UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

FORM 10-K

 

 

Commission file number: 001-32891

 

 

(336) 519-4400

(Registrant’s telephone number including area code)

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share

Preferred Stock Purchase Rights

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes  o   No  þ

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act. Yes  o   No  þ

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes  þ   No  o

 

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference into Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.  þ

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, or a non-accelerated filer. See definition of “accelerated filer and large accelerated filer” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

Large accelerated filer  o      Accelerated filer  o      Non-accelerated filer  þ

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes  o   No  þ

 

As of December 29, 2006, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates was approximately $1,948,022,535 (based on the closing price of the common stock of $23.62 per share on that date, as reported on the New York Stock Exchange and, for purposes of this computation only, the assumption that all of the registrant’s directors and executive officers are affiliates).

 

As of February 1, 2007, there were 96,363,203 shares of the registrant’s common stock outstanding.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

Trademarks, Trade Names and Service Marks

 

We own or have rights to use the trademarks, service marks and trade names that we use in conjunction with the operation of our business. Some of the more important trademarks that we own or have rights to use that appear in this Form 10-K include the Hanes, Champion , Playtex, Bali, Just My Size, barely there, Wonderbra, C9 by Champion, L’eggs, Beefy-T, Outer Banks and Duofold marks, which may be registered in the United States and other jurisdictions. We do not own any trademark, trade name or service mark of any other company appearing in this Form 10-K.

 

Forward-looking statements include all statements that do not relate solely to historical or current facts, and can generally be identified by the use of words such as “may,” “believe,” “will,” “expect,” “project,” “estimate,” “intend,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “continue” or similar expressions. In particular, information appearing under “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Business” includes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements inherently involve many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in these statements. Where, in any forward-looking statement, we express an expectation or belief as to future results or events, such expectation or belief is based on the current plans and expectations of our management and expressed in good faith and believed to have a reasonable basis, but there can be no assurance that the expectation or belief will result or be achieved or accomplished. The following include some but not all of the factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated:

 

 

 

There may be other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Our actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the forward-looking statements. We can give no assurances that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will occur or, if any of them does, what impact they will have on our results of operations and financial condition. You should carefully read the factors described in the “Risk Factors” section of this Form 10-K for a description of certain risks that could, among other things, cause our actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements.

 

All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this Form 10-K and are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements included in this Form 10-K. We undertake no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements which may be made to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, other than as required by law.

 

We file annual, quarterly and special reports, proxy statements and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the “SEC.” You can inspect, read and copy these reports, proxy statements and other information at the public reference facilities the SEC maintains at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549.

 

We make available free of charge at www.hanesbrands.com (in the “Investors” section) copies of materials we file with, or furnish to, the SEC. You can also obtain copies of these materials at prescribed rates by writing to the Public Reference Section of the SEC at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. You can obtain information on the operation of the public reference facilities by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC also maintains a website at www.sec.gov that makes available reports, proxy statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with it. By referring to our website, www.hanesbrands.com, we do not incorporate our website or its contents into this Form 10-K.

 

General

 

We are a consumer goods company with a portfolio of leading apparel brands, including Hanes , Champion , Playtex , Bali , Just My Size , barely there and Wonderbra. We design, manufacture, source and sell a broad range of apparel essentials such as t-shirts, bras, panties, men’s underwear, kids’ underwear, socks, hosiery, casualwear and activewear.

 

We were spun off from Sara Lee Corporation, or “Sara Lee,” on September 5, 2006. In connection with the spin off, Sara Lee contributed its branded apparel Americas and Asia business to us and distributed all of the outstanding shares of our common stock to its stockholders on a pro rata basis. As a result of the spin off, Sara Lee ceased to own any equity interest in our company. In this Form 10-K, we describe the businesses contributed to us by Sara Lee in the spin off as if the contributed businesses were our business for all historical periods described. References in this Form 10-K to our assets, liabilities, products, businesses or activities of our business for periods including or prior to the spin off are generally intended to refer to the historical assets, liabilities, products, businesses or activities of the contributed businesses as the businesses were conducted as part of Sara Lee and its subsidiaries prior to the spin off.

