29 June 2009, Montréal - Gildan Activewear Inc., yesterday confirmed
that the current political situation in Honduras has had no impact on its
operations or employees in Honduras.
The company says that its sock manufacturing facilities in
Honduras are continuing to operate normally at full capacity. Gildan is currently
taking two weeks of market-related production downtime in its textile and
activewear sewing facilities, which were previously scheduled prior to the
development of the current political situation, in line with its previously
stated objective to balance inventory levels with anticipated continuing weak
market conditions for activewear in the wholesale distributor channel.
Maintenance and administrative activities at Gildan’s operations in Honduras
are not affected.
Gildan is a vertically-integrated marketer and manufacturer
of quality branded basic apparel. The Company is the leading supplier of activewear
for the screenprint channel in the U.S. and Canada. It is also a leading
supplier to this market in Europe, and is establishing a growing presence in
Mexico and the Asia-Pacific region. The Company sells T-shirts, sport shirts
and fleece in large quantities to wholesale distributors as undecorated
“blanks”, which are subsequently decorated by screenprinters with designs and logos.
Consumers ultimately purchase the Company’s products, with the Gildan label, in
venues such as sports, entertainment and corporate events, and travel and
tourism destinations. The Company’s products are also utilized for work
uniforms and other end-uses to convey individual, group and team identity. The
Company is also a leading supplier of private label and Gildan branded socks primarily
sold to mass-market retailers. In addition, Gildan has an objective to become a
significant supplier of men’s and boys’ underwear and undecorated activewear
products to mass-market retailers in North America.
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