In this special episode, we take a close look at some major industry news just released moments ago, the coming together of alphabroder and  Prime Line. 

Mark Graham, co-founder of commonsku, sits down with Norm Hullinger, CEO of alphabroder, and Jeff Lederer, CEO of Prime Line to discuss the merger. This is big news, really big news for our industry on a number of levels. Not only does this see the union of two industry powerhouse suppliers, but it transforms the industry’s largest apparel supplier into a serious player in the hard goods space. This announcement also opens up the conversation about the consolidation in our channel, the rise of private equity’s influence in our industry and whether bigger really means better.

Norm and Jeff are no strangers to the PromoKitchen podcast. Each of them were featured as guests on separate episodes in late 2015. With Norm, we interviewed him and Mike Rhodes after alphabroder’s acquisition of Bodek and Rhodes. With Jeff, we discussed how his family business evolved over the years into one of the largest hard goods suppliers in the industry. 

According to ASI’s Top 40 List, Prime was #11 on the list and alphabroder was #1. This deal puts the combined company at well over $1BN in promotional products sales. It’s an astonishing number and it’s our goal in today’s podcast to unpack what this merger means for both companies, its distributor customers and the industry at large.

We hope you enjoy this special episode