S&S Activewear (asi/84358), the third largest supplier by revenue in the North American promotional products industry, has acquired TSF Sportswear. Financial terms of the deal were not released. Ongoing TSF operations will be under the S&S brand.

"We’re very pleased to have TSF join the S&S family," said S&S CEO Jim Shannon. "There’s a great fit between our two businesses. TSF brings some amazing talent as part of this new partnership, and we are confident the acquisition will add a great deal of value to TSF’s loyal customer base."

Jim Shannon, S&S Activewear

By acquiring TSF, S&S said it gains greater access to markets in the southern United States. Meanwhile, TSF’s customers can now select from S&S’s more than 100 brand offerings and benefit from a greater depth of inventory from S&S’s nationwide network, the supplier said.

“Joining forces with S&S gives us access to new technologies and resources, and a greater depth of inventory and brands,” said John Feinberg, president of TSF Sportswear. “It’s a very mutually beneficial agreement, and we look forward to our new partnership.”

Following the acquisition, S&S products can now reach 99% of the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico within two days and 44 states in the U.S. in one day, executives said.

S&S plans to retain TSF’s south Florida and Puerto Rico locations and invest in additional inventory and a broader SKU offering in those buildings. TSF’s Arlington, TX operation will move to S&S’s Fort Worth facility, “providing TSF’s southern and western customers access to an additional 375,000 sq. ft. of inventory and brands,” executives said.

“By bringing TSF’s operations into S&S, we are solidifying our leading position in the apparel distribution market,” said S&S President Frank Myers, noting that even before the acquisition S&S had more than 2,000 employees operating out of approximately four million square feet of warehouse space.

With reported 2020 North American promo products revenue of $1.4 billion, S&S Activewear is the third largest supplier in the industry. The majority stakeholder in S&S is private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier and Rice.

The acquisition of TSF comes just months after S&S Activewear’s 2021 acquisition of TSC Apparel, a company that was the 14^th largest supplier in promo at the time.

Within the last decade, S&S Activewear has grown from a successful Midwestern supplier into a national apparel juggernaut with a presence in Canada, too. Shannon ranked 12^th on Counselor’s 2021 Power 50 list of promo’s most influential people.

Merger and acquisition activity has been increasing in the promotional products market, and the S&S/TSF deal is another sign of the trend. This is S&S’s fifth acquisition since 2010.