Gildan Activewear Announces Plan to Buy Back Shares Through Private Agreements

MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - Feb. 26, 2016) - Gildan Activewear Inc. ("Gildan") (TSX:GIL)(NYSE:GIL) announced today that it intends to purchase for cancellation up to 4,025,000 of its common shares pursuant to private agreements between Gildan and arm's‐length third‐party sellers. The purchases will form part of Gildan's normal course issuer bid for up to 12.2 million shares announced on February 24, 2016.

Such purchases will be made pursuant and subject to the terms of issuer bid exemption orders issued by the Ontario Securities Commission (Orders) and will take place before February 25, 2017. In accordance with the Orders, Gildan's purchases under such private agreements will not exceed, in the aggregate, one‐third of the maximum number of shares that it may purchase under its recently announced share repurchase program, or 4,064,271 common shares. The price that Gildan will pay for any common shares purchased by it under such agreements will be negotiated by Gildan and the third-party sellers and will be at a discount to the prevailing market price of Gildan's common shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange at the time of the purchase. Information regarding each purchase, including the number of common shares purchased and aggregate purchase price, will be available on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com following the completion of any such purchase.

About Gildan

Gildan is a leading supplier of quality branded basic family apparel, including T-shirts, fleece, sport shirts, underwear, socks, hosiery, and shapewear. The Company sells its products under a diversified portfolio of company-owned brands, including the Gildan®, Gold Toe®, Anvil® and Comfort Colors® brands and brand extensions, as well as the Secret®, Silks® and Therapy Plus™ brands. The Company also has the U.S. sock license for Under Armour®, and licenses for the Mossy Oak® and New Balance® brands. The Company distributes its products in printwear markets in the U.S. and Canada, as well as in Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America. The Company also markets its products to a broad spectrum of retailers primarily in the U.S. and Canada. The Company also manufactures for select leading global athletic and lifestyle consumer brands.

Gildan owns and operates vertically-integrated, large-scale manufacturing facilities which are primarily located in Central America, the Caribbean Basin and the United States, and are strategically positioned to efficiently service the quick replenishment needs of its customers in the printwear and retail markets. Gildan has over 42,000 employees worldwide and is committed to industry-leading labour and environmental practices at all of its facilities. More information about the Company and its corporate citizenship practices and initiatives can be found at its corporate websites www.gildan.com and www.genuinegildan.com, respectively.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements included in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and Canadian securities legislation and regulations, and are subject to important risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of conditional or forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "project", "assume", "anticipate", "plan", "foresee", "believe" or "continue" or the negatives of these terms or variations of them or similar terminology. We refer you to the Company's filings with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as the risks described under the "Financial Risk Management", "Critical Accounting Estimates and Judgments" and "Risks and Uncertainties" sections in our most recent Management's Discussion and Analysis for a discussion of the various factors that may affect the Company's future results. Material factors and assumptions that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making a forecast or projection are also set out throughout this document.

Forward-looking information is inherently uncertain and the results or events predicted in such forward-looking information may differ materially from actual results or events. Material factors, which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from a conclusion, forecast or projection in such forward-looking information, include, but are not limited to:

• our ability to implement our growth strategies and plans, including achieving market share gains, obtaining and successfully introducing new sales programs, implementing new product introductions, increasing capacity, implementing cost reduction initiatives, and completing and successfully integrating acquisitions;
• the intensity of competitive activity and our ability to compete effectively;
• adverse changes in general economic and financial conditions globally or in one or more of the markets we serve;
• our reliance on a small number of significant customers;
• the fact that our customers do not commit contractually to minimum quantity purchases;
• our ability to anticipate, identify or react to changes in consumer preferences and trends;
• our ability to manage production and inventory levels effectively in relation to changes in customer demand;
• fluctuations and volatility in the price of raw materials used to manufacture our products, such as cotton, polyester fibres, dyes and other chemicals;
• our dependence on key suppliers and our ability to maintain an uninterrupted supply of raw materials and finished goods;
• the impact of climate, political, social and economic risks in the countries in which we operate or from which we source production;
• disruption to manufacturing and distribution activities due to such factors as operational issues, disruptions in transportation logistic functions, labour disruptions, political or social instability, bad weather, natural disasters, pandemics and other unforeseen adverse events;
• changes to international trade legislation that the Company is currently relying on in conducting its manufacturing operations or the application of safeguards thereunder;
• factors or circumstances that could increase our effective income tax rate, including the outcome of any tax audits or changes to applicable tax laws or treaties;
• compliance with applicable environmental, tax, trade, employment, health and safety, anti-corruption, privacy and other laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate;
• operational problems with our information systems as a result of system failures, viruses, security and cyber security breaches, disasters, and disruptions due to system upgrades or the integration of systems;
• adverse changes in third party licensing arrangements and licensed brands;
• our ability to protect our intellectual property rights;
• changes in our relationship with our employees or changes to domestic and foreign employment laws and regulations;
• negative publicity as a result of actual, alleged or perceived violations of labour and environmental laws or international labour standards, or unethical labour or other business practices by the Company or one of its third-party contractors;
• our dependence on key management and our ability to attract and/or retain key personnel;
• changes to and failure to comply with consumer product safety laws and regulations;
• changes in accounting policies and estimates;
• exposure to risks arising from financial instruments, including credit risk, liquidity risk, foreign currency risk and interest rate risk, as well as risks arising from commodity prices;
• the adverse impact of any current or future legal and regulatory actions; and
• an actual or perceived breach of data security.

These factors may cause the Company's actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any estimates or projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements do not take into account the effect that transactions or non-recurring or other special items announced or occurring after the statements are made, may have on the Company's business. For example, they do not include the effect of business dispositions, acquisitions, other business transactions, asset write-downs, asset impairment losses or other charges announced or occurring after forward-looking statements are made. The financial impact of such transactions and non-recurring and other special items can be complex and necessarily depends on the facts particular to each of them.

There can be no assurance that the expectations represented by our forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. The purpose of the forward-looking statements is to provide the reader with a description of management's expectations regarding the Company's future financial performance and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Furthermore, unless otherwise stated, the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, and we do not undertake any obligation to update publicly or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise unless required by applicable legislation or regulation. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.