Gildan to Break Guinness World Record for Largest T-Shirt

NASHVILLE, Tenn., June 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Gildan Activewear Inc., one of the leading manufacturers of branded T-shirts and sweatshirts in the world, expects to break a Guinness World Record when it unveils the World's Largest T-shirt on Saturday, June 11th, 2011, during the Country Music Association's (CMA) Music Festival in Nashville, TN.  The unveiling will be hosted by 19 Recordings/RCA Nashville singing artist Danny Gokey.

On Saturday, Gildan will also be officially announcing that it will donate 12,000 T-shirts to Keep the Music Playing, a charity initiative introduced by the CMA in 2006, which supports music education in Nashville-area schools. "We're excited to not only break the Guinness World Record but also, more importantly, to align ourselves with Keep the Music Playing through our donation.  Youth and education has always been a focus of Gildan's community involvement initiatives," says Randy Brown, Vice President, Gildan Retail Sales.

The T-shirt, which measures approximately 170 ft in width and 262 ft in length – nearly the size of a football field – beats the previous Guinness World Record set in 2010.  The fabric for the T-shirt was produced at one of Gildan's state-of-the-art textile facilities and final assembly took place in Utah.  The T-shirt will be rolled out at Centennial Park beginning at 11:30 AM CDT by over 100 volunteers and overseen by Guinness.

"Gildan will be attempting to break the World's Largest T-shirt record, which has been set and broken five times since the first attempt in 1991.  The T-shirt will be measured from shoulder to hem vertically and armpit to armpit horizontally," Guinness surveyor Morgan Wilber notes.

The unveiling will serve as a kick-off to Musician's Corner, a weekly outdoor concert series beginning at 3 PM CDT.  Gildan will be presented with the Guinness World Record certificate at the LP Field stage later that evening during the CMA Music Festival's scheduled concert.

About Keep The Music Playing

Introduced by the CMA in 2006, KTMP has provided more than 4,000 musical instruments and music labs to Nashville area schools and has raised over $4.7 million since its inception.

About Gildan

Gildan is a vertically-integrated marketer and globally low-cost manufacturer of quality branded basic apparel. Gildan® is the leading activewear brand in the screenprint market in the U.S. and Canada. The brand is continuing to grow in Europe, Mexico and the Asia-Pacific region. The Company sells T-shirts, sport shirts and fleece as undecorated "blanks", which are subsequently decorated by screenprinters with designs and logos. The Company is also one of the world's largest suppliers of branded and private label athletic, casual and dress socks sold to a broad spectrum of retailers in the U.S. Gildan markets its sock products under a diversified portfolio of company-owned brands, including Gold Toe®, PowerSox®, SilverToe®, Auro®, All Pro®, GT®, and the Gildan® brand. The Company is also the exclusive U.S. sock licensee to the Under Armour® and New Balance® brands. In addition to socks, the Company is increasingly becoming a significant supplier of underwear and undecorated activewear products in the retail channel. With over 29,000 employees worldwide, Gildan owns and operates highly efficient, large-scale, environmentally and socially responsible facilities in Central America and the Caribbean Basin and has begun the development of a manufacturing hub in Bangladesh to support its planned growth in Asia and Europe. More information on the Company can be found on Gildan's website at www.gildan.com.

SOURCE Gildan Activewear Inc.