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Gildan Corporation's response on corporate and social responsibility
Many of the custom screen printed t-shirts & sweatshirts Kustom Imprints sells are printed on Gildan Brand. Occasionally we have had customer inquires if our shirts are made in a sweatshop free environment. While they already know the Kustom Imprints print shop facility is sweatshop free, they would like to be assured the garments are manufactured in a sweatshop free company as well as produced environmentally safe. The below text is Gildan response to those questions…
On June 13, 2007, Gildan obtained accreditation from the Fair Labor Association (FLA ) for its labour compliance program, thus becoming the first vertically-integrated manufacturer in its industry to achieve accreditation. While this is only a milestone, and we recognize that we will continue to face new challenges in managing the growth of our global business in a socially responsible manner, FLA accreditation is a milestone which is particularly important and meaningful for Gildan. We have come a long way since our status as an FLA Participating Company was placed under review by the FLA in 2004, following the closure of our El Progreso sewing facility in Honduras during the course of an FLA audit.
Our enhanced reputation for corporate social responsibility is the result of the contributions of many people throughout the operations of our company. In particular, we would like to recognize the leadership of Corinne Adam, our Director of Social Responsibility, who joined us in August 2006. We consider ourselves fortunate that Corinne, with her extensive expertise and her credibility in this field, believed in Gildan and the values that we represent.
Fiscal 2007 was another successful year for Gildan but also a difficult year, in the sense that we saw the closure of our remaining Canadian and U.S. textile operations, as well as some of our U.S. hosiery operations which had been operated for many years by Kentucky Derby Hosiery, and two sewing factories in Mexico. These closures were necessary for us to remain a leader in our industry against Asian imports and other global competition, but unfortunately resulted in many experienced and long-standing employees seeing their jobs move offshore. We endeavored to follow best practices in managing these plant closures and to work closely in consultation with both North American and Mexican NGOs, as well as with the FLA.
We continue to be involved in community support and activities in all of the regions in which we operate, including our continuing close involvement with the Central American Polytechnic Institute (Instituto Politécnico Centroamericano – IPC), the technical school in Honduras which has been developed to train future managers for our industry. For the third successive year, we were also a major corporate sponsor of Dans la rue, a respected Montreal-based non-profit organization which helps and re-orients homeless young people in Montreal.
Overall, we would like to take this opportunity to reconfirm Gildan's commitment to sustainable development, progressive hiring and employment practices, first-class working conditions, community involvement and support, compliance with environmental laws and regulations, and continuing constructive dialogue with NGOs and all stakeholders in our corporate citizenship program could make a tremendous difference.
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