Alphabroder (asi/34063), the industry’s largest supplier by revenue, has acquired San Jose, CA-based Golden State Activewear. Financial terms of the deal were not released.

“As friendly competitors for nearly 30 years, we have gotten to know alphabroder very well and couldn’t be happier to join the team,” said Scott Prestine, president of Golden State Activewear. “Our shared commitment to our customers, employees and suppliers make us perfect partners.”

The Golden State team will largely remain in place. Founders Scott and Laurie Prestine will be taking on key roles within the alphabroder organization. Staff members also joining alphabroder include vice president of sales Stu Smith, sales representative Amy Carroll, customer service manager Lee-Ann Stanley and customer service rep Chris Beard.  

“We’ve always believed that our company is as much about our customers and employees as it is about our products,” said Laurie Prestine. “Alphabroder embraces the same positive and unique company culture as we do. We are feeling inspired and excited about the future.”

Golden State Activewear has urged customers to continue using the company phone numbers, fax number and email address until mid-March, when all the above will be automatically directed to the appropriate alphabroder personnel. Additionally, gsactivewear.com will remain up and running until transitioned to alphabroder.com in mid-March. The Golden State Activewear facility will remain open through the month of February and close in mid-March.

Alphabroder will carry and/or pick up all brands offered by Golden State Activewear except for Independent Trading Co. New brands to alphabroder include Mega Cap (asi/70434), Peter Grimm, Richardson (asi/82360), Sportsman (asi/88877), Valucap and YP Classics. All pricing will be aligned by March 15.

Alphabroder execs say that Golden State has built an outstanding business by focusing on the right assortment of products and excellent customer service. These tenets align very well with the supplier’s stated commitment to product assortment and deep inventory.

“Golden State has built an amazing business,” said Alphabroder CEO Norm Hullinger. “We couldn’t be prouder to be partnering with Scott and Laurie.”

With reported 2018 North American promotional product revenue of $1.64 billion, alphabroder ranked first on Counselor’s latest list of the largest suppliers in the promotional products industry.