This Gildan-Owned T-Shirt Brand Is Popping Up Everywhere

When looking at Wyatt Cannon’s t-shirt collection, there is a common theme: the Comfort Colors label.

Growing up, Cannon often found Comfort Colors clothing when looking for souvenirs during family trips. In college, Cannon convinced his a cappella group to screen-print the company’s blank T-shirts. When the 24-year-old has had tie-dyed T-shirts done, it is with the Comfort Colors product.

“I’ve loved this brand my whole life,” said Cannon, who estimates that about half of his shirts are Comfort Colors. “This type of material, texture and style of T-shirt should be more standard.”

Cannon is part of a loyal and growing base of consumers driving demand for half-century-old products, gildan-Property shirt brand. The brand’s growing success in recent years may help explain Gildan’s stock outperformance and has led to plans for an expansion into additional product categories.

Gildan is silent on the performance of a specific brand and declined to share sales data for Comfort Colors with CNBC. But company executives have said Comfort Colors has taken off, especially over the past year, and has become a leading brand within Gildan, which also sells clothing under its namesake brand and American Apparel.

“Comfort Colors is probably the fastest-growing fashion brand,” Glenn Chamandy, co-founder and CEO of Gildan, said during a call with analysts earlier this year. “Today, when you walk into a souvenir shop, you’ll see Comfort Colors on each of those tables where you used to see fashion brands.”

Gildan acquired Comfort Colors for about $100 million in 2015 with hopes of expanding within the basic category of the North American printed apparel market, according to a news release announcing the deal. At the time, Gildan called the Vermont-based clothing maker “one of the most recognized brands” in places like college bookstores and resorts.

The brand advertises that its shirts are 100% U.S. cotton. Its “pure pigment” dyeing system creates the shirts’ “signature faded look” and requires less energy and water use than comparable processes, Gildan says.

Comfort Colors’ popularity soared in 2024 with about 40% year-over-year growth, company executives said on earnings calls. That helped boost sales in Gildan’s broader sportswear category up 6% in the same period.

Chamandy told analysts in late July that Comfort Colors is “out of the ordinary again this year” and helped lift the activewear category up 12% in the second quarter. The brand plans to expand into hats, bags and women’s-specific clothing in 2026, when it celebrates its 50th anniversary, Howard Upchurch, Gildan’s head of marketing and merchandise, said in a statement to CNBC.

Gildan, which announced earlier this year that it would acquire Hanesbrands as it builds out its basic apparel business, is expected to report earnings later this month.

Shares of Gildan, which is a Canadian-based company, listed in the United States, have risen more than 175% in the last five years. That’s almost double the most followed. S&P 500The return during the same period.

Although Gildan has touted Comfort Colors as a success story within its larger empire, consumers haven’t necessarily made the connection.

Cannon said he sees Comfort Colors as “crunchy” and “granola,” while Gildan feels like the “apex of consumer capitalism.” The Connecticut-based marketing manager said Comfort Colors’ unique woven label is a quality that makes the brand feel more “homey.”

In EtsyPrinters sell Comfort Colors T-shirts in various designs and some even allow buyers to upload their own. The brand also got a boost from TikTok, where content creators share videos of their Comfort Colors products that viewers can purchase through the platform’s shopping feature.

Relative search volume for Comfort Colors in the US reached all-time highs on Google this year, underscoring the brand’s growing awareness among consumers. On the other hand, Gildan’s search popularity has fallen from a peak in 2023.

Comfort Colors has amassed a “very loyal” base made up particularly of Generation Z customers, according to Sheng Lu, an associate professor at the University of Delaware whose research focuses on the apparel industry.

These young shoppers value comfort and vintage style, both of which align with Comfort Colors’ products, Lu said. Comfort Colors’ emphasis on sustainability may also bode well for a customer base conscious of its environmental footprint.

“This brand is definitely in a very good situation,” Lu said.

The rise of Comfort Colors is particularly interesting given that the brand focuses more on selling wholesale than directly to consumers, unlike other t-shirt makers like NikeLu said. He explained that since Comfort Colors sells products primarily through middlemen who can screen print them, the T-shirts end up looking more unique, which is another desirable quality for Gen Z shoppers.

Behind the scenes, Gildan is likely benefiting from sourcing Comfort Colors in the Western Hemisphere, Lu said. While countries in this region have been hit by President Donald Trump’s tariffs, the taxes have generally been less high than those imposed on Asia, he said.

Because shoppers tend to view T-shirts as a staple, these items can show stability even when consumer confidence drops, Lu said.

Additionally, across the country, Comfort Colors t-shirts dress social groups and are placed on merchandise stands at events. Musical acts such as Maggie Rogers and Mumford & Sons printed tour merchandise on Comfort Colors t-shirts. Brands ranging from Coors Light to Star Trek sell their clothing, as do local bars and restaurants. The Gotham Football Club women’s soccer team has several official Comfort Colors jerseys.

When Chelsea Green opened The Yard Milkshake Bar, she was already familiar with Comfort Colors from seeing the brand on college campuses. He said it’s The Yard Milkshake Bar’s most popular type of merchandise, particularly among younger shoppers who are familiar with the brand and sometimes wear the shirts as sleepwear or beachwear.

“I knew I already had Comfort Colors t-shirts in my closet,” Green said. “I thought, ‘That’s what I want.’ I didn’t even look into it.”

To be sure, Green acknowledged that T-shirts can be more expensive than some competitors and has at times experienced supply shortages during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the color options and quality have made it worth overcoming these obstacles, he said.

Social organizations like Cannon’s collegiate a cappella group have also turned to Comfort Colors. Similarly, Sigma Chi fraternity and Pi Beta Phi sorority each sell dozens of Comfort Colors T-shirts in their online stores.

In a centered brotherhood reddit On the forum, a user asked what brands of t-shirts people used to screen print. One respondent said Comfort Colors is their preferred choice. Wear comfortable colors, said another, “or you risk getting tar and feathers.”