In hindsight, there was a significant market reaction to news of the marijuana incident, Steinberg acknowledged. I'm not sure that I would have judged that to be material. He added the company was unaware that the drug seizure and Gildan's name had been reported in Jamaica on Feb. 10. The company doesn't have an office or factory in Jamaica. Police in Jamaica have said that the marijuana weighed 2,697 kilos and was evenly split between the Gildan container and another belonging to a different company.
Police say it was almost certainly smuggled aboard in Kingston.
Nevertheless, Gildan decided to close its small factory in Barbados and lay off 50 people, much to the chagrin of local politicians, because it could not ensure security at the location. In a separate development, Fruit of the Loom alleges in its lawsuit that a former company executive who moved to Gildan persuaded a Fruit of the Loom executive to send him sensitive internal documents. Gildan has said it intends to defend the suit and prevail. The contents of this website are protected by copyright. All rights are reserved and commercial use is prohibited.