T-shirt Wars: Fruit of the Loom v Hanes v Gildan

February 28th, 2007

Berkshire Hathaway’s acquisition of Fruit of the Loom and Russell Athletic has really set the cat amongst the pigeons. But who will be the winners, losers in this extremely competitive market.

At US based Sara Lee their Hanes operation was spun off. tha US based hosiery, underwear and major T-shirts suppliers was spun off from its parent company the Sara Lee Corp in September 2006. Since then sales at Hanes Brands have fallen by 6% from $685.2 million to $644.7 million. The company attributed the decline in part to decline in the sales underwear and T-shirts.

At Gildan the Canadian based T-shirt manufacturer sales in their first quarter which ended 31st Dec 2006 amounted to U.S. $185.8 million, up 54.4% on the first quarter of the previous year. The increase in sales was due to the acquisition of Kentucky Derby Hosiery a US based sock producer plus a 15.2% increase in unit sales volumes for activewear. The increase in sales was partially offset by a 4% reduction in selling prices for activewear which includes T-shirts, Polo-shirts and sweatshirts.

Gildan has continued to increase its market share within the US .According to S.T.A.R.S market share data Gildan has 46% market share on T-shirts and 36% market share on Fleece (sweatshirts).

In the UK the battle for market share can be clearly seen. Gildan has increased the number of distributors stocking their items for 2007. Distributor selling prices on Gildan are significantly lower than 2006. It looks like 2007 will be an interesting year.

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Entry Filed under: Fruit of the Loom, Gildan, Promotional Clothing, T-shirts, Uncategorized