Gildan

Gildan Activewear Inc.
Company typePublic company
TSXGIL
NYSEGIL
S&P/TSX 60 component
IndustryTextile, clothing
Founded1984
FounderGlenn Chamandy, Greg Chamandy
Headquarters,
Key people
Vince Tyra (CEO), Rhodri J. Harries (CFO)
RevenueIncrease US$ 4.234 billion (FY 2022)[1]
Increase US$ 1.259 billion (FY 2022)[1]
Decrease US$ 705 million (FY 2022)[1]
Total assetsIncrease US$ 4.713 billion (FY 2022)[1]
Total equityIncrease US$ 2.55 billion (FY 2022)[1]
Number of employees
44,000 (2020)[1]
SubsidiariesAmerican Apparel (online retailer)
Websitegildan.com

Gildan Activewear Inc. (/ˈɡɪldən/) is a Canadian manufacturer of branded clothing, including undecorated blank activewear such as t-shirts, sport shirts and fleeces, which are subsequently decorated by screen printing companies with designs and logos. The company also supplies branded and private label athletic, casual, and dress socks to retail companies in the United States[2] including Gold Toe Brands, PowerSox, SilverToe, Auro, All Pro, and the Gildan brand.[3] The company also manufactures and distributes Under Armour and New Balance brand socks.[4] The company has approximately 44,000 employees worldwide,[1] and owns and operates manufacturing facilities in Rio Nance, Honduras[5] and the Caribbean.

Glenn and Greg Chamandy founded Gildan in 1984 with the acquisition of a knitting mill in Montreal, Quebec, Canada,[6] to make fabric to supply Harley Inc., the childrenswear business already owned by the family. It later expanded to sell t-shirts made of 100% cotton to wholesalers, which resold them to United States and Canadian screen-printers, to be decorated with designs and logos. By 1994, Harley was closed in order to focus on the expansion of what had become Gildan Activewear.[7]

Gildan has factories in low-wage countries like Honduras and Haiti, which has allowed Gildan to lower its price per shirt to below that of Chinese manufacturers as of 2006.[8]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Gildan 2022 Annual Report to Shareholders". Retrieved 4 March 2023.
  2. ^ "How to coax profit from the market's 'Great Rotation'". Market Watch. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
  3. ^ "Leading Apparel Manufacturer Turns To DeVito/Verdi To Develop Retail Brand And Refresh Iconic Gold Toe Brand". Free Online Library.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ 2011 Annual Report
  5. ^ "Gildan Will Build New Textile Plant at Rio Nance".
  6. ^ "Gildan Activewear Inc". 10 August 2023.
  7. ^ "HSBC Global Connections – Helping businesses grow internationally". Bwob.ca. Archived from the original on 3 March 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2013.
  8. ^ "Beat China On Cost: Gildan taps other labour pool and trade pacts". 9 January 2006. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2016.