Gildan (asi/56842) is gaining ground.

The Montreal-headquartered global apparel maker, which is also a Top 40 promotional products supplier, has reported that its first quarter 2021 sales were $589.6 million, a 28.4% increase over the same quarter the prior year. Compared to the first quarter of 2019, sales were down about 5%, Gildan said.

Glenn Chamandy, President/CEO, Gildan

For the first quarter of 2021, Gildan’s net income was $98.5 million, or $0.50 per share, compared to 2020’s Q1 loss of $99.3 million, or -$0.50 per share. Adjusted net earnings this year during Q1 were $95 million or $0.48 per share. Last year’s Q1 was when the economic effects of COVID-19 began to impact businesses across industries.

Gildan reported that its activewear sales for the first three months of this year were $484.6 million, up 30.1% year over year. Hosiery/underwear sales were up 21.4% to $105 million.

“The increase in activewear sales was driven by double-digit unit sales volume growth in North American and international imprintables markets and activewear sold in retail channels, as well as a favorable product mix, partly offset by lower net selling prices,” Gildan remarked. “Imprintables volume growth reflected the impact of net restocking by distributors and positive point-of-sales compared to the first quarter last year.”

Gildan’s gross margin in the first quarter was 32% compared to gross margin of 23.2% in the first quarter of 2020. Q1 operating income was $113.8 million, or 19.3% of sales, compared to an operating loss of $92.3 million last year.

“Overall, we are encouraged by the economic recovery we are seeing related to continued re-openings, the impact of U.S. stimulus on consumer demand, and the strong progress of the vaccine rollout in the U.S.,” Gildan said. “However, large gatherings have not yet restarted and on the supply chain side we are monitoring labor shortages in the U.S. affecting certain industries, including yarn spinners [and] tightness in raw material inputs, as well as the impact of port backlogs and transportation-related factors globally.”

“Consequently,” the company continued, “we remain cautious regarding the pace of overall recovery.”

With estimated 2019 North American promotional product revenue of $624 million, Gildan ranked fifth on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest suppliers in the industry. The new list is due out in July 2021.