 

Following the spin off, we changed our fiscal year end from the Saturday closest to June 30 to the Saturday closest to December 31. This change created a transition period beginning on July 2, 2006, the day following the end of our 2006 fiscal year on July 1, 2006, and ending on December 30, 2006.

 

Our products are sold through multiple distribution channels. During the six months ended December 30, 2006, approximately 47% of our net sales were to mass merchants, 20% were to national chains and department stores, 9% were direct to consumer, 9% were in our international segment and 15% were to other retail channels such as embellishers, specialty retailers, warehouse clubs and sporting goods stores. In addition to designing and marketing apparel essentials, we have a long history of operating a global supply chain that incorporates a mix of self-manufacturing, third-party contractors and third-party sourcing.

 

The apparel essentials segment of the apparel industry is characterized by frequently replenished items, such as t-shirts, bras, panties, men’s underwear, kids’ underwear, socks and hosiery. Growth and sales in the apparel essentials industry are not primarily driven by fashion, in contrast to other areas of the broader apparel industry. Rather, we focus on the core attributes of comfort, fit and value, while remaining current with regard to consumer trends.

 

Our business is organized into five operating segments. These segments—innerwear, outerwear, hosiery, international and other—are reportable segments for financial reporting purposes. The following table summarizes our operating segments by category:

 

 

 

 

Our brands have a strong heritage in the apparel essentials industry. According to The NPD Group/Consumer Panel Track ^SM , or “NPD,” our brands hold either the number one or number two U.S. market position by sales in most product categories in which we compete, on a rolling year-end basis as of December 2006. According to a 2006 survey of consumer brand awareness by Women’s Wear Daily, Hanes is the most recognized apparel and accessory brand among women in the United States. According to Millward Brown Market Research, Hanes is found in over 85% of the United States households who have purchased men’s or women’s casual clothing or underwear in the 12-month period ended December 31, 2006. We sell high-volume, frequently replenished apparel essentials. The majority of our core styles continue from year to year, with variations only in color, fabric or design details, and are frequently replenished by consumers.

 

According to NPD, we are the largest seller of apparel essentials in the United States as measured by sales on a rolling year-end basis as of December 2006. We sell our products primarily through large, high-volume retailers, including mass merchants, department stores and national chains. We have met the demands of our customers by developing vertically integrated operations and an extensive network of owned facilities and third-party manufacturers over a broad geographic footprint. We have strong, long-term relationships with our top customers, including relationships of more than ten years with each of our top ten customers. The size and operational scale of the high-volume retailers with which we do business require extensive category and product knowledge and specialized services regarding the quantity, quality and planning of orders. In the late 1980s, we undertook a shift in our approach to our relationships with our largest customers when we sought to align significant parts of our organization with corresponding parts of their organizations. For example, we are organized into teams that sell to and service our customers across a range of functional areas, such as demand planning, replenishment and logistics. We also have entered into customer-specific programs such as the introduction in 2004 of C9 by Champion products marketed and sold through Target Corporation, or “Target,” stores. Through these efforts, we have become the largest apparel essentials supplier to many of our customers.

 

Our ability to react to changing customer needs and industry trends will continue to be key to our success. Our design, research and product development teams, in partnership with our marketing teams, drive our efforts to bring innovations to market. We intend to leverage our insights into consumer demand in the apparel essentials industry to develop new products within our existing lines and to modify our existing core

products in ways that make them more appealing, addressing changing customer needs and industry trends. Examples of our success to date include:

 

 

Our Industry

 

The overall U.S. apparel market and the core categories critical to our future success will continue to be influenced by a number of broad-based trends:

 

 

In addition, we anticipate growth in the apparel essentials industry will be driven in part by product improvements and innovations. Improvements in product features, such as stretch in t-shirts or tagless garment labels, or in increased variety through new sizes or styles, such as half sizes and boy leg briefs, are expected to enhance consumer appeal and category demand. Often the innovations and improvements in our industry are not trend-driven, but are designed to react to identifiable consumer needs and demands. As a consequence, the apparel essentials market is characterized by lower fashion risks compared to other apparel categories.

 

Our Brands

 

Our portfolio of leading brands is designed to address the needs and wants of various consumer segments across a broad range of apparel essentials products. Each of our brands has a particular consumer positioning that distinguishes it from its competitors and guides its advertising and product development. We discuss our brands in more detail below.

