A record-breaking fourth quarter helped propel Gildan’s total global full-year revenue to about $2.92 billion in 2021, a 48% increase over 2020 and a 3.5% rise above 2019 – the last full pre-pandemic year.

The Top 40 promotional products supplier, one of the world’s leading vertically integrated manufacturers of apparel basics, shared the strong results in an earnings report released Wednesday, Feb. 23.

Glenn J. Chamandy, Gildan

As the data showed, Gildan’s profits and margins soared, too. The Montreal-headquartered firm said that gross profit was $940 million with gross margin of 32.2%, compared to $249 million and 12.6% the prior year.

Net earnings for 2021 tallied $607 million, or $3.07 per share on a diluted basis. Adjusted net earnings were $538 million, or $2.72 per diluted share. That was a huge improvement over the previous year, when Gildan reported a net loss of $225 million, or -$1.14 per diluted share, and an adjusted net loss of $36 million, or -$0.18 per diluted share in 2020.

Gildan noted that fourth-quarter 2021 sales reached $784 million – a Q4 record. The revenue total represented a 14% gain over the fourth quarter of 2020 and a 19% jump over the same three-month period in 2019. Sales for Q4 and the full year include revenue from all of Gildan’s business channels, not just the promo products industry.

“I am extremely proud of our team’s performance in 2021,” said Glenn J. Chamandy, Gildan’s CEO and president. “We ended the year with a strong finish, growing above pre-pandemic levels and setting record results to build on.”

A big factor in the robust revenue gains in Q4 and 2021 as a whole was a return of demand following 2020, when fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic depressed the market. Gildan noted that sales of activewear, which essentially includes apparel that’s not hosiery or underwear, rose 58% on the year, increasing in all business channels, including the promo products market. Higher net selling prices further drove the sales gains.

Word on Gildan’s financial upsurge comes about a month after the company announced its Next Generation Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) plan, which directs sustainability and corporate social responsibility initiatives and goals over the next eight years.

Gildan’s strong results come amid other positive financial reports for promo. As this video details, distributors’ collective sales increased in 2021.

Gildan’s sales and earnings also continue a recent run of positive financial results for the promo market. Released last week, the ASI Distributor Quarterly Sales Survey detailed how promo distributors collectively increased sales, on average, by 12% in 2021 to $23.2 billion. Meanwhile, leading distributors like Top 40 firms 4imprint (asi/197045) and Cimpress (asi/162149) shared that sales have soared.

Based on estimated 2020 North American promotional product revenue of $413.1 million, Gildan ranked sixth on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest suppliers in the industry.