Industry News
Gildan Expands North Carolina Manufacturing Presence by Buying Frontier Yarns
Gildan Activewear Inc. has increased its North Carolina manufacturing presence again by spending $168 million to purchase the parent company of Frontier Yarns. The Montreal apparel company said Monday it has bought Phoenix Sanford LLC, which is based in Sanford, North Carolina.
Frontier, founded in 1996, has two plants in Sanford and two plants in Mayodan, North Carolina with a combined 800 employees, according to the Gildan news release. Frontier makes 100% cotton, polyester, and cotton blend yarns, primarily manufactured on open-end and vortex spinning technology. It’s an example of Gildan opting to purchase a major material supplier. In 2021, Gildan said about 40% of Frontier’s production was dedicated to yarn sold to Gildan for textile manufacturing in Central America and the Caribbean.
“As a long-time trusted yarn supplier of Gildan, with a dedicated and experienced workforce, we are delighted to welcome Frontier into the Gildan family” Glenn Chamandy, Gildan’s president and chief executive, said in a statement. “In line with our business model of investing in global manufacturing, the acquisition of Frontier’s operations broadens and complements our existing yarn capabilities and provides additional yarn capacity to support long-term growth.”
Robin Perkins, Frontier’s chief executive, said the sale “is a testament to the trust Gildan places in our people, their expertise, and our operations. We see this combination as a strong and natural fit.”
Gildan has yarn-spinning manufacturing and other operations in Mocksville, Eden, and Salisbury (all in North Carolina). The latest Mocksville workforce count was at more than 200.
The Frontier purchase is the fourth significant deal for Gildan in the past five years. In February 2017, Gildan spent $88 million to acquire the worldwide intellectual property rights related to the American Apparel brand and certain manufacturing equipment of a bankrupt American Apparel LLC.
In August 2016, Gildan paid $55 million to buy Peds Legwear Inc., which makes foot apparel and legwear products. Peds was founded in 1936 and owned its plant in Hildebran, North Carolina, where it had about 200 employees at the time of the sale. However, in March 2018, Gildan said in a WARN Act notice to the N.C. Commerce Department that it was 65 jobs at the Peds Manufacturing Group plant or 37.5% of the workforce there.
Gildan said at that time it was “consolidating the distribution capacity currently being handled at the Hildebran distribution center into our larger-scale facility in Charleston, South Carolina, which already services our retail customers. The sock manufacturing operations at this facility are being maintained.”
In June 2016, Gildan paid $110 million to buy Alstyle Apparel LLC and its subsidiary, which is the apparel division of Ennis Inc.Alstyle makes T-shirts and fleece, mostly under the Alstyle brand. Customers are screen printers, embellishers, and mass-marketers, mostly in North America.
It operates a textile manufacturing plant and cut-and-sew facilities in Mexico, as well as distribution centers in all three North American countries.
Source: Winston-Salem Journal