Gildan Genuine Responsibility™

By ShirtSpace | Aug 23, 2019 |  Updated May 25, 2023

Wholesale t-shirts, sweatshirts, and other clothing items are what our life at ShirtSpace is all about. There are so many brands out there for both us and you to choose from, but not all brands are created the same. Each brand varies in quality and pricing. While quality is one of the biggest things that we think about when choosing a brand to make available to our customers, at ShirtSpace we also want to align with brands that are all about doing better and doing good. Brands who commit to operating responsibly and sustainably. Brands who treat their employees with respect and dignity, and brands that want to make the world a better place. One of the brands that represents these values the most is Gildan.

Gildan’s Mission Statement

“At Gildan, our vision is to be the world's largest and most responsible apparel manufacturer. Our mission is to deliver superior value to our customers, employees, and shareholders by providing high-quality products and exceptional service while maintaining a commitment to sustainability, innovation, and ethical conduct.”

Gildan’s corporate mission statement is a good place to begin, seeing this is not your normal apparel company. When asked what their vision actually means, they responded, “It’s not about simply making better quality products, but rather it’s about using our size, global reach and manufacturing expertise to make them in a better way!”

Shirt pictured: G670 in “Caribbean Mist” by Gildan

Gildan and Their Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy

Gildan’s path to doing better started with their founding principle of owning the factories where their products were made. Their founder and current CEO, Glenn J Chamandy, knew 35 years ago that this model was the best way to ensure quality, drive cost savings and guarantee that sustainability and responsible practices were always in place.

The company’s CSR program is called Genuine Responsibility™, and it was launched over 15 years ago.  This program is focused on three primary commitments that break down into specific programs that look to create value in everything they do. These commitments are Caring for People, Conserving the Environment, and Creating Stronger Communities.

Gildan Cares for People

Gildan employs more than 51,000 people directly and creates positive impacts that go beyond providing jobs in the regions where they operate. The first promise to their employees is to treat them with respect and to create rewarding, healthy, and safe workplaces where people are valued and empowered.

Aside from managing their business under strictly applied codes and practices, they focus on delivering value to employees with things like;

• Free onsite medical clinics where employees received more than 180,000 consultations and $2.3M in free medications, vaccinations, and vitamins
  
• Free and highly subsidized meals, reaching close to 39,000 employees and valued at close to $13M
  
• Free transportation to and from work, benefitting over 25,000 employees and costing Gildan in excess of $2.4M
  
• More than 2.2M man-hours of training and development, largely focused on technical skills and personal development training.
  

Gildan Converses the Environment

Gildan runs some of the world’s largest yarn-spinning and textile manufacturing facilities and accepts its responsibility to continuously seek out new ways to reduce its footprint as much as possible. Because Gildan owns and operates the facilities, the company is willing to invest in long-term sustainable solutions to use resources more efficiently, waste less and better manage the waste that is created.

It all starts with a strictly applied Environmental Code of Practices that forces the company to scrutinize every input into its process. Not a single dye, chemical, detergent, or material can be introduced into their facilities without first being evaluated against their strict Restricted Substance List.

Gildan has invested in some really cool technology, some borrowed from other industries, that greatly reduces the company’s environmental footprint, helps save resources and makes the planet more sustainable. Here are a few of them:

BioMass

Gildan burns agricultural and factory waste to generate thermal energy in a CO2 neutral system. In place in their largest textile hubs, in Honduras and the Dominican Republic, these hyperefficient massive boiler systems allowed the Company to generate 43% of all their energy used last year from renewable sources. This saved emitting 150,000 metric tons of GHG emissions, the same as taking 32,000 cars off the roads.

 

BioTop

Gildan treats a large percentage of its wastewater using an all-natural system called BioTop. The effluent flows through a series of lagoons where bacteria, sunlight and gravity naturally eliminate all the dyes and chemicals over a 31-day process. These massive lagoons are home to various bacteria, daphnia, fish, crocodiles, several species of birds and various other wildlife. The water exiting the last lagoons is clean, clear and ready to sustain life.

 

Waste Management

This Company sees value in all waste and strives to eliminate waste from it’s business. In the last year, Gildan reported that they had recycled or repurposed 86% of the company’s total waste….that’s an amazing number for a business that produces more units than almost any company globally.

Creating Stronger Communities with Gildan

Gildan understands that their facilities need good people working in them and that companies have an important role to play in this. Besides the obvious economic impacts of operating large facilities and employing 51,000 people (USD$150MM last year alone), Gildan is committed to helping build strong communities by buying in the regions where they can recruit and training locals (82% of management positions filled by locals) and serve as active members of the community. These community contributions include donations, supporting volunteerism, fostering education and active living initiatives that build stronger communities. Here are some examples of this at work;

In Nicaragua, Gildan invested more than USD $18,000 in the implementation of two projects, contributing to the education of children in the República de Venezuela and Alfonso Cortés schools in the city of Masatepe.

In the Dominican Republic, more than 2,400 people participated in the race/walk, including collaborators, family members, community groups, and strategic partners, who came together to contribute to the education of hundreds of low-income children. The fifth edition of the Gildan Glow Run-DR raised more than USD $48,000 in favor of the six Gildan-sponsored schools in the municipality of Guerra.

 

In Honduras, Gildan and World Vision Honduras supported 10 schools through the “Children Education & Transformation" program, to directly benefit more than 3,000 students, 200 teachers, 250 parents, 100 community leaders, and 20 local authority representatives.

Continuous Improvement with Gildan

One of the things we love most about Gildan is that they are skilled entrepreneurs. True entrepreneurs spend little time looking in the rearview mirror and are always focused on improvement. For Gildan, that means doing an exhaustive materiality assessment to find out what all their stakeholders feel is most important for them to focus on. They also mapped the results to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals to align their efforts with the greater work being done by all global leaders.

The Company’s most material areas of focus were identified as human and labor rights, the health and safety of their employees, and the company’s operational waste and wastewater management.

Gildan is the Perfect T-Shirt Brand to Order

From tanks, to t-shirts, to sweatshirts, and more, Gildan is the perfect brand of clothing to order. You can’t beat the comfort and quality of Gildan’s garments, soft to the touch, fit nicely, and most importantly, they last! What is even better is that Gildan is a brand you can feel good about wearing. They are constantly working to improve how they take care of their employees, how they care for the environment, and how they improve the surrounding communities.

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