MONTREAL — InkIQ has announced a new integration with S&S Activewear, bringing supplier catalog ordering and ZeroTouch receiving capabilities into its AI-powered enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform for apparel decorators.
The integration allows decorators in the United States and Canada to search the S&S catalog, access pricing and inventory information, place orders and track shipments directly within InkIQ. Incoming garments can then be linked to corresponding production jobs through S&S’s ZeroTouch QR-code receiving system.
The companies say the integration is designed to reduce manual data entry, simplify inventory receiving and help decorators move garments into production more efficiently.
“Decorators don’t lose margin on the press. They lose it in the gaps: retyping orders into supplier portals, opening boxes to see what arrived, hunting for the work order at the machine,” said William Malouf, InkIQ co-founder and CEO. “With S&S ordering and ZeroTouch inside InkIQ, nothing is re-entered and nothing sits on a shelf waiting to be sorted.”
Connecting Supplier Orders With Production
Through the integration, decorators can place S&S purchase orders directly from approved jobs in InkIQ, connecting product quantities, artwork and decoration specifications with the purchasing process.
When S&S ships the garments, ZeroTouch box-level labels, along with optional garment-level labels, allow shops to identify and route incoming merchandise without manually sorting each shipment.
Scanning a ZeroTouch QR code opens the corresponding InkIQ job, providing access to decoration instructions, artwork and placement details.
According to S&S, its ZeroTouch technology can reduce receiving labor by 40% to 60%. The distributor also reports 99.9% order accuracy across its automated distribution network.
Real-Time Catalog and Inventory Access
The direct application programming interface (API) connection provides InkIQ users access to S&S brands and products available through their existing supplier accounts.
Decorators can view live inventory, pricing, order status and shipment tracking information without switching between separate platforms. Businesses also retain their established S&S pricing and account terms.
“ZeroTouch was built to help decorators get blanks into production faster,” said Rob Hamill, chief strategy officer at S&S. “Connecting it with the system shops use to manage their work gives more customers a practical way to simplify receiving and put our S&S Business Solutions to work.”
The S&S integration is available now to InkIQ customers and expands the platform’s existing supplier network, which connects apparel decorators with distributors through PromoStandards and direct API integrations.
