If you walked past a Hanesbrands outlet recently and saw “going out of business” signs on the windows, you weren’t imagining things. Add in news about a stock delisting, a $2.2 billion acquisition, and the sale of Champion, and it’s easy to understand why people are confused.
But confusion is exactly the problem here. Several different things happened at once, and they’re easy to mix up. This article breaks down what actually changed — and what it means for customers, investors, and employees.
Hanesbrands Is Not Disappearing — But It Has Changed Significantly
Let’s start with the most important point: the Hanes brand has not been discontinued. Products are expected to continue being made and sold. What has ended is Hanesbrands as an independent public company.
As of December 1, 2025, Hanesbrands Inc. no longer exists in its previous form. It converted into Hanesbrands LLC and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Gildan Activewear. The corporate structure changed — the brand did not disappear.
There are also three separate things that people tend to conflate when they ask “is Hanesbrands going out of business?”
- Outlet store closures — specific retail locations shut down across the U.S.
- The sale of Champion — a brand that Hanesbrands owned but no longer does
- The end of Hanesbrands as an independent corporation — the company merged with Gildan and was delisted from the NYSE
Each of these is real. But none of them, on its own or even together, means that Hanes socks and underwear are going away.
Financial Pressure Set the Stage for a Major Overhaul
To understand why all of this happened, you need to understand where Hanesbrands stood financially in the years leading up to the merger.
The company had not turned a profit since around 2021. That’s a long stretch of losses for a business built on everyday staples. In Q2 2024, net sales dropped 3.8% to approximately $995.4 million, and the company reported a net loss for the period.
On top of that, Hanesbrands was carrying a heavy debt load. The pressure to cut costs, reduce complexity, and focus on what the company actually did well was real — and growing.
Given that backdrop, a sale or merger wasn’t a shock. It was a fairly logical outcome for a company that needed a significant reset.
Why Hanesbrands Sold Champion and Closed Its U.S. Outlet Stores
Before the Gildan deal even happened, Hanesbrands made two major moves that got a lot of consumer attention.
The Sale of Champion
Hanesbrands sold the Champion brand as part of its effort to refocus on core products. Champion had become a well-known streetwear name, but it was considered lower-margin and outside the company’s core competency of basic everyday apparel.
In Hanesbrands’ 2024 financial guidance, Champion was classified as a discontinued operation. It is no longer part of the company in any form. Management described the post-Champion Hanesbrands as a “different company” — one built around higher-margin basics rather than a broad lifestyle brand portfolio.
The Outlet Store Closures
Around the same time, Hanesbrands exited its U.S. outlet store network entirely. Locations across the country closed, and the company also shut down multiple manufacturing distribution centers as part of a broader cost-cutting effort.
This is where a lot of consumer confusion came from. When shoppers saw “going out of business” signs at their local Hanesbrands outlet — as happened at locations like Anthem Outlets — many assumed the entire company was folding.
In reality, those closures were deliberate. The company was shifting away from a direct retail model and streamlining its supply chain. Closing physical outlet stores doesn’t mean Hanes products stopped being sold — it means they’re sold through different channels, like big-box retailers and online.
The Gildan Acquisition — What the $2.2 Billion Deal Actually Means
The bigger structural change came in 2025. On August 13, 2025, Gildan Activewear and Hanesbrands announced a definitive merger agreement valued at approximately $2.2 billion. The deal closed on December 1, 2025.
At closing, Hanesbrands Inc. converted to Hanesbrands LLC and became a wholly owned Gildan subsidiary. Each share of Hanesbrands common stock was converted into 0.102 Gildan common shares plus $0.80 in cash, with additional cash paid out in place of fractional shares.
Hanesbrands stock was suspended from trading on the NYSE and is being delisted. The company also intends to file Form 15 with the SEC to deregister its shares and end its public reporting obligations. Hanesbrands, as an independent public company, is gone.
What This Means for Former Shareholders
If you owned HBI shares before the merger closed, you no longer hold Hanesbrands stock. Instead, you received Gildan shares and cash based on the conversion terms above. For shareholders, the practical question isn’t whether Hanes products still exist — it’s whether the Gildan shares they now hold perform well over time.
Gildan is a Canadian company headquartered in Montréal, Québec, and it trades on the NYSE and TSX under the ticker GIL. According to Gildan’s communications, the combined company will maintain a strong presence in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, which has long been Hanesbrands’ home base.
What Happens to the Hanes Brand Under Gildan?
This is the question most consumers actually care about, and the honest answer is: the brand is expected to continue, but some details about the long-term integration are still unfolding.
Gildan has indicated that the Hanes brand remains part of the combined company going forward. The HanesBrands corporate website is being phased out, with visitors redirected to Gildan’s corporate site for company information. That’s a sign of integration, not abandonment.
Gildan is primarily known as a manufacturer of blank activewear and basics — T-shirts, fleece, underwear, and socks — sold through wholesale and retail channels. In many ways, the Hanes product line fits naturally within that model. There’s no indication from either company that the Hanes brand itself will be discontinued.
That said, integration processes always carry some uncertainty. Facilities may be consolidated further, and product lines could shift over time. Anyone who wants official updates on the combined company can now find them through Gildan’s corporate site rather than Hanesbrands’ old web presence.
What It Means for Different Groups
Customers
If you buy Hanes products at Target, Walmart, or Amazon, nothing about that is expected to change in the near term. The outlet stores are gone, but the brand lives on through major retail partners and online channels.
Investors
HBI no longer trades. If you held shares at the time of closing, you received Gildan shares and cash per the merger terms. For questions about the share allocation or payment process, Gildan has directed inquiries to Computershare, the transfer agent handling the transaction.
Employees and Suppliers
Some facilities have already closed as part of the cost-cutting that preceded the merger. Further consolidation is possible as Gildan integrates operations. The sources available don’t provide detailed workforce numbers, so it would be premature to state specific job impact figures. What’s clear is that Winston-Salem will remain an important part of the combined company’s footprint.
The Bottom Line
Hanesbrands going “out of business” is not quite the right frame. What happened is more layered than that.
The company sold Champion, exited its U.S. outlet stores, and ultimately merged with Gildan Activewear. As a result, Hanesbrands Inc. no longer exists as an independent public company. But the Hanes brand — the underwear, socks, and T-shirts people have bought for decades — is expected to continue under Gildan’s ownership.
The store closures that sparked confusion were real but strategic. The stock delisting is real and permanent. The corporate restructuring is complete. But none of that is the same as a brand vanishing from store shelves.
For those tracking these kinds of business transformations, Business Base covers the corporate shifts, acquisitions, and market moves that affect everyday consumers and investors alike.
The short version: Hanesbrands the corporation is now part of Gildan. Hanes the brand is still around. The two things sound similar, but they’re not the same — and understanding that difference clears up most of the confusion.
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