Gildan Receives its 13th FUNDAHRSE Seal for ESG work in Honduras

MONTREAL, Dec. 04, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gildan Activewear Inc. (GIL: TSX and NYSE) announced today that it is once again a recipient of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Seal by the Fundación Hondureña de Responsabilidad Social Empresarial (FUNDAHRSE) in Honduras. This is the 13^th consecutive year that Gildan receives this award.

“We have always believed in and stood firmly behind our responsibility of caring for our people, conserving the environment, and creating stronger communities. Despite the challenges we faced in 2020, our Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) commitments remain unwavering,” said Claudia Sandoval, Vice President, Corporate Citizenship at Gildan. “Further, the humanitarian efforts we recently deployed to support our employees and our neighbouring communities impacted by hurricanes Eta and Iota reflects this strong commitment to our people and communities, particularly in times of hardship,” she continued.

Gildan has been operating in Honduras since 1997, and with close to 23,000 employees in the country today the Company continues to make strategic investments year after year to improve the lives of its employees, reduce its environmental footprint, and strengthen infrastructure for its communities. Recent investments and projects in Honduras include:

Caring for our people

• Gildan inaugurated its new Health and Wellness Comprehensive Centre, located at the Company’s Rio Nance complex. The centre includes multiple doctor’s offices, schools for back and shoulder health, an audiometric booth, a breastfeeding area, and a wellness area.
• Gildan launched and implemented 16 “Gildan Online” (GOL) digital kiosks, a new system to improve communication with employees on the factory floor. The kiosk allows Gildan’s Human Resources team to collect employee grievances and provide faster answers and resolutions.

Conserving the environment

• Gildan continued to reinforce best practices in water use at all of its Company-owned facilities, allowing the Company to achieve a 11.2% decrease in water intensity in 2019 compared to its 2015 baseline.
• Gildan also continued to replace bunker fuel with biomass for energy production, allowing Gildan to use renewable energy for 44% of its total energy use in 2019.

Creating stronger communities

• Gildan extended its partnership with World Vision Honduras to improve the quality of education for children, promote awareness and actions related to environmental conversation, foster leadership in youth and teachers, and support violence preventing education and programs in the communities.
• Gildan signed an agreement with the Fundación Merendón, an organization focused on the conservation of natural resources. The agreement focuses on contributing to the sustainability of natural resources through the implementation of environmental conservation programs in the areas where Gildan has operations.

FUNDAHRSE is a Honduran organization that promotes the management of responsible businesses and works to boost the competitiveness of small to large companies by promoting the strategic integration of respect for ethical values, people, communities, and the environment in a company’s decision making and business management processes. The FUNDAHRSE CSR Seal is designed to recognize organizations that demonstrate leading practices related to employee and community relations, human rights, labour practices, governance, marketing, environment, and operational practices.

About Gildan

Gildan is a leading manufacturer of everyday basic apparel which markets its products in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America, under a diversified portfolio of Company-owned brands, including Gildan®, American Apparel®, Comfort Colors®, Gildan® Hammer™, Prim + Preux®, GoldToe®, Anvil® by Gildan®, Alstyle®, Secret®, Silks®, Kushyfoot®, Secret Silky®, Therapy Plus®, Peds® and MediPeds®, and under the Under Armour® brand through a sock licensing agreement providing exclusive distribution rights in the United States and Canada. Our product offering includes activewear, underwear, socks, hosiery, and legwear products sold to a broad range of customers, including wholesale distributors, screenprinters or embellishers, as well as to retailers that sell to consumers through their physical stores and/or e-commerce platforms, and to global lifestyle brand companies.

Gildan owns and operates vertically-integrated, large-scale manufacturing facilities which are primarily located in Central America, the Caribbean, North America, and Bangladesh. Gildan operates with a strong commitment to industry-leading labour and environmental practices throughout its supply chain in accordance with its comprehensive Genuine Responsibility® program embedded in the Company's long-term business strategy. More information about the Company and its corporate citizenship practices and initiatives can be found at www.gildancorp.com and www.genuineresponsibility.com, respectively.