Polyconcept, which is headquarted in the Netherlands and distributes to more than 100 countries worldwide, said the deal would enable it to leverage T Shirt & Sons’ experience in printing, service, and digital capabilities across its global operations.
The business will continue to invest to further grow T Shirt & Sons’ market presence and capabilities.
Headquartered in Westbury, Wiltshire and with a subsidiary in the Netherlands, T Shirt & Sons has grown from brothers Jon and Andy Lunt printing t-shirts for Glastonbury Festival in the early 1990s to a major direct-to-garment printing and fulfilment company that runs a fleet of Kornit machinery.
Its clients include many of the largest global marketplaces, e-commerce platforms and retailers, and in addition to print-on-demand services, it also manages the e-commerce shops of its retail partners and provides shipping services.
Polyconcept chief executive Neil Ringel said: “T Shirt & Sons was an early entrant in the European direct-to-garment market and has used its industry proprietary technology and processes to become the leading PoD company in the UK.
“Combined with PFCI’s core competencies in sourcing and product development, this acquisition offers attractive opportunities to provide additional services to our B2B customer and promotional distributors.”
PF Concept International chief executive Ralf Oster added: “Our joint expertise in high-quality digital decoration as well as the possibilities of further individualisation from one article onwards will open up new sales areas for our B2B customers. We look forward to supporting our customers in this increasingly demanded segment of the market.”
T Shirt & Sons will continue to operate from its Westbury headquarters, and all staff will remain with the company. Its operations, including sales and marketing, will remain independent.
Phil Morgan, senior country manager of PF Concept UK, will assume the role of managing director of T Shirt & Sons Europe and will be responsible for leading the company’s growth strategy across Europe, supported by the company's existing management team.
T Shirt & Sons commercial director Adam Golder said: “We are thrilled about the new partnership with Polyconcept and to be bringing the T Shirt & Sons family onboard. Over the coming months, this merging of synergies will help accelerate our ambitious growth plans.”
BDO M&A advised T Shirt & Sons on the deal, which was completed last Tuesday (2 March).
Co-founder Andy Lunt said the BDO team’s “hard work, dedication and experience were invaluable in getting us through the process and delivering a superb outcome for the shareholders and the business going forward”.
BDO partner Duncan Lamb added: “The transaction creates an exciting partnership for both companies by combining T Shirt & Sons’ fantastic reputation in the fast-growing print-on-demand sector with Polyconcept’s significant presence in Europe and North America.
“The combined business has very exciting growth plans and we wish the partnership all the best for a successful future.”
In its most recently filed accounts at Companies House, for the year ended 30 April 2020, T Shirt & Sons recorded a turnover of £14.8m.
