Gildan Buys Comfort Colors
Gildan Activewear announced the purchase of Vermont-based Comfort Colors, a 30-year-old provider of dyed printwear products targeting the college and resort markets.
The deal, finalized Feb. 4, is for $100 million and is expected to close by the end of the current calendar quarter. In 2014 Comfort Colors generated net sales of approximately $95 million.
Comfort Colors, which markets its products under that brand name, buys prepared-for-dye garments from third-party vendors, including Gildan, and then treats them through a customized, in-house dyeing process.
Gildan president and CEO Glenn Chamandy said the fact that the companies share many of the same distributors is "one of the big synergies" of the deal.
"They take these shirts and put them into a dye machine and convert them into a color," Chamandy says. "But it's more of a weathered look like pigment dye… which is very, very strong today with the colleges, college bookstores, resort shops."
Chamandy spoke with investors during a conference discussing the company’s earnings announcement, which was the same day the Comfort Colors deal was finalized.
In that announcement, Gildan reports net sales in the recent quarter of $390.6 million, down 13.5 percent compared to the $451.4 million in the year-ago quarter. The drop was primarily due to a decrease in printwear revenues, which were $160.3 million last quarter, down from $261.8 million a year ago.
The company told investors its drop in printwear revenue was due to actions it announced in December, specifically, lowering its base selling price for its printwear products significantly and reducing and simplifying its pricing structure for its distributors.
The same day as the earnings and Comfort Colors deal announcements were made, Gildan also announced the signing of Blake Shelton, five-time and reigning Country Music Association male vocalist of the year and coach on NBC's "The Voice," to an endorsement deal to promote the Gildan brand.
PPAI, SAAGNY Hosting Product Safety Awareness Seminars
PPAI is hosting a Prop 65 & State Regulations webinar at 1 p.m. CST today (2/18/15) as part of its final live Product Safety Awareness webinar series offered in advance of Expo East. The show opens in Atlantic City, NJ, on March 12. The webinar covers California state regulations, identifies hazards, product responsibility resources, compliance standards and guidelines, and is one of the four required courses to achieve PSA status. Product Safety Awareness is part of a larger PPAI initiative to create confidence in promotional products as an advertising medium at every level. Click here to learn more.
The Specialty Advertising Association of Greater New York (SAAGNY) is hosting a one-hour webinar on Thursday for industry companies pursuing Product Safety Aware status. "Product Safety Series: Focus On Apparel," presented by PPAI director of public affairs Anne Lardner-Stone, is the final installment in a four-part education series that all suppliers must complete by Expo East 2015 if they wish to gain access to the marketplace through PPAI. The free webinar will begin at 12:30 p.m. EST and is open to all industry practitioners. Click here to learn more.
BIC Introduces New Branded Pen Designs
BIC Graphic announced the launch of two new BIC® branded pens. The BIC® Emblem Pen and the BIC® Journey Pen both prominently feature the iconic BIC Boy — based on distributor requests for more conspicuous branding by BIC.
People on the Move
Mike Schenker, MAS, has joined Miami, FL-based supplier Keyfetch as vice president of North American promotional sales. With more than 25 years in the industry, Schenker will help the company expand into the promotional products marketplace.
alphabroder announce the promotions of Spencer Linwood and Ivan Marullo to the newly-created positions of director, western Canada sales and director, eastern Canada sales, respectively.
Starline announced that Jim Maddox of The Maddox Company was recently named SPPA’s Multi-Line Rep of the Year for 2014. The Maddox Company represents Starline in Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Alabama.
Chocolate Inn/Taylor & Grant Canadian VP sales Alex Jovetic has been elected to the PPPC National Board as director for a second term.