Gildan (GIL) completes acquisition of American Apparel

Canadian apparel maker Gildan Activewear Inc. announced on Wednesday the closing of its purchase of the American Apparel brand and certain assets.

• Canadian apparel manufacturer Gildan Activewear Inc purchased American Apparel’s intellectual property and manufacturing equipment several days ago for $88 million, and has chosen to discontinue American Apparel's American brick-and-mortar presence.

The deal closes a bidding war that emerged for the Los Angeles T-shirt brand that filled for Chapter 11 in October 2015, and again in November 2016 with some $177 million in debt.

The bankruptcy auction attracted interest from the likes of e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc, competitor Forever 21 Inc and brand licensor Authentic Brands Group LLC, as well as California-based apparel maker Next Level Apparel. However, it was Gildan who emerged as the winner in the court supervised auction, on January 10.

Gildan won after raising its original $66 million bid to a total purchase price of $103 million.

Gildan, a manufacturer and marketer of branded basic family apparel, has a portfolio of company-owned brands, including its own namesake line, Gold Toe, Anvil, Comfort Colors, Alstyle, Secret, Silks, and more, now including American Apparel.

Future plans for the American Apparel brand under Gildan have not been unveiled, but it is expected that we will hear more as they report their up-coming quarterly earnings on February 23.