 

Hanes is the largest and most widely recognized brand in our portfolio. According to a 2006 survey of consumer brand awareness by Women’s Wear Daily, Hanes is the most recognized apparel and accessory brand among women in the United States. The Hanes brand covers all of our product categories, including men’s underwear, kids’ underwear, bras, panties, socks, t-shirts, fleece and sheer hosiery. Hanes stands for outstanding comfort, style and value. According to Millward Brown Market Research, Hanes is found in over 85% of the United States households who have purchased men’s or women’s casual clothing or underwear in the 12-month period ended December 31, 2006.

 

Champion is our second-largest brand. Specializing in athletic performance apparel, the Champion brand is designed for everyday athletes. We believe that Champion ’s combination of comfort, fit and style provides athletes with mobility, durability and up-to-date styles, all product qualities that are important in the sale of

athletic products. We also distribute products under the C9 by Champion brand exclusively through Target stores.

 

Playtex , the third-largest brand within our portfolio, offers a line of bras, panties and shapewear, including products that offer solutions for hard to fit figures. Bali is the fourth-largest brand within our portfolio. Bali offers a range of bras, panties and shapewear sold in the department store channel. Our brand portfolio also includes the following well-known brands: L’eggs , Just My Size , barely there , Wonderbra , Outer Banks and Duofold. These brands serve to round out our product offerings, allowing us to give consumers a variety of options to meet their diverse needs.

 

Our Segments

 

We manage and report our operations in five segments, each of which is a reportable segment: innerwear, outerwear, hosiery, international and other. These segments are organized principally by product category and geographic location. Management of each segment is responsible for the assets and operations of these businesses. For more information about our segments, see Note 20 to our Combined and Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Form 10-K.

 

Innerwear

 

The innerwear segment focuses on core apparel essentials, and consists of products such as women’s intimate apparel, men’s underwear, kids’ underwear, socks, thermals and sleepwear, marketed under well-known brands that are trusted by consumers. We are an intimate apparel category leader in the United States with our Hanes , Playtex , Bali , barely there , Just My Size and Wonderbra brands, offering a full line of bras, panties and bodywear. We are also a leading manufacturer and marketer of men’s underwear and kids’ underwear under the Hanes and Champion brand names. We also produce underwear products under a licensing agreement with Polo Ralph Lauren. Our net sales for the six months ended December 30, 2006 from our innerwear segment were $1.3 billion, representing approximately 57% of total segment net sales.

 

Outerwear

 

We are a leader in the casualwear and activewear markets through our Hanes , Champion and Just My Size brands, where we offer products such as t-shirts and fleece. Our casualwear lines offer a range of quality, comfortable clothing for men, women and children marketed under the Hanes and Just My Size brands. The Just My Size brand offers casual apparel designed exclusively to meet the needs of plus-size women. In addition to activewear for men and women, Champion provides uniforms for athletic programs and in 2004 launched an apparel program at Target stores, C9 by Champion. We also license our Champion name for collegiate apparel and footwear. We also supply our t-shirts, sportshirts and fleece products to screen printers and embellishers, who imprint or embroider the product and then resell to specialty retailers and organizations such as resorts and professional sports clubs. We sell our products to screen printers and embellishers primarily under the Hanes , Hanes Beefy-T and Outer Banks brands. Our net sales for the six months ended December 30, 2006 from our outerwear segment were $616 million, representing approximately 27% of total segment net sales.

 

Hosiery

 

We are the leading marketer of women’s sheer hosiery in the United States. We compete in the hosiery market by striving to offer superior values and executing integrated marketing activities, as well as focusing on the style of our hosiery products. We market hosiery products under our Hanes , L’eggs and Just My Size brands. Our net sales for the six months ended December 30, 2006 from our hosiery segment were $144 million, representing approximately 6% of total segment net sales. Consistent with a sustained decline in the hosiery industry due to changes in consumer preferences, our net sales from hosiery sales have declined each year since 1995.

