Making Sense of M&A Activity in the Apparel Decorating Community
A quick word on mergers and acquisitions in the apparel industry and what it means going into 2026
Over the last few years, merger and acquisition (M&A) news has dominated headlines in the apparel decorating community. Big announcements like S&S Activewear acquiring alphabroder, Grimco acquiring GSG, and Lawson Screen and Digital and Workhorse Products merging have left the industry reorganizing and restructuring.
But perhaps one of the biggest announcements came in August 2025 with Gildan announcing its goal to acquire HanesBrands.
Both brands have long held staple positions as popular suppliers of apparel blank basics. Over the course of the last several years, both have also found themselves topping news in various ways (how could the industry forget the ruckus within Gildan after they fired CEO Glenn Chamandy and the ensuing battle that followed).
HanesBrands has also found itself making headlines, with struggling numbers and site closures rolling out over the course of the last few years. Still, both companies have remained particularly well-known due to affordable price points and longevity.
Like or not, there’s also been mergers and acquisitions happening on the decorator level as well. Early in 2025, PromoCentric announced that it acquired Screen Gems. All of this M&A news might leave many asking what does this mean for our industry? Is this a normal trend? How will the industry respond to what seems like heavy M&A activity?
A Closer Look at M&A with an Expert
The first, and perhaps one of the most important, things to do is not to go into a wild panic. If the tariff uproar of 2025 taught the industry anything, it’s that while global economic events can and do impact our industry, the ability to be flexible, adapt, and adjust is a strong card apparel decorators, and most anyone in the printing industry, carry.
Mark Hahn, senior managing director, Graphic Arts Advisors, notes that over the last few years, including 2025, M&A activity in the printing industry has actually been pretty consistent. Post-COVID was a noted peak (around 2022), he clarifies, but for the most part, he doesn’t feel 2025 was exceptionally active. “It’s been stable,” he says. “You do get the big deals like Hanes [and Gildan], but I don’t think it’s been more active.”
Where there has been some uptick in M&A activity, and this is largely in the commercial space according to Hahn, is with companies that are financially challenged. Factors that play into this include tariffs, the early results of the 2024 election, lack of family members wanting to inherit the business, and the realization that the post-COVID boom isn’t coming back.
But even that kind of activity is now what Hahn refers to as the new normal of ups and downs. This is perhaps more applicable on the apparel decorator business level than in the larger manufacturer space. And while Hahn doesn’t have exact data for decorators, he suspects that this trend is also happening in this side of the printing industry. His start in the industry screen printing shirts in his parents’ basement weighs in on his perspective as well.
“We’re in a new normal … So if you want to sell, go ahead and sell,” he says. “Or if you’re financially challenged, go ahead and pull the trigger, because we’re not going back to [the 2022 post-COVID boom].”
What he wants the printing industry in general to keep front of mind is, even when big companies such as Gildan acquire others, there will always be people coming into the industry. “The large companies become less nimble,” Hahn explains. “It opens up opportunities for small, new companies to come in.”
He uses direct-to-film (DTF) printing as an example. The technology has reshaped the industry in a lot of ways, but what he points to is that it opens up the door for beginner decorators to come in and keep the industry blossoming.
There’s no doubt that a big merger like Gildan and HanesBrands will impact the industry especially from a basic blanks perspective (pricing, availability, competition, etc.). But it still opens up doors for others to come in. As the calendar turns to 2026, Hahn encourages printers to stay nimble, stay flexible, and pay attention.
