For a number of years, the company formerly known as S&S Activewear told its customers that they could “Create Your Vision” and thus bring their ideas to life when they worked with the supplier. Today, PPAI 100’s No. 2 supplier, which has announced that it will officially be known as simply S&S (PPAI 256121, Platinum) as part of a larger rebrand, has broadened the relationship that it has with its customers and everything that entails.
Naturally, that tagline had to evolve.
Take Your Vision Further.
According to Toby Whitmoyer, S&S’s chief commercial officer, the company grew beyond what the brand had reflected. While apparel is still at the foundation of its offerings, customers now partner with the supplier in a way that goes beyond an apparel transaction. That’s not an accident; S&S has leaned into a more holistic customer partnership. Now, it wants to reflect that to the world.
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“Customers look to S&S for expertise, technology, service and solutions that help them operate more effectively and grow,” Whitmoyer says.
Marc Vitulli, S&S’s senior vice president of marketing, told PPAI Media that this rebrand has been over a year in the making, a deliberate approach of market research, leadership alignment and customer feedback. Still, that process is minor compared to what led to it, which is the ethos behind the rebrand. You don’t change up your identity because you feel like a fresh start. The formula is inverted. You do it because the change happened somewhere along the way, and people ought to know. That’s how S&S’s CEO, Frank Myers, sees it.
“In many ways, this rebrand is simply bringing our external brand in line with how we’ve been operating for years,” says Myers, a member of PPAI’s Board of Directors.
Technology, product, business solutions and scalability are all at the heart at what S&S want its customers to envision when they consider what a relationship with the supplier means. Of course, anyone with a cursory interest in the branded merchandise world knows that S&S’s 2024 acquisition of alphabroder remains one of the biggest bits of news the industry has seen so far this decade. That too, being a part of the story, is a part of this rebrand and a part of what is unlocked in the capabilities going forward.
A ‘Connected Ecosystem’
If there’s a transformational aspect to all of this, it might be that it would be inaccurate – or at least limiting – to perceive S&S as firm that you go to when you need a T-shirt. That can be handled, of course, but the supplier is trying to cover broader solutions.
“If customers increasingly view S&S as an indispensable partner in their success – not just a supplier – then this rebrand will have done its job,” Whitmoyer says.
Toby Whitmoyer
Chief Commercial Officer, S&S
What does it mean to be “more than a supplier?” It is a tricky thing to parse out when, in reality, that is where S&S sits on the supply chain. The key here is that S&S feels that partnering with it, whether as a distributor or decorator or whatever the case might be, means a commitment on S&S’s end to helping those partners run better businesses.
- S&S Business Solutions offers technology, operational support, workflow improvements or innovations.
- Whitmoyer cites the same goal for all those offerings: helping customers operate more efficiently, run more profitably and find new ways to fuel their growth.
“Today, we help our customers grow their businesses through a powerful combination of product, technology, service, business solutions and scale,” says Myers. “When we’re successful, customers see S&S as both a trusted sourcing partner and a strategic business partner.”
Frank Myers
CEO, S&S
alphabroder Acquistion ‘Challenged Us To Think Bigger’
There’s a lot of intentionality behind something like this. It takes more meetings than anyone probably wants to admit. But that’s what it takes to bridge where you’ve been and where you’re going.
“The goal was to create a brand that reflects both the strength of our legacy and the ambition of where we’re going,” says Vitulli.
That legacy brings things full circle; the company was previously referred to as simply S&S before its tenure of adding the “Activewear” to its title. Now, as its offerings expand, it returns to that simplicity in a name.
But the part about where S&S is and where it’s going has largely been fueled by the 2024 acquisition of alphabroder, a move that had the entire industry buzzing. Nearly two years later, that integration has accelerated the timeline for what S&S hoped was possible.
“It expanded our scale, strengthened our network and brought together talented teams with deep industry expertise,” says Myers. “More importantly, it challenged us to think bigger about what S&S could become.”
- Myers sees S&S’s timeline as having a before-and-after with the alphabroder acquisition serving as an inflection point.
- Looking ahead, the company is making future-minded investments now that Myers says wouldn’t be possible without the foundation created by the acquisition and integration of alphabroder.
Marc Vitulli
SVP, Marketing, S&S
In the meantime, S&S will look different, and the team behind that change are just hoping it reflects the company that its customers have come to know.
“If customers increasingly see S&S as a company that’s invested in their growth and success – not just their next order – that would be a meaningful outcome,” Vitulli says.
