S&S Activewear, LLC LAST VERIFIED: August 6, 2026

S&S Activewear is one of the largest wholesale distributors of imprintable blank apparel in North America. Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Bolingbrook, Illinois, it has been owned by private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice since 2021 and has consolidated the industry through acquisitions (TSC Apparel, and rival alphabroder in 2024). S&S distributes blank t-shirts, fleece, headwear, activewear and bags from essentially every major imprintable brand – Gildan, Bella+Canvas, Next Level, Comfort Colors, adidas and dozens more – to screen printers, embroiderers, promo-products distributors and merch companies. With 18 US distribution centers it claims the deepest inventory and broadest one-to-two-day ground coverage of any blank apparel supplier, plus real-time inventory APIs.

Terms are unusually transparent for the industry. There are no minimum order requirements; pricing is consistent, with wholesale terms for business accounts. Free ground shipping applies to business orders over $200 in the contiguous US (personal customers get free freight over a lower published threshold), and a dedicated dropship program ships blind to end customers for a flat $7.50 freight fee on qualifying orders – making it genuinely dropship-friendly for decorators. Returns under $1,000 processed through the online portal carry no restock or return-shipping fees. What the site does not state publicly: exact tiered pricing (visible only after login), account approval criteria and timelines, and net-terms qualification details, which are handled during registration and credit review.

For print shops, embroiderers and merch businesses, S&S is a top-tier, low-risk supplier: 35+ years of history, institutional ownership, national warehouse coverage, no minimums and clean dropship logistics. It is a distributor for decorators rather than a consumer bargain site, and casual buyers get less favorable freight terms. Caveats: its Trustpilot score is a middling 3.0/5, though from only five reviews – far too small a sample to outweigh its industry standing; some users report account approval taking longer than expected; and CD&R’s roll-up of S&S and alphabroder concentrates the blank-apparel market, which could affect pricing leverage long-term. The site blocks automated access, so this profile draws on Google-indexed pages and secondary sources.