 

International

 

International includes products that span across the innerwear, outerwear and hosiery reportable segments. Our net sales in this segment included sales in Europe, Asia, Canada and Latin America. Japan, Canada and Mexico are our largest international markets, and we also have opened sales offices in India and China. Our net sales for the six months ended December 30, 2006 from our international segment were $198 million, representing approximately 9% of total segment net sales.

 

Other

 

Our net sales in this segment are comprised of sales of nonfinished products such as fabric and certain other materials in the United States, Asia and Latin America in order to maintain asset utilization at certain manufacturing facilities. Our net sales for the six months ended December 30, 2006 from our other segment were $19 million, representing approximately 1% of total segment net sales.

 

Design, Research and Product Development

 

At the core of our design, research and product development capabilities is a team of more than 300 professionals. As part of plan to consolidate our operations, we combined our design, research and development teams into an integrated group for all of our product categories. A facility located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is the center of our research, technical design and product development efforts. We also employ creative design and product development personnel in our design center in New York City. During the six months ended December 30, 2006 and fiscal 2006, 2005 and 2004, we spent approximately $23 million, $55 million, $51 million and $53 million, respectively, on design, research and product development.

 

Customers

 

In the six months ended December 30, 2006, approximately 91% of our net sales were to customers in the United States and approximately 9% were to customers outside the United States. Domestically, almost 82% of our net sales were wholesale sales to retailers, 9% were wholesale sales to third-party embellishers and 9% were direct to consumer. We have well-established relationships with some of the largest apparel retailers in the world. Our largest customers are Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., or “Wal-Mart,” Target and Kohl’s Corporation, or “Kohl’s,” accounting for 28%, 15% and 6%, respectively, of our total sales in the six months ended December 30, 2006. As is common in the apparel essentials industry, we generally do not have purchase agreements that obligate our customers, including Wal-Mart, to purchase our products. However, all of our key customer relationships have been in place for ten years or more. Wal-Mart and Target are our only customers with sales that exceed 10% of any individual segment’s sales. In our innerwear segment, Wal-Mart accounted for 35% of sales and Target accounted for 12% of sales during the six months ended December 30, 2006. In our outerwear segment, Wal-Mart accounted for 24% of sales and Target accounted for 29% of sales during the six months ended December 30, 2006. In our hosiery and international segments, Wal-Mart accounted for 22% and 14% of sales, respectively, during the six months ended December 30, 2006.

 

Due to their size and operational scale, high-volume retailers require extensive category and product knowledge and specialized services regarding the quantity, quality and timing of product orders. We have organized multifunctional customer management teams, which has allowed us to form strategic long-term relationships with these customers and efficiently focus resources on category, product and service expertise. Smaller regional customers attracted to our leading brands and quality products also represent an important component of our distribution, and our organizational model provides for an efficient use of resources that delivers a high level of category and channel expertise and services to these customers.

 

Sales to the mass merchant channel accounted for approximately 47% of our net sales in the six months ended December 30, 2006. We sell all of our product categories in this channel primarily under our Hanes , Just My Size , Playtex and C9 by Champion brands. Mass merchants feature high-volume, low-cost sales of basic apparel items along with a diverse variety of consumer goods products, such as grocery and drug

products and other hard lines, and are characterized by large retailers, such as Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart, which accounted for approximately 28% of our net sales during the six months ended December 30, 2006, is our largest mass merchant customer.

 

Sales to the national chains and department stores channel accounted for approximately 20% of our net sales during the six months ended December 30, 2006. These retailers target a higher-income consumer than mass merchants, focus more of their sales on apparel items rather than other consumer goods such as grocery and drug products, and are characterized by large retailers such as Sears, Roebuck and Co., JC Penney Company, Inc. and Kohl’s. We sell all of our product categories in this channel. Traditional department stores target higher-income consumers and carry more high-end, fashion conscious products than national chains or mass merchants and tend to operate in higher-income areas and commercial centers. Traditional department stores are characterized by large retailers such as Macy’s and Dillard’s, Inc. We sell products in our intimate apparel, hosiery and underwear categories through these department stores.

