Impressions - January 2013 - (Page 10)

HanesBrands Restructuring Update When HanesBrands restructured and refocused the branded printwear business this past spring, it involved changing the name of the Imagewear division to HanesBrands Branded Printwear, and also included the sale of the European Imagewear division, discontinuing private-label production and exiting the company’s Outer Banks business. Marcia Derryberry, Impressions editorin-chief, recently spoke to John Fryer, general manager for HanesBrands Branded Printwear, to see how business is going since the changes were implemented. IMP: How has the company progressed with the restructuring and refocusing decisions in the past nine months? Fryer: It is progressing well and according to plan. We’ve been in communication with our business partners and we’re all very pleased with the progress. We’ve really focused on promoting our premier brands Hanes and Champion. With the private-label production, we’ve been unwinding inventory and also have completed the disposition of inventory of the Outer Banks brand. IMP: What were the goals of this restructuring plan? Fryer: We really wanted to create a consistent and sustainable business that focused on our core big brands. It is the best approach — Hanes is the No. 1 apparel brand and Champion is No. 2 brand in the athletic apparel category. We focused our resources there to provide consistency over time for apparel decorators to sell brands that they and their customers trust and love. They know they have our support. IMP: What has been the impact of these changes HanesBrands has made? Fryer: Both Hanes and Champion brands are still selling extremely well. We’ve had the chance to speak with more than 2,000 decorators lately at various events and the product story resonates. We’re able to leverage our large retail platforms to the wholesale decorator market and the response is very positive. The only challenge was the discontinuation of the Outer Banks brand. It did cause a minor disruption to some decorators’ businesses, but it is a small and declining business. The marketplace understands our decision to move on. IMP: How have you marketed the new HanesBrands Branded Printwear business? Fryer: We’ve focused on the Hanes and Champion product platforms that decorators can offer their customers to truly stay competitive. These brands are trusted by their customers, so decorators can deliver them with confidence. IMP: How has the marketplace responded to the refocusing of your business? Fryer: Exiting the private-label business did not affect the wholesale decorator business because it never carried over to it in the first place. As far as the other changes we’ve made, the overall response has been very good — decorators understand that we are focusing on the two leading brands because they know they resonate with their customers. IMP: What does the company have planned moving forward into 2013? Fryer: We’ve got some exciting things planned for 2013 in several styles. For one, the Hanes Cool DRI T-shirt is a very popular performancewear style getting positive market response. We’ll be offering expanded distribution and color options to give decorators more opportunities to upsell and add more value for their customers. With the Hanes ComfortBlend EcoSmart line, we wanted partially to convert our products to be more sustainable, and this line alone used 10 million bottles that were diverted from landfills and turned into apparel products. For 2013, we’ve got a heather story coming in the EcoSmart line. The very popular Beefy-T will be introduced in tall sizes, which is exciting for decorators to cater to another sector of their market. Also, Champion’s performancewear lines will be adding new colors. On the corporate horizon for 2013, we’ve extended our popular Hanes4Education program to the retail business. Finally, we continue to focus on our CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) program. This is the third year in a row we’ve been named an Energy Star Partner of the Year and we’ve very proud of that. — M.D. 10 Impressions | January 2013 impressionsmag.com http://www.impressionsmag.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Impressions - January 2013

Impressions - January 2013
Table of Contents
First Impressions
From the Show Director
FYI
Product Gallery
ISS Conference
Sharing the Spotlight
Tracking Today's T-Shirt Trends
Tees: Tried and True
How to Shop a Trade Show
Shop Spotlight
Embroidery Production
Screen Printing Technique
Digital Decorating
Online Directory
Business to Business
Classifieds
Ad Index

Impressions - January 2013