Recognitions and partnerships

Gildan has been included in the Dow Jones Best-In-Class Indices for 12 consecutive years, ranking in the 98th percentile of the Textiles, Apparel, and Luxury Goods industry out of 189 companies assessed in the industry. Gildan is the only apparel manufacturer on the North American index.

Gildan has been recognized in TIME's inaugural edition of World's Most Sustainable Companies 2024. This recognition highlights our commitment to sustainability, corporate responsibility, and transparency, placing us among the top companies in the world.

Gildan was included in Corporate Knights’ 2023 Global 100 list of the world’s most sustainable corporations for 2 consecutive years. Gildan was assessed alongside nearly 7,000 public companies and was the only apparel manufacturing company included on the list globally.

Gildan has been included in the Sustainability Yearbook, an award that distinguishes the world’s highest performing sustainable companies, for 12 consecutive years.

Gildan was named one of the Top 100 ESG Companies of 2021 by The Investor Business Daily. Gildan ranked 8th overall and #1 in the Consumer Goods category for its strong ESG ratings in addition to strong fundamental and technical stock performance.

Gildan has been a recipient of the CSR Seal by FUNDAHRSE for 17 consecutive years. These inclusions demonstrate Gildan’s leading practices related to human rights, labor practices, governance, environment, operational practices, and community relations in Honduras.

Gildan has been included on the Fashion Transparency Index by Fashion Revolution since 2017 for our commitment to transparency and public disclosure on social and environmental policies, practices, and impacts, in our operations.

Gildan is given an AA rating from MSCI, highlighting the Company as a leader in its industry in managing the most significant ESG risks and opportunities.

Gildan ranked 32nd on the Wall Street Journal’s ranking of the Top 100 Most Sustainably Managed Companies in the World in 2020. Gildan was second among only three apparel companies included in the ranking and was also the only North American apparel company.

Gildan has obtained the Silver level in the Women in Governance Parity Certification in Canada, and has been recognized with this Parity Certification for the third consecutive year. Through this certification, Gildan demonstrates great commitment to parity, diversity, and inclusion at all levels.

Gildan has been named one of Canada’s Top 50 Corporate Citizens on Corporate Knights’ annual ranking of corporate sustainability! Assessed alongside a pool of over 286 large Canadian companies, Gildan has ranked 24th overall, improving our ranking position by 17 places compared to 2022.

Gildan has been recognized with the REPREVE® Champions of Sustainability award, presented by Unifi, Inc. for the 4th year in a row. This award recognized 33 brand and retail companies and 59 textile companies that have partnered with Unifi, Inc. to transform at least 10 million recycled plastic bottles each through the use of REPREVE® performance fibers.

In 2013, Gildan became the first Canadian company and the first manufacturer in the imprintables industry to become a participating company of the FLA. In 2007, Gildan received its first FLA accreditation and its second accreditation in 2019.

All Gildan’s sewing facilities have been WRAP certified since 2002, and Gildan’s vertically-integrated facility in Bangladesh has been WRAP certified since 2005. WRAP is an independent, non-profit team of global social compliance experts dedicated to promoting safe, lawful, humane, and ethical manufacturing around the world through certification and education.

Our Gildan® and Comfort Colors® branded products are certified by the internationally recognized STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX®, which allows producers and consumers to objectively assess the presence of harmful substances in textiles and apparel products based on approximately 100 human–ecological and performance-related test parameters. Achieving the STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® involves meeting strict standards including the absence of restricted chemicals and subjecting the supply to an annual independent validation through an accredited laboratory which involves the testing of raw materials and finished products.

Our Honduras and Nicaragua facilities were awarded the OEKO-TEX® STeP certification with the highest possible rating – Level III (i.e. Ideal implementation in the sense of Best Practice examples) for each of audited facility in 2023. Gildan is the first company to secure the STeP designation in Nicaragua and the first vertically-integrated producer to secure the STeP designation in Honduras.

Gildan has participated in the Better Work Program through our third-party contractors in Haiti and Company-owned facilities in Nicaragua since 2012. The program aims to improve compliance with labour standards in global supply chains.

Gildan has been a member of SEDEX since 2009, a membership organization that provides one of the world’s leading online platforms for companies to manage and improve working conditions in global supply chains.

Gildan has been a member of Cascale since 2013. Formerly known as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Cascale is an industry-wide group of leading apparel and footwear brands, retailers, manufacturers, non-governmental organizations, academic experts, and government organizations working to reduce the environmental and social impacts of apparel, footwear, and textile products around the world.

Gildan is a retail member of Better Cotton, which aims to help cotton communities survive and thrive, while protecting and restoring the environment.

Gildan has been a USCTP member since 2021. The USCTP was designed to set a new standard in more sustainably grown cotton, ensuring it contributes to the protection and preservation of the planet, using the most sustainable and responsible techniques.