Gildan Activewear, a Canadian manufacturer and marketer of branded clothing, also owns and operates vertically-integrated, large-scale manufacturing facilities which are primarily located in Central America and the Caribbean Basin. As part of its expansion plan, to build textile manufacturing plant in the northwestern province of Guanacaste, Costa Rica.

The purpose of opting Costa Rica for setting up its textile plant is its access to ports both on the Pacific and the Caribbean coasts, and the ease of accessing markets in the United States via CAFTA. Apart from this, the key factor is Costa Rica’s free zone regime, through which the company can gain benefits.

Gildan’s decision followed several months of negotiations between the company and the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE). While, according to CINDE through Gildan’s operation, Costa Rica will get the approval to join the global value chain of the textile sector in a very sophisticated segment.

Gildan has over 37,000 employees worldwide. With Gildan’s new Guanacaste facilities it will create another 1,000 new jobs for people of Guanacaste province.

The Company distributes its products in print wear markets in the U.S. and Canada and is one of the largest suppliers of T-shirts, socks and underwear. Gildan is the industry-leading brand focusing on increasing its penetration in international print we0ar markets. In 2013, the company reported sales of $2.2 billion. .

However, the company has not disclosed the total investment, location and an exact date for the start of construction textile manufacturing plant in Costa Rica.