Hanesbrands announced that production has resumed at its Haitian contract sewing operations affected by the Jan. 12 earthquake, putting hundreds of employees back to work as the country tries to rebuild its economy.

The company has also set up a staging operation in the Dominican Republic supplying food, water and basic necessities to Haitian contract workers and donated $2.2 million worth of underwear to be widely distributed to those in need.

Hanesbrands has three primary T-shirt sewing operations in Haiti and all three have at least partial production under way as of today. All of the facilities have been inspected by engineers and cleared for resumed production and safe occupancy. Production at one of the plants located near the Dominican Republic was not affected by the earthquake and initial production at the two operations near Port-au-Prince resumed on Jan. 22, with all employees expected to be back to work by the first week of February.

With the resumption of production in Haiti, the addition of new contract suppliers and added production at company-owned plants, Hanesbrands expects full pre-earthquake T-shirt production levels as soon as mid-February. The production suspension should not have a material impact on sales of the company’s underwear T-shirts or casualwear T-shirts sold to the wholesale screen-print industry.

Haiti accounts for a small percentage of Hanesbrands' overall production and the sewing disruption will not affect the company's previously announced expectations to increase sales by 5 percent in 2010 as a result of retail shelf-space and distribution gains.

"We are very thankful that our major contract partners have the wherewithal to resume production, providing critical jobs for employees who are seeking to recover from the aftermath of the earthquake," said Gerald Evans, president of international business and global supply chain. "Our contractors are providing employees and their families with food, water and other assistance and employees are eager to return to work. We were disappointed to learn that two employees of one of our contractors died from injuries suffered in the earthquake."

Of the company's three sewing contractors, one of the operations sews underwear T-shirts for retail customers, one produces outerwear T-shirts for the wholesale screen-print imagewear industry and the third manufactures both underwear and outerwear T-shirts.

The company also has a fourth T-shirt sewing contractor near Port-au-Prince that produces a small quantity of outerwear T-shirts. It is expected to resume initial production on Jan. 25.

Hanesbrands has donated more than 2 million pieces of new underwear with a wholesale value of $2.2 million, primarily men's and boys' underwear bottoms and women's and girls' panties, to aid agencies for distribution in Haiti.

The company is donating about 1.5 million pair of underwear to CARE and is working with other CARE partners to sort, ship, store and distribute the goods.

Hanesbrands and its employees have also established a staging operation for Haiti relief supplies at the company's textile fabric manufacturing plant in Bonao, Dominican Republic. The company is purchasing supplies of water, food and basic necessities for the employees affected by the earthquake.