Top 40 supplier Vantage Apparel (asi/93390) is going global. The largest apparel decorator in North America has acquired Lynka, the leading full-service European corporate apparel supplier. Financial terms of the deal were not released.

Ira Neaman (left), CEO of Vantage Apparel, and John Lynch, president of Lynka.

Vantage CEO Ira Neaman and Lynka founder and shareholder John Lynch said the timing was right for the partnership, calling the many similarities between the two firms “kismet.” Vantage is based in Avenel, NJ, but has a deep Polish heritage. Lynka is based outside of Krakow, Poland, but Lynch grew up in New Jersey, 20 minutes away from Vantage headquarters. Both have built a reputation for top-notch apparel decoration.

“We’ve had 100 lunches together,” Lynch said of Neaman. “I reached out to Ira and said, ‘We’ve been talking for 10 years about how similar our companies were. How about we put our money where our mouths are?’ ”

ASI Media Executive Editor Theresa Hegel speaks with Vantage Apparel’s Ira Neaman and Lynka’s John Lynch about the acquisition that will bring Vantage into the European market.

Vantage says the acquisition will make it the largest global supplier and decorator of corporate apparel, enabling it to offer decoration services worldwide.

“Our partnership with Lynka will allow distributors with global customers to achieve consistency in both top-quality apparel and decoration that have been a pinnacle of achievement for both companies through the years,” Neaman said. “I’m proud to bring Vantage’s reputation in superior decoration and back-office technology services to the world stage.”

One big advantage of the acquisition, the two leaders said, is the ability for Lynka to inventory Vantage’s core product assortment, since Lynka doesn’t have its own apparel brand. “Vantage has spent decades building an incredible product line that doesn’t exist in Europe,” Lynch said.

The eventual addition of Vantage products at Lynka will also help the companies develop a global uniform program for distributors who land multinational clients – like fast-food brands or airlines. “Companies want global looks,” Neaman said. Now, Vantage will have a bi-continental solution, offering identical inventory that can be “decorated in the exact same way with the same equipment,” he added.

Lynka will retain its name and leadership team, with Lynch at the helm as president. He’ll continue to lead a team of more than 250 in Poland, serving customers across 25 countries in Europe, including the UK, France and Germany. Lynka is able to ship its decorated apparel anywhere in Europe in as few as three to 10 business days.

“I think initially each company will maintain its identity,” Neaman said. “Clearly, the marketplace will know us as one.”

One of the most exciting aspects of the acquisition for Lynch is the knowledge sharing that will occur between the companies. When he made the announcement to his team, he told them that they’ll feel at home walking through the Vantage production department, where there’s signage in Polish and many workers speak the language. “I’m going to be able to send people over, even those that don’t speak English, and they’re going to be able to learn a lot,” Lynch said. “The information exchange is going to be exciting for our people.”

Both companies are known for their award-winning embellishment. Vantage has won the ASI Distributor Choice award for decorated apparel more than a dozen times. Lynka has won more awards for decoration than any other European apparel company. It’s one of the few apparel manufacturers in Europe with Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP) certification, ensuring safe, compliant and environmentally friendly practices.

Since being founded in 1992, Lynka has decorated more than 85 million garments. The company recently located to a 100,000-square-foot decoration and logistics facility outside of Krakow, offering a wide range of decoration methods including screen printing, embroidery, heat transfers and dye sublimation. Lynka also offers direct-to-garment digital printing, using the newest Kornit technology. Single-piece garment decoration and print-on-demand services are fast-growing components of both companies’ strategies.

The acquisition will help bring synergy between the two companies and build upon the “trust and reliability” each has already earned, Neaman said. “A global solution, that’s what we’re going to bring,” said the member of Counselor’s Power 50. “It gives a peace of mind to the marketplace that they’ve got a reliable partner that they can feel comfortable with.”

Vantage Apparel has been in the promotional apparel industry since 1977 and operates over 1,200 embroidery heads. With 2020 reported revenue of $39 million, Vantage ranked 37th on Counselor’s latest list of the 40 largest suppliers in the industry.