Pic The Gift Blog

Acquisitions have played a quiet but critical role in Pic The Gift’s growth over the past eight years, and they’ll continue shaping our future. Marketing Director Chris Reimer sat down with CEO and co-founder Wes Pickering to discuss how PTG identifies acquisition opportunities, why culture fit matters more than aggressive deal-making, and what types of companies we’re looking to partner with next. If you’re in sublimation, print-on-demand, or related decoration processes and looking for an exit or a partner, this is your invitation to reach out. Our strategy is about patience, people, and win-win outcomes. Enjoy the discussion!

Q: What made you decide that acquisitions should be part of Pic The Gift’s growth strategy?

Pickering: At first, it was an accident. Opportunity and need presented themselves. The first acquisition was out of necessity for a growing segment of the business that we didn’t have enough capacity to support. So we were having to be creative and find a network of outsourcing partners, which became a lot of work. We were trying to build more capacity, we knew of a company looking for an exit, and so the timing was right. 

Q: When evaluating a potential acquisition, what are the criteria that matter most to us? 

Pickering: It depends on the type of acquisition. Some of the ones we’ve done are asset acquisitions, which can include additional pieces of equipment and a roster of customers. That type of purchase can easily fold into what we currently do. When you’re acquiring more or keeping a facility up and running, you’re definitely looking for culture alignment, workforce stability, and areas where you can see potential improvements. You’re hoping to see the acquired company embracing what we currently do. And we want to be able to make an immediate difference for the people at the company. A lot of it is culture and fit. 

Q: Is there a balance that we try to strike between acquiring capabilities we don’t have and acquiring capabilities that would allow us to scale what we’re already doing? 

Pickering: Yes, in a perfect world. I just don’t know that we live in a perfect world. We’ve made it this far by being opportunistic in identifying and reviewing the opportunities that come our way. We’re not overly aggressive – we’re not out there actively searching and targeting. We tend to hear of opportunities through partners and word of mouth, and then we have to evaluate those to see the potential benefits for the company and if it’s a fit or not. I would say we probably approach things a little bit backwards compared to other companies. 

Q: Is there an opportunity to change our strategy? Should we actively search for companies and approach them first? Are there companies that we should be talking to? 

Pickering: Yes, and we do that in a couple different ways. Regarding the companies we’ve acquired so far, to be honest I don’t think I knew they existed prior to the acquisition conversations. To spread the word of our intentions, we talk to our vendors, partners, and industry friends, explaining the capabilities and types of companies we’re looking for. We ask them to keep their eyes and ears open for potential opportunities that should find their way to us. Currently, we have several different directions that we’ve mapped out that could be good potential fits for us. Historically, we’ve been able to look at opportunities in a creative way, and to date we have been pretty successful in presenting win-win solutions.

Q: Speaking of fit, what role does company culture play in these decisions?

Pickering: A hundred percent of it depends on the type of acquisition we’re doing. If we’re going to roll what they do into what we do in our facilities and we’re not keeping their buildings or processes, culture is less of a consideration. If we’re acquiring a business that we intend to continue operating – maintaining their facilities and current staff, keeping things rolling then culture fit is critical. That said, we would also look at opportunities that may not be an exact culture fit at the beginning, but we’re confident that our culture would add significant benefit to their operation. That requires significant due diligence to ensure the improvements can take hold. 

Q: Tell me about the 2018 acquisition of Commercial Apparel. What specific capability or gap did they fill for us? 

Pickering: Commercial Apparel had been around for 50 years or so. It was a sewing company working in the hat industry, also sewing postal uniforms, all sorts of different products. Ownership transitioned to a second generation and he had different interests. Nevertheless, he wanted to take care of it for his dad. They wanted to make sure we took care of their people and we wanted that, too. We needed that sewing capacity, so it was a really good fit.

Q: Did we have cut and sew capabilities before that?

Pickering: We did. It was something that we had added a few years prior and it was starting to grow really quickly, but the small group of people we could get in-house and train were completely overloaded. So we found ourselves outsourcing a bunch of the work. To meet capacity prior to the acquisition, we worked with a few good partners in town. However, such an arrangement can add complexity and time delays. So for us, the amount we were outsourcing versus the amount we were able to handle in-house was out of balance. We needed to bring more sewing on site. Today we do all of our sewing in-house.

Q: Tell me about Thread Studio. What did they bring to the table? 

Pickering: We acquired Thread Studio in 2023 – another opportunistic acquisition. It started with a friend of a friend of a guy I worked with over the years. He reached out and said, “Hey, I’m working here and we’re looking to move the business. Do you have any interest?” I didn’t know anything about the company, so I asked them to send us some info. After some research, we decided to do an asset purchase. It didn’t make sense to keep the facility running, so we acquired assets, moved them back here to St. Louis, and acquired a couple of key employees and customers as well. They approached the market differently than we did while selling some of the same products. The acquisition helped us get into a different segment and some new product lines.

