Little Falls, NJ - May 17, 2011

According to the Crest Summary report wholesale t-shirt sales fell by an alarming 12.4% in April when compared to a year earlier. The slow economy has kept pressure on the custom t-shirt market and in some cases relegated the product to non-essential status in many corporate advertising budgets. Despite week April numbers, revenues for major custom t-shirt makers were up, mainly due to increased cotton prices which have plagued the market throughout the last two years.

March 30th inventories were up 40% versus a year earlier. This combined with lower April unit sales, may provide volume buyers with some leverage at the distributor level. Smart buyers should be able to elicit lucrative deals as many distributors seek to free up cash from their shelves.

Gildan remains in the most powerful position in the custom t-shirt marketplace, sporting a 63.1% market share followed by FTL/Russell at 14.6% and Hanes 12.2%. Gildan’s continuing popularity with t-shirt screen printers and direct-to-garment (DTG) is evident by its modest 71 day supply of inventory on the street. Hanes showed approximately 110 days of inventory, followed by Russell at 106 days of supply.

Look for prices to relax slightly as commodity prices stabilize. Expect list prices to remain the same at the distributor level with sporadic deals popping up from time to time.

Blue Heron Industries, Inc Is a leading producer of direct-to-garment custom t-shirts. The company is considered the premier printer of black and dark colored custom t-shirts in the USA. For more information contact Kevin Kelly at 800-709-2380.

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