Montreal, Tuesday, March 9, 2004 - Gildan Activewear Inc. (NYSE: GIL; TSX: GIL.A) today announced the appointment of Douglas E. LeRoy as Vice-President of Retail Sales. Mr. LeRoy will be based in Barbados and report to Mike Hoffman, President of Gildan Activewear SRL, Gildan's U.S. and international sales and marketing subsidiary.

Mr. LeRoy brings nearly 30 years of experience in retail activewear to Gildan. He began his career with a leading U.S. based retail chain and, since 1991, has held senior sales positions with large manufacturing companies serving the retail channel. Most recently, he was Vice-President of Sales responsible for mass-market retail activewear and athletic socks for a major U.S. manufacturer, with primary responsibility for their largest mass-market retail customer relationships.

Glenn J. Chamandy, Gildan's President and Co-Chief Executive Officer commented: "While our overall projections and growth targets over the next 5 years are based on maximizing our penetration in our current wholesale channel of distribution, Doug's appointment reinforces our commitment to complete the development of our retail strategy by the end of fiscal 2004 and be in a position to start delivering product into the retail channel during fiscal 2005. We are very excited to have attracted an experienced and highly-regarded executive such as Doug to Gildan and we are gratified that, by joining our team, Doug has demonstrated his belief in and commitment to our vision to build a significant retail presence and brand recognition."

Profile

Gildan Activewear is a public, vertically-integrated manufacturer and marketer of premium quality branded basic activewear for sale principally in the wholesale imprinted activewear segment of the Canadian, U.S., European and other international apparel markets. The company manufactures and sells premium quality 100% cotton and 50% cotton/50% polyester T-shirts, placket collar sport shirts and sweatshirts in a variety of weights, sizes, colours and styles. The company sells its products as blanks, which are ultimately decorated with designs and logos for sale to consumers. Gildan employs more than 9,000 full-time employees. More information about the company is available at www.gildan.com

Certain statements included in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward- looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward- looking statements. We refer you to the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Canadian securities regulatory authorities for a discussion of the various factors that may affect the Company's future results.