News

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2025

Fairs & Roadshows

Benelux
3–4 September, Supplier Days – Houten
28 August, BAPP – Antwerpen

UK
10 September, Merchandise World – Milton Keynes (Marshall Arena)

France
3–4 September, Premium Sourcing – Paris

Platinum Equity to acquire SOLO

Paris (23 June 2025) – The management of the French SOLO (Invest SAS), one of the leading suppliers of personalisable products in Europe, has announced this week that it has entered into an agreement allowing for 100% of its shares to be acquired by Platinum Equity. Closing is expected shortly after the summer. The potential transaction remains subject to the information and consultation processes of the relevant employee representative bodies as well as customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

SOLO, founded by Alain Milgrom in 1991 and headquartered in Paris, has established over the last few years a number 2 position (after the listed New Wave) in the European market of personalisable products. Key driver for this was the 2022 acquisition of the Dutch full-service supplier midocean, resulting in the first true one-stop-shop solution of hard goods and textiles in the global market of personalisable products. This acquisition has driven accelerated growth of revenues, acknowledging the developing consolidation in the still highly fragmented European market and drawing the attention of private equity in the process. By attracting Platinum Equity as financial sponsor, the funding for the company’s ambitious growth plan is secured.

Audelia Krief, CEO of the Group and moral architect of the collaboration between Solo and midocean, explains: “Solo aims to shape the future of personalisation. One that is not only high performing but also sustainable and designed to meet the challenges of today and anticipate the needs of tomorrow. This requires a continuous investment in innovation, service and automation that is now made possible through the financial sponsorship of Platinum Equity.”

Stephen Gibson, COO of Solo and former CEO of midocean, adds: “The market of personalisable products is developing fast with corporates and SMEs gasping for inspiration and efficiency, hence more value for money. We feel Platinum Equity to be the perfect fit to financially support the company’s program to fulfil this need through continuous process innovation and automation.”

Platinum Equity Co-President Louis Samson said: “Solo’s strong foundation and entrepreneurial heritage make it an excellent fit for our hands-on approach to value creation. We have great confidence in the company’s leadership team and fundamentals. We believe that our M&A resources and operations capabilities can help the company accelerate its growth and foster new innovative solutions for an increasingly complex personalized products market.”

“Solo’s integrated model, combining distribution scale and on-demand printing, delivers compelling advantages in cost, product breadth, inventory availability and speed to Solo and its B2B customers,” said Malik Vorderwuelbecke, Managing Director at Platinum Equity. “In a highly fragmented market, these strengths position the company as an attractive platform for organic growth and strategic acquisitions. We will look to expand geographically and into new product categories.”

midocean becomes Solo midocean

07/01/2025 – midocean becomes Solo midocean taking the next step forward, driving customisation, ease and innovation to the next level.

31/01/2025 – Operational expansion of our printing and production facility in Ruda, making it almost 80,000 sqm.

2024

midocean expands in operations and services

Start construction of the new warehouse and production facility in Spain.

The launch of the new and improved Print Design Wizard, and the Product configuration tool was implemented across all yourChoice programs.

2022

midocean opens new printing and logistics facility

19/09/2022 - To facilitate the accelerating growth of the company, midocean has opened a new 40.000m2 logistics and printing facility in the close proximity to the current warehouse in Ruda Śląska, Poland. Growth ambition Not more than four years after the opening of the current facility. This facility was already unique in its sort in terms of full automation of the intra logistics in the printing operation. Nevertheless, the company has decided to expand significantly. The template of the current operation will be mirrored, only on a significantly larger scale. It will also comply to the highest environmental and sustainability standards of today.

By doing so, midocean does not only condition its own growth ambition. It anticipates on the intention to expand its product portfolio, including the widening of the textile assortment that will be offered after the take-over of the company by SOLO Group earlier this year. Grand opening The opening of the new facility was celebrated during the second week of September with all personnel. Also most business partners that supported the realization of the turnkey operation in less than one year, were present. After the official ceremony involving speeches by CEO Stephen Gibson, General manager Mohammed Mohammed and Ruda Śląska mayor Jacek Morek, the building was officially presented to personnel and all special guests in attendance. The day was successfully completed with a tasteful party until late in the evening.

“This new facility allows midocean to maintain its high service levels towards our customers. To keep delivering with the highest speed, we also installed many new cutting-edge technology printing machines that are custom built and tailored to our printing requirements. We will continue to develop in this area to ensure we can increase our capacities in line with the demands of the market. We are confident that this new location further strengthens us in continuity and future growth and contributes to our overall sustainable development goals” says Stephen Gibson – CEO midocean

Branded by earth: Vegan gifts made in Europe

08/09/2022 - As midocean we contribute to create conscious promotions. That is why we introduce vegan gifts that are made in Europe. Under the name Branded by Earth we now launch a natural, vegan, multi-use beauty care line with 100% plant based and skin-friendly ingredients. These products do not contain animal derived ingredients.

