Gildan Activewear Board of Directors Issues Open Letter to Shareholders and Sets Record Straight on Browning West’s Misguided Campaign to Reinstall Former Gildan CEO

CEO’s False Narrative Designed to Hide His Ineffective Leadership, Lack of Vision and High-Risk Go-Forward Strategy

Questionable Behaviors Underscore Why New Leadership is Required for Gildan to Reach its Full Potential

The Board of Directors is currently investigating these and other matters, including Mr. Chamandy’s engagement with certain shareholders prior to his termination.

MONTREAL, Jan. 08, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Board of Directors of Gildan Activewear Inc. (GIL: TSX and NYSE) (“Gildan” or “the Company”) today issued an open letter to shareholders.

Dear Fellow Gildan Shareholders:

In response to Browning West’s December 29, 2023 letter articulating its misguided campaign to reinstall Glenn Chamandy as CEO of Gildan Activewear, the Board of Directors is sharing further information on recent events. We would have preferred to keep many of these details private, but the public misinformation tactics by Mr. Chamandy and Browning West demand a public response.

The Board is unanimous in its conviction that retaining Mr. Chamandy as CEO would have jeopardized the future of Gildan and destroyed shareholder value. Mr. Chamandy has attempted to frame this as a dispute over the Board’s CEO succession process. That is not what this is about. This is about the future of Gildan.

The Board had gradually lost trust and confidence in Mr. Chamandy. It had become clear that he had no credible long-term strategy and no vision for the future. Instead, he attempted to entrench himself as CEO by giving the Board an ultimatum: Approve a high-risk multi-billion-dollar acquisitions strategy predicated on guaranteeing his role as CEO for several more years to oversee its integration and his eventual succession. If not, he would leave the company immediately and sell his shares. The Board was left with no other choice but to remove him as CEO.

Gildan is a company with strong fundamentals. We are optimistic that with the right leadership and the right long-term strategy, Gildan can grow, innovate and create sustainable long-term shareholder value.

Ineffective Leadership

Over the last few years Mr. Chamandy struggled to scale an increasingly complex organization. In the absence of a cohesive long-term strategy, Mr. Chamandy jumped from one opportunistic strategy to another. He tried forays into branded products, retail distribution, international expansion and yarn production, with mixed success, resulting in an eight-year annual revenue growth rate of less than one percent and write-offs and restructurings over that time period exceeding $450 million.