 

Sales to the direct to consumer channel accounted for approximately 9% of our net sales in the six months ended December 30, 2006. We sell our branded products directly to consumers through our 220 outlet stores, as well as our catalogs and our web sites operating under the Hanes name as well as OneHanes Place , Outer Banks , Just My Size and Champion. Our outlet stores are value-based, offering the consumer a savings of 25% to 40% off suggested retail prices, and sell first-quality, excess, post-season, obsolete and slightly imperfect products. Our catalogs and web sites address the growing direct to consumer channel that operates in today’s 24/7 retail environment, and we have an active database of approximately two million consumers receiving our catalogs and emails. Our web sites have experienced significant growth and we expect this trend to continue as more consumers embrace this retail shopping channel.

 

Sales in our international segment represented approximately 9% of our net sales during the six months ended December 30, 2006, and included sales in Europe, Asia, Canada and Latin America. Japan, Canada and Mexico are our largest international markets, and we also have opened sales offices in India and China. We operate in several locations in Latin America including Mexico, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Brazil and Central America. From an export business perspective, we use distributors to service customers in the Middle East and Asia, and have a limited presence in Latin America. The primary focus of the export business is Hanes underwear and Bali , Playtex , Wonderbra and barely there intimate apparel.

 

Sales in other channels represented approximately 15% of our net sales during the six months ended December 30, 2006. We sell t-shirts, golf and sport shirts and fleece sweatshirts to third-party embellishers primarily under our Hanes , Hanes Beefy-T and Outer Banks brands. Sales to third-party embellishers accounted for approximately 9% of our net sales during the six months ended December 30, 2006. We also sell a significant range of our underwear, activewear and sock products under the Champion brand to wholesale clubs, such as Costco, and sporting goods stores, such as The Sports Authority, Inc. We sell primarily legwear and underwear products under the Hanes and L’eggs brands to food, drug and variety stores. We sell our branded apparel essentials products to the U.S. military for sale to servicemen and servicewomen.

 

Inventory

 

Effective inventory management is a key component of our future success. Because our customers do not purchase our products under long-term supply contracts, but rather on a purchase order basis, effective inventory management requires close coordination with the customer base. We employ various types of inventory management techniques that include collaborative forecasting and planning, vendor-managed inventory, key event management and various forms of replenishment management processes. We have demand management planners in our customer management group who work closely with customers to develop demand forecasts that are passed to the supply chain. We also have professionals within the customer management group who coordinate daily with our larger customers to help ensure that our customers’ planned inventory levels are in fact available at their individual retail outlets. Additionally, within our supply chain organization we have dedicated professionals that translate the demand forecast into our inventory strategy and specific production plans. These individuals work closely with our customer management team to balance inventory investment/exposure with customer service targets.

 

Seasonality

 

Generally, our diverse range of product offerings helps mitigate the impact of seasonal changes in demand for certain items. Nevertheless, we are subject to some degree of seasonality. Sales are typically higher in the two quarters ending in September and December. Socks, hosiery and fleece products generally have higher sales during this period as a result of cooler weather, back-to-school shopping and holidays. Sales levels in a period are also impacted by customers’ decisions to increase or decrease their inventory levels in response to anticipated consumer demand.

 

Marketing

 

Our strategy is to bring consumer-driven innovation to market in a compelling way. Our approach is to build targeted, effective multimedia advertising and marketing campaigns regarding our portfolio of key brands. In addition, we will explore new marketing opportunities through which we can communicate the key features and benefits of our brands to consumers. For example, in fiscal 2005, we launched our comprehensive “Look Who We’ve Got Our Hanes on Now” marketing campaign, which we believe significantly increased positive consumer attitudes about the Hanes brand in the areas of stylishness, distinctiveness and up-to-date products. We believe that the strength of our consumer insights, our distinctive brand propositions and our focus on integrated marketing give us a competitive advantage in the fragmented apparel marketplace.

 

Distribution

 

We distribute our products for the U.S. market primarily from U.S.-based company-owned and company-operated distribution centers. As of December 30, 2006, we operated 32 distribution centers and also performed direct ship services from selected Central America-, Caribbean Basin- and Mexico-based operations to the U.S. markets. International distribution operations use a combination of third-party logistics providers, as well as owned and operated distribution operations, to distribute goods to our various international markets. We are currently in the process of consolidating several of our U.S. distribution centers. In this process, we intend to centralize our distribution centers around our Winston-Salem, North Carolina, base, and we announced the closure of three distribution centers in the United States during the six months ended December 30, 2006. During the six months ended December 30, 2006, we opened our first West Coast distribution center in California.