All Branded by Earth products are made in Europe and originate from natural raw materials. As the beauty care line from Branded by Earth is plant based, all products give off a natural fragrance and are friendly to all skin types.

Branded by Earth is a plastic free brand, As unnecessary plastic packaging is eliminated and recyclable packaging is being used, we reduce our level of waste and thus our environmental footprint.

"Indulge your customers and help to promote and strengthen an eco-friendly lifestyle"

Click here to read more

SOLO Group and midocean join forces

16/06/2022 - For several years already, the promotional product market in Europe is changing rapidly. The demand is evolving boldly and fast. It is today essential for our customers to be able to depend on suppliers that can effectively deliver the best service. When it comes to textile, suppliers need to invest in enhancing their brands awareness and desirability and in developing the perfect products fitting markets needs and expectations. This way, customers, whether they are distributors, resellers, printers or workwear specialists, can focus their attention on selling. Nurturing this virtuous circle shall benefit the entire market. Therefore, suppliers need to continuously reflect on how best to support customers in this changing environment.

To better address the promotional market evolution and resellers requirement for one stop shop experience, SOLO Group and midocean engaged in 2020 in a commercial cooperation. This way they could explore the compatibility of both companies when offering a selection of the SOLO Group portfolio including decoration to resellers in Europe. This cooperation was very successful, with a positive halo effect towards the entire distribution network of SOLO Group. Moreover, both companies appeared a perfect fit in terms of geography, operational set-up and company values motivating SOLO Group to pursue the acquisition of midocean early 2022.

2021

New: printable solutions


01/11/2021 - Your bottle can be printed now all the way around. With these 360° options, these reusable bottles will stand even out more. Full colour digitally printed bottles combine the technology of UV inkjet digital printing with rotary print capabilities. This technique allows the printing of full colour images with fresh, vibrant colours around bottles and other cylindrical items.

If you want a luxurious print effect you can choose now for Laser engraving 360. Rotary laser engraving allows midocean to offer an engraved design on the circumference of cylindrical items like bottles. This is a durable printing option over a larger surface area for the best personalised gift with maximum brand exposure.

Find out more

Food contact products containing plastic with bamboo and/or maize fibres

22/02/2021 - Following the reports of the NVWA, we will immediately stop the sale of food contact products containing plastic with bamboo and/or maize fibres. The reason for this measure has to do with the advice of a European research committee which has established that bamboo fibre should not be considered as a wood species but as a grass species. This means that bamboo falls out of the permitted additives list of Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 as "grass" is simply not mentioned. It is currently being investigated whether "grasses" can still be added to the above-mentioned list. The reason that bamboo and maize fibre is being investigated in combination with plastic is due to a risk assessment that potentially harmful amounts of melamine and formaldehyde from the cups could end up in food at higher temperatures. However, we have an active policy on the testing of these goods and in previous inspections by the NVWA we demonstrated that the "bamboo" articles marketed by midocean do not contain melamine and formaldehyde. We would like to emphasise that the measure is the result of the above-mentioned advice and that our articles therefore do not pose a direct risk to public health.

midocean obtains A-score amfori BSCI

09/02/2021 - At the European print facility, midocean is the first in the promotional industry to achieve the highest achievable audit score. Ede - An independent auditor noted a significant improvement compared to the previous audit that took place in 2019. midocean is the only company in the industry to undergo an amfori BSCI audit. With an A-score, the company is also the first to achieve the highest possible audit result!

Safe working conditions

As a major player in the promotional industry, midocean takes its responsibility seriously. The entire midocean collection is produced according to European laws and regulations, all products are safe and tested with reports available directly on the midocean web site at item level. It is also vitally important that the people who produce and decorate the items can do so under safe conditions.

Independent, recurring audits

We prioritize the safety of all people involved in making our products. midocean is therefore a member of amfori BSCI: an initiative to improve working conditions worldwide. On behalf of midocean and by accredited audit companies, amfori BSCI performs independent and recurring audits at our suppliers. The findings of each audit are used to develop an improvement plan and the factory is given a set amount of time to implement these improvements.

Own print location achieves A-score amfori BSCI

In addition, we also ensure that our own production facility meets all local legal requirements in the field of working conditions. That is why amfori BSCI and SEDEX Smeta 4P audits are regularly performed at our print location in Ruda, Poland, in line with the required audit intervals. An audit provides a deeper insight into areas where continuous improvements can be made to the operational practises and facilities. As a quality conscious organisation, midocean on the 14th and 15th of January 2021 carried out a follow-up audit of both amfori BSCI and SEDEX Smeta 4P at our print facility. This audit resulted in a unique A-score achievement. The independent auditor noted a significant improvement compared to the previous audit. midocean demonstrates that it is able to improve its business processes in the field of working hours, environmental requirements and safety in a relatively short time. This benefits the organization, but above all contributes to a good, healthy and safe working environment for employees and the immediate environment of the location.

Read more about social compliance