From fraternities to girls’s soccer, this under-the-radar T-shirt model is popping up all over the place

When wanting by means of Wyatt Cannon’s T-shirt assortment, there is a frequent theme: the Consolation Colours label.

Rising up, Cannon would usually discover Consolation Colours attire when on the lookout for souvenirs throughout household journeys. In faculty, Cannon satisfied his a cappella group to display print on the corporate’s clean shirts. When the 24-year-old has made tie-dye T-shirts for himself, it is with Consolation Colours product.

“I’ve beloved this model my complete life,” mentioned Cannon, who estimates round half of his shirts are Consolation Colours. “This sort of materials and texture and vibe of T-shirt ought to simply be extra of the usual.”

Cannon is a part of a loyal and rising base of customers driving demand for the half-century-old, Gildan-owned shirt model. The label’s ballooning success lately will help clarify Gildan’s inventory outperformance and has led to plans for an growth into further product classes.

Gildan is tight-lipped about particular model efficiency and declined to share Consolation Colours’ gross sales information with CNBC. However firm executives have mentioned Consolation Colours took off, particularly during the last yr, and has grow to be a number one model inside Gildan, which additionally sells attire below its namesake label and American Attire.

“Consolation Colours might be the fastest-growing style model,” Glenn Chamandy, Gildan’s co-founder and CEO, mentioned throughout a name with analysts earlier this yr. “While you stroll right into a memento retailer right this moment, you will see Consolation Colours on each single a type of tables the place you used to see style manufacturers earlier than.”

Gildan acquired Consolation Colours for round $100 million in 2015 in hopes of increasing throughout the fundamentals class of North America’s printwear market, based on a press launch saying the deal. On the time, Gildan known as the Vermont-based attire maker “some of the acknowledged manufacturers” in locations like faculty bookstores and resorts.

The model publicizes that its shirts are 100% cotton from the U.S. Its “pigment pure” dyeing system creates the shirts’ “signature light look” and requires much less vitality and water use than different comparable processes, Gildan says.

Consolation Colours’ reputation exploded in 2024 with round 40% year-over-year development, firm executives have mentioned on earnings calls. That helped drive gross sales in Gildan’s broader activewear class 6% greater in the identical interval.

Chamandy instructed analysts in late July that Consolation Colours is “knocking it out of the field once more this yr” and helped push the activewear class up 12% in the second quarter. The model is planning to develop into hats, baggage and women-specific clothes in 2026 because it rings in its fiftieth anniversary, Howard Upchurch, advertising and marketing and merchandise chief at Gildan, mentioned in a press release to CNBC.

Gildan, which introduced earlier this yr it was buying Hanesbrands because it additional builds out its primary attire enterprise, is anticipated to report earnings on the finish of this month.

U.S.-listed shares of Gildan, which is a Canadian-based firm, have surged greater than 175% during the last 5 years. That is nearly double the extensively adopted S&P 500‘s return over the identical interval.

Although Gildan has touted Consolation Colours as successful story inside its bigger empire, customers have not essentially made the connection.

Cannon mentioned he views Consolation Colours as “crunchy” and “granola,” whereas Gildan feels just like the “peak of consumption capitalism.” The Connecticut-based advertising and marketing supervisor mentioned Consolation Colours’ distinctive tag of woven material is one high quality that makes the model really feel extra “homey.”

On Etsy, printers hawk Consolation Colours shirts with varied designs and a few even enable customers to add their very own. The model has additionally gotten a lift from TikTok, the place content material creators share movies of their Consolation Colours merchandise that viewers can buy through the platform’s buying function.

Relative search quantity for Consolation Colours within the U.S. spiked to all-time highs on Google this yr, underscoring the model’s rising consciousness amongst customers. Then again, Gildan has tumbled in search reputation from a peak in 2023.

Consolation Colours has amassed a “very loyal” base made up significantly of Gen Z clients, based on Sheng Lu, an affiliate professor on the College of Delaware whose analysis focuses on the attire business.

These younger customers worth consolation and classic aptitude, each of which align with Consolation Colours’ merchandise, Lu mentioned. Consolation Colours’ emphasis on sustainability also can bode nicely with a buyer base that is aware of their environmental footprint.

“This model undoubtedly is in an excellent spot,” Lu mentioned.

Consolation Colours’ rise is especially attention-grabbing on condition that the model focuses extra on promoting in bulk than on to customers, not like different T-shirt makers like Nike, Lu mentioned. He defined that since Consolation Colours is principally promoting product through middlemen who can display print on them, the shirts find yourself showing extra distinctive — which is one other fascinating high quality for Gen Z customers.

Behind the scenes, Gildan is probably going benefiting from Consolation Colours’ sourcing within the Western Hemisphere, Lu mentioned. Whereas nations on this area have been hit by President Donald Trump’s tariffs, the levies have usually been much less steep than these slapped on Asia, he mentioned.

As a result of customers are likely to view T-shirts as a staples, this stuff could present stability even when client sentiment falls, Lu mentioned.

Plus, throughout the nation, Consolation Colours shirts are outfitting social teams and sitting on merchandise stands at occasions. Musical acts together with Maggie Rogers and Mumford & Sons printed tour merchandise on Consolation Colours shirts. Manufacturers starting from Coors Gentle to Star Trek promote its attire, as do native bars and eateries. Ladies’s soccer group Gotham Soccer Membership has a number of official Consolation Colours spirit put on shirts.

When Chelsea Inexperienced opened The Yard Milkshake Bar, she already knew of Consolation Colours from seeing the model on faculty campuses. She mentioned it is the most well-liked kind of merchandise for The Yard Milkshake Bar, significantly with youthful customers who’re acquainted the model and generally use the shirts for sleepwear or as seashore coverups.

“I knew that I had Consolation Colours T-shirts already in my closet,” Inexperienced mentioned. “I used to be like, ‘that is what I would like.’ I did not even analysis it.”

To make certain, Inexperienced acknowledged that the shirts may be pricier than some rivals’ and she or he at instances bumped into provide shortages throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, the colour choices and high quality have made overcoming these obstacles worthwhile, she mentioned.

Social organizations similar to Cannon’s collegiate a cappella group have additionally turned to Consolation Colours. Equally, fraternity Sigma Chi and sorority Pi Beta Phi every promote dozens of Consolation Colours shirts of their on-line outlets.

On a fraternity-focused Reddit discussion board, a consumer requested what T-shirt manufacturers folks used for display printing. One respondee mentioned Consolation Colours is their “go-to.” Use Consolation Colours, one other mentioned, “otherwise you’re vulnerable to getting tar and feathered.”