 

Manufacturing and Sourcing

 

During the six months ended December 30, 2006, approximately 77% of our finished goods sold in the United States were manufactured through a combination of facilities we own and operate and facilities owned and operated by third-party contractors. These contractors perform some of the steps in the manufacturing process for us, such as cutting and/or sewing. We sourced the remainder of our finished goods from third-party manufacturers who supply us with finished products based on our designs. We believe that our balanced approach to product supply, which relies on a combination of owned, contracted and sourced manufacturing located across different geographic regions, increases the efficiency of our operations, reduces product costs and offers customers a reliable source of supply.

 

Finished Goods That Are Manufactured by Hanesbrands

 

The manufacturing process for finished goods that we manufacture begins with raw materials we obtain from third parties. The principal raw materials in our product categories are cotton and synthetics. Our costs for cotton yarn and cotton-based textiles vary based upon the fluctuating and often volatile cost of cotton, which is affected by, among other factors, weather, consumer demand, speculation on the commodities market and the relative valuations and fluctuations of the currencies of producer versus consumer countries. We attempt to mitigate the effect of fluctuating raw material costs by entering into short-term supply agreements that set the price we will pay for cotton yarn and cotton-based textiles in future periods. We also enter into hedging contracts on cotton designed to protect us from severe market fluctuations in the wholesale prices of

cotton. In addition to cotton yarn and cotton-based textiles, we use thread and trim for product identification, buttons, zippers, snaps and lace.

 

Fluctuations in crude oil or petroleum prices may also influence the prices of items used in our business, such as chemicals, dyestuffs, polyester yarn and foam. Alternate sources of these materials and services are readily available. After they are sourced, cotton and synthetic materials are spun into yarn, which is then knitted into cotton, synthetic and blended fabrics. We spin a significant portion of the yarn and knit a significant portion of the fabrics we use in our owned and operated facilities. To a lesser extent, we purchase fabric from several domestic and international suppliers in conjunction with scheduled production. These fabrics are cut and sewn into finished products, either by us or by third-party contractors. Most of our cutting and sewing operations are located in Central America and the Caribbean Basin.

 

In making decisions about the location of manufacturing operations and third-party sources of supply, we consider a number of factors including local labor costs, quality of production, applicable quotas and duties, and freight costs. Although, according to a 2005 study, approximately 80% of our workforce in fiscal 2005 was located outside the United States, approximately 70% of our labor costs in fiscal 2005 were related to our domestic workforce. We continue to evaluate actions to reduce our U.S. workforce over time, which should have the effect of reducing our total labor costs. Over the past ten years, we have engaged in a substantial asset relocation strategy designed to eliminate or relocate portions of our U.S.-based manufacturing operations to lower-cost locations in Central America, the Caribbean Basin and Asia. For example, at an owned textile manufacturing facility in the Dominican Republic, which began production in early 2006, and through a strategic alliance with a third-party textile manufacturer in El Salvador, which began production in 2005, textiles are knit, dyed, finished and cut in accordance with our specifications. We expect to achieve cost efficiencies from our operations at these facilities primarily as a result of lower labor costs. In addition, because these manufacturing facilities are located in close proximity to the sewing operations to which the manufactured textiles must be transported, we expect to achieve additional efficiencies by reducing the amount of time needed to produce finished goods. We also expect to increase asset utilization through the operations at these facilities. In connection with moving operations from other facilities, we reduced excess manufacturing capacity. We closed two of our owned textile facilities in the United States in connection with these projects.

 

During the six months ended December 30, 2006, we announced decisions to close four textile and sewing plants in the United States, Puerto Rico and Mexico and consolidate three distribution centers in the United States. As further plans are developed and approved by management and our board of directors, we expect to recognize additional restructuring costs to eliminate duplicative functions within the organization and transition a significant portion of our manufacturing capacity to lower-cost locations. As a result of these efforts, we expect to incur approximately $250 million in restructuring and related charges over the next three years of which approximately half is expected to be noncash.

