work faster and smarter. Better Data, Less Troubleshooting: The committee is doubling down on the Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) and reviewing a new proof-of-concept for automated data validation. Read more about the SAQ here! What this means for you: Higher compliance and better data quality across the network, saving your team from manual data cleanup and order errors. Clearer Roadmaps for Your Dev Team: We are advancing critical documentation across Order Shipment Notification 2.1.0 scenario best practices, enhanced XML examples, and guidance for Inventory 1.2.1, and Invoice 1.0.0. What this means for you: Clearer, scenario-based guidance that eliminates the guesswork for your developers during implementation. A Smoother Onboarding Experience: The committee’s updated charter and goals were finalized by the Board. They will move forward with developing revamped implementation guidance to complement PromoStandards specifications for improved onboarding and ongoing use. Stay Tuned: With growing interest in this committee, we are exploring new workgroups to give even more members a chance to contribute! Standards Committee: The goal of Standards is simple: Develop, maintain, and continuously improve PromoStandards technical integration specifications that enable accurate, consistent, and efficient data exchange across the promotional products industry. Coming off the excitement of Tech Summit, the Standards Committee is excited to welcome new perspectives. Sheldon Humber (FDM4), Hector Rivas (SanMar), and Ana Hanna (Cimpress) have been added to the Standards team! REST Services Are Coming: Our new credentialing process is fully defined. We’ll be hosting a live demo at our next meeting to show exactly how it works. What this means for you: We are one step closer to our first REST service release, paving the way for lighter, faster, and more modern API integrations. Real-Time Updates via Webhooks: We are nearing the finish line on beta testing for our Event Subscriptions service (Webhooks) with six member companies. This means there will be no more constant server polling. Soon, your systems will be able to receive automatic, real-time updates when an event occurs, dramatically reducing server load and costs. Future-Proofing Product Data: Work on Product Data 3.0 continues. By defining soft enumerations and restructuring the data model now, we are laying vital groundwork. What this means for you: Future enhancements and custom data requirements will be infinitely easier to support without breaking your existing setups. Membership & Marketing Committee: The Membership & Marketing Committee is focused on growing the PromoStandards network and ensuring our members get the latest tech industry updates. The Industry & PPAI: After seeing incredible networking and visibility success at The PPAI EXPO, we are planning an even larger presence next year. What this means for you: More opportunities to network with potential partners and associate with industry innovation. Are You Heading to ASI Chicago? We want to connect with you! Please take 30 seconds to Fill Out Our Attendance Form so we can coordinate networking opportunities. Community in Tech: We are revamping our Member Spotlights series! If you are an Advisory or Adopting member, keep a close eye on your inbox—you may be selected for a dedicated feature in our community communications. Video Content: Have you seen our short-form video content yet? Be sure to follow the official PromoStandards social media channels to catch our latest interviews and highlights, and engage with the content to boost your own social visibility! Ready to Have a Seat at the Table? Help us shape the future of the industry! View the Full List of Committees & Workgroups Here Get Involved: Email admin@promostandards.org to let us know which committee best suits your skills. We would love to have you on board!
Committee Updates – February 2026
PromoStandards committees meet each month to advance initiatives that support the continued improvement and adoption of our standards. Members are encouraged to participate in committees or workgroups that align with their interests and expertise, providing valuable opportunities for collaboration and leadership within the community. Read the updates from February 2026 below. Best Practices Committee February marked an important milestone for the PromoStandards Best Practices Committee. At the 2026 PromoStandards Tech Summit, the committee shared updates on ongoing Best Practices efforts and formally introduced the PromoStandards Supplier Self‑Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ)—a new initiative designed to strengthen integration quality and transparency across the PromoStandards ecosystem. The SAQ provides Suppliers with a structured way to evaluate and clearly communicate the quality, consistency, and maturity of their PromoStandards implementations. By aligning against published specifications and best practices, Suppliers can identify gaps, track incremental improvements over time, and give integration partners greater confidence when working together. Broad participation in the SAQ is a key step toward improving overall data quality and strengthening integrations industry‑wide.The SAQ is now live and available to all Suppliers. We strongly encourage Suppliers to complete the questionnaire thoughtfully and to the best of their ability. To support adoption, the following resources are available: The SAQ template for download and completion Instructions and guidance for uploading completed SAQs to the PromoStandards website Sample completed SAQs from Koozie Group, SanMar, and SnugZ USA, available on the PromoStandards site for reference Members can learn more about the SAQ, its purpose, and how to get started by reading the official blog post: Introducing the Supplier Self‑Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) As always, members with questions are encouraged to reach out via Slack or the #best‑practices channel, where committee members are happy to help. Thank you for your continued engagement and support as we work together to raise the bar for PromoStandards adoption and integration quality across the community.
