Winston-Salem - HanesBrands is to acquire Knights Apparel, a major player in the licensed collegiate logo apparel sector, in a deal worth around US$200 million.
Knights Apparel sells T-shirts, sweatshirts and other sports apparel with college logos and graphics primarily to mass merchant retailers. It was founded in 2001 and has approximately 210 employees with primary offices and a distribution center located in Spartanburg, S.C.
The company buys all of its apparel from outsourced contractors and sends those garments to outsourced embellishment facilities. The integration of the Knights business into Hanes? supply chain should yield significant savings and efficiencies.