manufactured in our company owned and operated facilities
Gildan is one of the world’s largest vertically-integrated manufacturers of everyday basic apparel, including activewear, underwear, socks, hosiery, and legwear. The vast majority of our revenues are generated within our Company-owned manufacturing operations, primarily located in Central America, the Caribbean Basin, North America and Bangladesh.
Our founding business model, of owning and operating the manufacturing facilities that produce the majority of the products we sell, sets us apart from most major global apparel companies. This direct control of almost the entire manufacturing process, from raw materials to finished products, allows the Company to ensure that responsible and sustainable practices are deployed throughout the complete value chain.
We market our products in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America, under a diversified portfolio of company-owned brands. Our products are sold to wholesale distributors, screenprinters or embellishers, as well as to retailers that sell to consumers through their physical stores and/or e-commerce platforms. In addition, we sell directly to consumers through our own direct-to-consumer platforms.
Our growing portfolio of brands provides the opportunity to deliver quality everyday family apparel to consumers globally.
For more informations on our Company, visit the corporate website at www.gildancorp.com.
A diversified portfolio of brands sold in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America:
Our Company was founded on a belief that owning the factories and controlling every step in the process was the best way to make great apparel. From spinning our own yarns through to assembling the final garments and distributing our products, we prefer to do it all. This vertical integration provides us unparalleled control and visibility across the full value chain and allows us to implement industry-leading labour and environmental practices throughout.
The vast majority of our products are manufactured in facilities that we own and operate but for certain products we outsource production, which represents less than 10% of our total production in terms of revenue. By the end of 2018, our contractor base included 93 third-party manufacturing facilities that actively produced throughout the year, 20 of which accounted for almost all of our outsourced production.
All potential suppliers of outsourced production are evaluated diligently for compliance to our Code of Conduct, which contains strict criteria on labour practices, workplace safety, protection of human rights and others. A contractual clause is included in all of our commercial agreements to ensure that our contractors and suppliers receive, understand and acknowledge our Code of Conduct. As a standard practice, this clause stipulates that compliance with our Code of Conduct is a condition of doing business with us.
The products we produce and sell range across the full gamut of everyday family apparel, including t-shirts, sweatshirts, polo shirts, underwear, socks, panty hose and other forms of legwear. These products are marketed and sold under one of our 13 Company-owned brands.
We also manufacture products for select leading global athletic and lifestyle brands, and certain retail customers who market the products which we manufacture under their own brands.
We are committed to delivering high quality, value-driven products. Our Global Quality System (GQS), based on international standards for quality management such as ISO 9001, ensures consistency in the quality of our products as well as in the overall quality of our processes. Our proactive and preventive approach involves standards and quality controls for raw materials, manufacturing processes and the finished products we ship to our customers.
We ensure that our products comply with the consumer product safety laws and regulations of the jurisdictions in which they are sold, which, in the United States include, the Consumer Product Safety Act and the Flammable Fabrics Act, as well as several state laws such as California’s Proposition 65.
Principles of the GQS are:
We are committed to maintaining a culture of integrity, accountability and strong corporate governance. Our commitment drives us to adopt practices that go beyond simple compliance with applicable Canadian and U.S. securities legislation and the requirements of the Toronto and New York stock exchanges where Gildan’s shares are listed. Our Corporate Governance Guidelines reflect our commitment and we review and update these guidelines regularly to ensure they remain consistent with evolving industry trends and best practices.
As part of its formal mandate, overall responsibility for monitoring and reviewing the Company’s Genuine Responsibility practices falls to our Board of Directors. In order to enhance this oversight role, the Board has delegated to the Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility Committee the specific responsibility to oversee Gildan’s policies and practices in such areas as environment, labour, health and safety and sustainability issues, as well as community and other stakeholder relations. Management provides a comprehensive report on corporate social responsibility and environmental matters to the Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility Committee at each of its quarterly meetings and highlights to the Committee key developments, issues and risks in these areas.