PPAI Expo Vegas 2026
PromoStandards attended PPAI Expo as an exhibitor for the first time in January 2026. In addition to having a prize wheel with awards such as gift cards and free drink passes, we had many conversations with both current prospective members of the organization. Lots of attendees stopped to tell us that they had heard of PromoStandards, but wanted to know more. We believe the community engagement was beneficial for all parties involved, and look forward to attending more events in the future. We were also proud to sponsor the Tech Meetup happy hour at Promo & Pints on Wednseday, which brought a wide variety of new and familiar faces together. We would like to thank PPAI for the opportunity to be sponsors and engage further with the Promotional Products Industry! Watch our interview with Marco from Essent! More interviews and videos coming soon. https://youtu.be/73OIraP3kewhttps://youtu.be/ZIPx1SfLXgY
Tech Summit 2026 People of The Year
As part of PromoStandards annual tradition at Tech Summit, we were proud to announce those selected by our members as standouts in the industry throughout 2025. Each winner is nominated based on the type of company they work for, being a Supplier, Distributor, or, Service Provider. Our Supplier of the Year winner was Ajay Kaul, IT Operations Leader at SanMar. Ajay is a long standing member of PromoStandards, and head of the Best Practices Committee. The Distributor of the Year was Allen Casey, Senior Manager of Integrations and Automation at HALO. Allen is a member of our Standards Committee. Last, but certainly not least, was our Service Provider of the Year, David Shultz, CPO at commonsku. David has been an outspoken advocate of PromoStandards for many years and has become known for creating engaging music and video content for the PromoStandards community. We would like to once again thank each of them for being outstanding members of the organization, and congratulate them as our People of The Year!
Introducing the Supplier Self Assessment Questionnaire
At Tech Summit 2026, the Best Practices Committee introduced the Supplier Self‑Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ). The SAQ helps Suppliers evaluate and communicate the strength of their PromoStandards implementations. It provides integration partners with greater transparency while helping suppliers identify areas for improvement over time.We encourage all Suppliers to complete the SAQ. Strong participation improves data quality and strengthens integrations across the ecosystem. Below you will find:The SAQ template for download and completionAn instructional video for uploading your completed SAQ to the PromoStandards website We recommend using Adobe Acrobat Reader to fill out your SAQ using the “Fill & Sign” option. If you have any questions while completing the SAQ, please feel free to reach out to Ajay Kaul via slack or email marketing@promostandards.org, and we will be happy to put you in contact with one of our best practices committee members for assistance. Download the Template
Website Update – Member Exclusive Tools & Upcoming Demonstration
Hello PromoStandards Community, We are excited to share that we have updated our website! 🔹 Member Exclusive Benefits: Tools such as documentation, best practices, and the validator have always been member exclusive benefits. With our old site we were not able to fully implement this benefit, but with our new site it is now in place. 🔹 For Non-Members: Access remains limited to the Service Provider Directory and Endpoints. Please make sure you are advising your customers accordingly when it comes to available resources. There will be a a Website Demonstration during the September PromoStandards Office Hours Session. 📅 Date: September 16, 2025⏰ Time: 2 PM EST📍 Where: Zoom (link will be sent upon registration) 👉 Click here to register This session is open to both members and non-members, so please feel free to share with your teams. If you missed the session, please keep an eye out for resources to be posted or linked here.
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!
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.
