Gildan History
Earlier company descriptions, brand line-ups, store counts and photographs from the history of Gildan, kept for historical reference.
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The Company Description of Its Time
Gildan makes the basics other businesses build on. The historical record describes a leading manufacturer and marketer of quality branded basic family apparel, including T-shirts, fleece, sport shirts, underwear, socks, hosiery and shapewear. The brand portfolio is the first thing to study, because it explains the company's reach: company-owned brands include Gildan, Gold Toe, Anvil, Comfort Colors, American Apparel, Alstyle, Secret, Silks, Kushyfoot, Secret Silky, Peds, MediPeds and Therapy Plus. Beyond its own names, sock products are distributed through an exclusive U.S. sock license for the Under Armour brand, and a wide array of products is marketed through a global license for the Mossy Oak brand.
Vertical Integration and 48,000 Employees
The operating model in the filing is vertical integration at large scale. Gildan owns and operates vertically-integrated, large-scale manufacturing facilities located primarily in Central America, the Caribbean Basin, North America and Bangladesh, strategically placed to service the quick replenishment needs of its customers. Quick replenishment is the commercial point: basics sell continuously, so a retailer or printer who runs out needs restocking in days, and nearby large plants are how that promise is kept. Over 48,000 employees worldwide are recorded in the profile.
The filing closes with responsibility language that it presents as strategy rather than decoration: a strong commitment to industry-leading labour and environmental practices throughout the supply chain, in accordance with a comprehensive corporate social responsibility program embedded in the company's long-term business strategy. It points readers to gildancorp.com for company information and genuinegildan.com for corporate citizenship practices. The one content image from the historical record guide, a 2017 Gildan brand board, is carried by reference in the gallery on the history page - a useful one-glance map of the portfolio listed above.
Photos
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References & Further Reading
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