No more Alpha

[farmboygraphics]

https://www.themiddlemarket.com/latest-news/ss-activewear-acquires-alphabroder-from-littlejohn

[Homer]

GOTDAMMIT... i hate S&S

however Alpha sucks too.... But come on man

[rusty]

this is BS. what happened to anti monopoly laws in this country?

This is all Robert Borks fault

[3Deep]

Big Money talks and Bullchit walks, someone waves millions or billions in your face and your at an age where you ready to retire and kick back with your 20 year old side piece what cha gonna do brutha!!!!!!!

[mk162]

this is BS. what happened to anti monopoly laws in this country?

This is all Robert Borks fault

technically, there is still SanMar, Carolina Made, & Atlantic Coast Cotton.

But, yeah, this is probably going to suck.  But to be honest, I hate Alpha.  it's an irrational hatred going back way too long to even remember why.

[Frog]

Another addition to my "only when necessary" list.

[GoWestRob]

it's tough to run a business as big as S&S and Alpha need to be relying only on the margins on the blanks and hoping for a big rebate from Gildan and the other big mills.  The money is in the private label business which San Mar has totally figured out, and that's why S&S purchased TSC in order to get the Tultex brand.  Alpha has some house brands and they've got the printing capabilities.  They'll pick up Core 365 which is a competitor to SanMar's Posicharge, Devon&Jones, Threadfast and the other house brands at Alpha, and also absorb all of the printing that Alpha was doing for 4Imprint and other hardgoods companies.  I hate it but it makes sense on paper.

[mk162]

it's tough to run a business as big as S&S and Alpha need to be relying only on the margins on the blanks and hoping for a big rebate from Gildan and the other big mills.  The money is in the private label business which San Mar has totally figured out, and that's why S&S purchased TSC in order to get the Tultex brand.  Alpha has some house brands and they've got the printing capabilities.  They'll pick up Core 365 which is a competitor to SanMar's Posicharge, Devon&Jones, Threadfast and the other house brands at Alpha, and also absorb all of the printing that Alpha was doing for 4Imprint and other hardgoods companies.  I hate it but it makes sense on paper.

Exactly. S&S needed private label polos, jackets, and performance goods to compete with SanMar.  I get it.

I also remembered why I hate Alpha, aside from picking errors, is their in house decoration.  Sorry if I made the mistake of buying hundreds of thousands in printing equipment, hiring personnel, just to have you offer it to any a--hole out there.

[Homer]

I also remembered why I hate Alpha, aside from picking errors, is their in house decoration.  Sorry if I made the mistake of buying hundreds of thousands in printing equipment, hiring personnel, just to have you offer it to any a--hole out there.

and S&S offering DTF transfers to any a-hole out there too. This industry is changing fast, better change with it. I know we have a lot of work to do here to catch up with the times.

screw S&S and Alpha........ Bring back Bodek and Rhodes....

[3Deep]

The T-shirt biz is getting like the Promo companies they sell you the blank product that they themselves can print cheaper and will, who the heck wants to compete with your blank supplier, plus you got sneaky azz reps that get info and pass it on.  I know this because we had a really large order and the rep wanted to know who it was for etc.

[whitewater]

The less companies there are, the more service goes down. Think there are picking errors now?

Yea I liked Bodek...Alpha was a totally last resort because they did a great job ignoring me.

[Atownsend]

I hate this so much... this type of consolidation has never been good.

We've moved most of our business to Sanmar since they have a local warehouse in Richmond now. ACC, Carolina Made, and Print Gear will get the rest. Sanmar has never been the least expensive for us, but they've always gone above and beyond in terms of customer service and has had the fewest picking errors going back many years. If UPS screws us, or something goes wrong they've always had our backs. They stay in their lane and always been to be real partners. I'm not buying blanks from you if you're printing in house... period. Your a competitor at that point. Why TF would anyone subsidize a competitor, this business is too commoditized to begin with.

Give em a few years, wait till the cash dries up and we'll all go up there with box trucks and buy their 3-4 yr old equipment for pennies on the dollar just like I did last year when custom ink shut their doors up in C Ville. Until then they get NOTHING from us.

[balloonguy]

I think the push for primeline hurt them bad. I can’t say I’m surpirised.