Gildan (asi/56842), the fifth-largest supplier in North American promotional products industry and one of biggest manufacturers of apparel basics in the world, is partially resuming manufacturing operations to produce nonmedical facemasks and isolation gowns as part of the global fight against COVID-19.

In late March, the Montreal-headquartered company announced that it was shuttering its manufacturing operations through at least mid-April in response to falling demand, government mandates and related issues tied to the coronavirus pandemic.

Glenn Chamandy, CEO/President, Gildan

On Wednesday, April 8, Gildan announced that the government of Honduras had authorized the company to partially reopen two production facilities Gildan owns in the country. One is a textile plant that will make fabric for the masks and gowns. The other is a sewing facility that will assemble the products.

“Gildan has mobilized a team of experts and is developing and implementing stringent processes to protect employees who have chosen to come back to work on this effort,” the company said in a statement. “The facilities that will be reopened for the production of personal protective equipment will all operate under a strict biosecurity protocol developed following government-mandated guidelines and industry best practices.”

Gildan said it’s working in conjunction with a consortium of major apparel and textile companies to produce the facemasks, which are intended to go to hospitals, healthcare workers and others. There’s currently a critical shortage of masks. Gildan said it’s also working with a retail partner to produce facemasks for healthcare organizations around the world. A third partnership has Gildan teaming up with another retailer to manufacture isolation gowns for the healthcare sector.

“As an organization we are committed to playing a proactive role in supporting the shortage of personal protective equipment,” said Gildan CEO/President Glenn Chamandy.

While Gildan is producing gowns and masks, it had not resumed making its mainstay apparel products as of this writing.

With estimated 2019 North American promotional products revenue of $650 million, Gildan ranked fifth on Counselor’s latest list of the largest suppliers in the industry. Even before the coronavirus outbreak, Gildan had experienced some tough times of late. In 2019, the company’s total worldwide sales across all business channels were down 2.9% year over year to about $2.82 billion. Net earnings tallied $259.8 million; that was about $91 million less than in 2018.