Q: Let’s talk about the process of making acquisitions. Were there any surprises, good or bad, during either purchase?

Pickering: Oh yes! Everything in business is about challenges and surprises. First, we focused on retention of employees at Commercial Apparel. We slowly integrated them in because they were used to operating in a different culture – a very rural environment. We wanted to make sure that they felt welcome. Since we’ve acquired them, we more than doubled their wages. We’ve added health insurance, we’ve added benefits, we’ve added a 401(k), all benefits they didn’t previously have. They were a very tight-knit group, but what we were offering as a company was going to drastically improve their overall compensation, so it was a great opportunity for them. When we moved the facility 15 miles closer to town, everyone made the move. I’d say 85% of the employees are still there today. And quite a few of the people no longer there simply retired. I’m proud that we kept that team together.

Q: Did either acquisition help us better serve our existing partners? Or did they help us attract new partners? 

Pickering: Commercial Apparel gave us capacity that we needed and some expertise in sewing. Building a team takes time and effort, so adding experienced sewers was a great boost to our business that allowed us to introduce some new product lines. 

Prior to acquiring Thread Studio, our business was built on small businesses, not enterprise companies. We had never approached large companies, so we wanted to make sure that we had systems in place before entering that market. That acquisition added several big partners to the list, and those partners are sophisticated; they can push you. They hold you to more metrics, quality and performance standards that required changes and enhancements on our end. Working with them made us focus on becoming better. That may be one of the bigger things we learned: what was important to our customers was also important to us. The acquisition caused our business to shift. Now we were working with customers who have quality and partner support teams. Their requirements made us a better company.

Q: What does an ideal acquisition target look like for us in 2026 and beyond? 

Pickering: That’s a tough question because there are different ways to approach it. What has brought our company to where it is today is flexibility. Yes, we have somewhat of a vision and a plan of where we want to get. But we’re also seizing opportunities when they arise. That’s probably the direction we’re going to continue to go. 

We’re definitely looking for sublimation businesses or print on demand businesses that have a positive culture, a great customer base, a skilled workforce that could stand up and be another branch of what we currently do. We’re also open to businesses that might be looking for an exit, that are maybe on a downhill slide and looking to recover as much as they can. We can work with those as well. We’ve had pretty good success arriving at deals that work well for both parties. We are open to acquiring companies that are engaged in other decoration processes like engraving, embroidery, and different printing technologies.

Q: DTF? (Direct to Film)

Pickering: If the right DTF partner came to us, we could get into that. We’re pretty flexible. We just have to see value in the business. We’ve discussed internally. There are a lot of potential business lines we could see tie in that would be beneficial. We feel we’re at a point as a company, with the team we have, that we could operate newly acquired businesses efficiently and effectively. 

Q: If there’s a company owner out there reading this and thinking, “Oh, maybe we should talk to Pic The Gift,” what should they know about what it’s like to work with us to be acquired by us? 

Pickering: What is it like to work with us? That’s something you could probably help answer! I think we care about people. We care about a fair outcome. As I’ve told several of the companies I’ve talked to, I have a lot of people that I have to care for in this decision. I can’t make a stupid decision that’s going to risk our business or your business. I have to look at it and make sure it’s a fair offer for both companies. 

Q: I would add the word “patient.” You seem to be a patient person about these things. Do emotions get in the way sometimes?

Pickering: Everything has a level of emotion to it. However, I’ve yet to be in a negotiation where I’ve thought, “I HAVE to make this happen.” These are all situations in which it would be cool if the acquisition closes and we can move forward, but if it doesn’t work out, the bright side is we have a great business that operates really well and either way, we’re going to be fine. So, we typically find ourselves in a really good position where we don’t have to do anything. We don’t have to feel the pressure to make a deal happen. If there’s a win-win out there, that’s our sweet spot. We don’t need to be careless or reckless or desperate. We can be patient, as you said, and we can wait for the right opportunities, the right people, the right processes, and the right team that’s looking for the same things we are. None of our deals over the years have ever led to a hostile negotiation because it’s not that important. We’re looking to add value and we’re looking to build value for other people. And so it doesn’t do us any good to get into a penny pitching or arguing situation. Does our offer provide you enough value, hope, and opportunity to get you to where you need to go? Because if it does, great! If it doesn’t, we wish you the best of luck. So we typically view deals as win-win situations. Every one of them has been a win-win situation, yielding value for both parties.

 
We’re building a company capable of operating diverse decoration technologies under one roof, and we’re doing it by partnering with businesses that share our values. If you’re in sublimation, DTF, embroidery, engraving, or related fields and think there might be a fit, please reach out. Even if the timing isn’t right today, it might be tomorrow. Reach out when you’re ready – we’ll still be here.