Zagwear (PPAI 184202, Gold), PPAI 100’s No. 48 distributor, has announced the appointment of Katie Whitehead as brand and creative manager.

Most recently, she served as vice president of marketing at Starline. Prior to Starline, she spent nearly a decade at HALO, where she progressed through multiple marketing leadership roles, culminating as director of marketing.

“As Zagwear continues to grow, we’re focused on strengthening our brand and how we communicate the value we bring to our clients,” says Toby Zacks, founder and CEO of Zagwear. “Katie brings a great combination of industry experience, creativity and fresh perspective. Her understanding of both the supplier and distributor sides of the business will be a real asset as we continue to evolve.”

Fey Industries, parent company of Fey Promo (PPAI 113944, Silver), PPAI 100’s No. 67 supplier, has acquired Alexander Manufacturing Company.

• Alexander Manufacturing Company (PPAI 113670) will continue operating in Towanda, Illinois, with additional support and resources from Fey.
• The acquisition expands Fey Promo’s tool portfolio, particularly its screwdriver offering.

“Our companies share generations of experience in the branded merchandise industry and a commitment to putting customers first,” says President and CEO Mike Fey. “We look forward to carrying on Alexander’s legacy of customer care, expanding our tool offering, especially screwdrivers, and creating more opportunities for our distributor partners.”

Koozie Group (PPAI 114187, Platinum), PPAI 100’s No. 4 supplier, has announced that Kai Link, considered the first Model Context Protocol connector in the branded merchandise industry, is out of beta and now available to every Koozie Group distributor customer.

Introduced as a beta release in August, Kai Link is part of Koozie Group AI, the company’s growing suite of AI tools. It lets distributors get real-time answers about orders, products, pricing, promotions and live inventory inside the AI assistants they already use, including Claude and ChatGPT.

The full release grows Kai Link from seven capabilities at beta launch to 15. Distributors can now see exactly what’s blocking an order on hold, browse current Koozie Group promotions with pricing and minimum quantities, pull product images, art templates, and safety documents, filter the catalog for closeouts, and explore print-on-demand options with live POD inventory and pricing. A built-in feedback tool also lets users send ideas or bug reports straight to the Koozie Group team without leaving their AI assistant.

“When we launched Kai Link in beta, the goal was simple: let distributors just ask,” says Dan Erdman, partner integration manager at Koozie Group. “Since then, we’ve more than doubled what it can answer. A distributor can go from ‘What’s on hold?’ to ‘Tell me next steps for clearing it,’ or from ‘What’s on promotion in Bags?’ to the art template they need for a virtual, all in one conversation. Opening Kai Link to every Koozie Group distributor means any customer, regardless of size or technical resources, can put that speed to work today.”

InkIQ (PPAI 910184), the vertical AI platform for apparel decorators, has announced a full integration with S&S (PPAI 256121, Platinum), PPAI 100’s No. 2 supplier.

Decorators can now search, price and order from the S&S catalog, then receive shipments with ZeroTouch QR codes linked to the corresponding InkIQ job. The integration streamlines the steps between a confirmed customer order and production, according to S&S.

“Decorators don’t lose margin on the press. They lose it in the gaps: retyping orders into supplier portals, opening boxes to see what arrived, hunting for the work order at the machine,” says InkIQ Co-Founder & CEO William Malouf. “With S&S ordering and ZeroTouch inside InkIQ, nothing is re-entered and nothing sits on a shelf waiting to be sorted.”

According to S&S, its proprietary receiving technology, ZeroTouch, reduces receiving labor by 40% to 60% while improving production speed, accuracy and consistency.

“ZeroTouch was built to help decorators get blanks into production faster,” says Rob Hamill, chief strategy officer at S&S. “Connecting it with the system shops use to manage their work gives more customers a practical way to simplify receiving and put our S&S Business Solutions to work. We’re proud to partner with InkIQ bring the full S&S catalog and ZeroTouch capabilities to its customers.”

SEDDI (PPAI 894437) announced its Product Creation API, making the 3D product creation capabilities behind SEDDI Decorator available for integration into other digital systems.

The API enables businesses and technology providers to build branded apparel experiences around SEDDI’s 3D technology, from interactive product customization to automated generation of product visuals and techpacks.

Using configurable, recipe-based API calls, applications can specify apparel styles, colorways, sizes, artwork, and decoration placements to generate reliable outputs tailored to their needs. Unlike vendor-provided imagery with artwork inaccurately overlaid, SEDDI generates visuals from true-to-life digital replicas of real-world blank apparel styles, representing configured garments and decorations more realistically and consistently.

AAkron (PPAI 111082, Gold), PPAI 100’s No. 86 supplier, announced that Thomas Deissroth has joined the company as Southeast regional sales manager.

Deissroth joins AAkron from Prime Line, where he was an outside account executive covering South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee, and was named Prime Line’s 2025 Outside Sales Rep of the Year.

“Tom has a strong distributor following in the Southeast and a drive to succeed that fits our team well. We’re excited to have Tom join the AAkron family,” says Stan Dohan, executive vice president at AAkron Line.

Clayton Kendall and Concord Marketing Solutions (PPAI 164774, Platinum), PPAI’s No. 19 distributor, have announced the combined companies are rebranding as a single, unified organization under the Concord name.

The new brand identity, including a fresh logo, visual identity and digital presence, reflects a year of integration and growth. The companies joined forces in early 2025.

“Bringing our companies together under one name is a natural next step,” says Brad Moore, CEO of Concord. “Our new brand reflects who we are today: one team, singularly focused on delivering exceptional solutions for the corporate and franchise clients who trust us with their brand.”

Gemline (PPAI 113948, Platinum), PPAI 100’s No. 9 supplier, was a sponsor of SeriousFun Children’s Network’s 2026 Benefit Dinner, Camp Changes Everything, held October 16 at The Glasshouse in New York City. This is Gemline’s second year as a SeriousFun Benefit sponsor.

The evening raised funds to provide free camp experiences for children living with serious illnesses and their families.

“Gemline’s purpose is simple: We Promote Community,” says Jonathan Isaacson, executive chair of Gemline. “SeriousFun builds exactly the kind of community that kids with medical conditions need most, a place where a serious diagnosis doesn’t get to define childhood. We’re proud to support their work this year and grateful to the SeriousFun team for what they make possible.”

IDProductsource (PPAI 384049, Standard-Plus) has announced the success of its 8th Annual Food Drive.

This year’s efforts resulted in 252.8 pounds of donated food and $382 in online donations. In addition, IDProductsource contributed $1,000 directly to the Treasure Coast Food Bank to further support its mission of fighting hunger across the Treasure Coast.

“This annual food drive exemplifies the compassion and dedication of our team,” says Katelyn Aumock, president of IDProductsource. “We are grateful for everyone who contributed and helped us make a positive impact on the lives of those in need.”