 

Finished Goods That Are Manufactured by Third Parties

 

In addition to our manufacturing capabilities, we also source finished goods designed by us from third-party manufacturers, also referred to as “turnkey products.” Many of these turnkey products are sourced from international suppliers by our strategic sourcing hubs in Hong Kong and other locations in Asia.

 

All contracted and sourced manufacturing must meet our high quality standards. Further, all contractors and third-party manufacturers must be preaudited and adhere to our strict supplier and business practices guidelines. These requirements provide strict standards covering hours of work, age of workers, health and safety conditions and conformity with local laws. Each new supplier must be inspected and agree to comprehensive compliance terms prior to performance of any production on our behalf. We audit compliance with these standards and maintain strict compliance performance records. In addition to our audit procedures, we require certain of our suppliers to be Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production, or “WRAP,” certified. WRAP is a stringent apparel certification program that independently monitors and certifies compliance with certain specified manufacturing standards that are intended to ensure that a given factory produces sewn goods under lawful, humane, and ethical conditions. WRAP uses third-party, independent certification firms and requires factory-by-factory certification.

 

Trade Regulation

 

We are exposed to certain risks of doing business outside of the United States. We import goods from company-owned facilities in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean Basin, and from suppliers in those areas and in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. These import transactions had been subject to constraints imposed by bilateral agreements that imposed quotas that limited the amount of certain categories of merchandise from certain countries that could be imported into the United States and the EU.

 

Pursuant to a 1995 Agreement on Textiles and Clothing under the World Trade Organization, or “WTO,” effective January 1, 2005, the United States and other WTO member countries were required, with few exceptions, to remove quotas on goods from WTO member countries. The complete removal of quotas would benefit us, as well as other apparel companies, by allowing us to source products without quantitative limitation from any country. Several countries, including the United States, have imposed safeguard quotas on China pursuant to the terms of China’s Accession Agreement to the WTO, and others may impose similar restrictions in the future. Our management evaluates the possible impact of these and similar actions on our ability to import products from China. We do not expect the imposition of these safeguards to have a material impact on us.

 

Our management monitors new developments and risks relating to duties, tariffs and quotas. In response to the changing import environment resulting from the elimination of quotas, management has chosen to continue its balanced approach to manufacturing and sourcing. We attempt to limit our sourcing exposure through geographic diversification with a mix of company-owned and contracted production, as well as shifts of production among countries and contractors. We will continue to manage our supply chain from a global perspective and adjust as needed to changes in the global production environment.

 

Competition

 

The apparel essentials market is highly competitive and rapidly evolving. Competition generally is based upon price, brand name recognition, product quality, selection, service and purchasing convenience. Our businesses face competition today from other large corporations and foreign manufacturers. These competitors include Berskhire Hathaway Inc. through its subsidiary Fruit of the Loom, Inc., Warnaco Group Inc., VF Corporation (which in January 2007 agreed to sell its intimate apparel business to Fruit of the Loom, Inc.) and Maidenform Brands, Inc. in our innerwear business segment and Gildan Activewear, Inc. and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. through its subsidiaries Russell Corporation and Fruit of the Loom, Inc. in our outerwear business segment. We also compete with many small manufacturers across all of our business segments. Additionally, department stores and other retailers, including many of our customers, market and sell apparel essentials products under private labels that compete directly with our brands. We also face intense competition from specialty stores who sell private label apparel not manufactured by us such as Victoria’s Secret, Old Navy and The Gap.

 

Our competitive strengths include our strong brands with leading market positions, our high-volume, core essentials focus, our significant scale of operations and our strong customer relationships.

 

 

 

Intellectual Property

 

Overview

 

We market our products under hundreds of trademarks, service marks and trade names in the United States and other countries around the world, the most widely recognized being Hanes , Champion , Playtex , Bali , Just My Size , barely there , Wonderbra , C9 by Champion , L’eggs , Beefy-T , Outer Banks , Duofold , Sol y Oro , Rinbros , Zorba and Ritmo. Some of our products are sold under trademarks that have been licensed from third parties, such as Polo Ralph Lauren men’s underwear, and we also hold licenses from various toy and media companies that give us the right to use certain of their proprietary characters, names and trademarks.

 

Some of our own trademarks are licensed to third parties for noncore product categories, such as Champion for athletic-oriented accessories. In the United States, the Playtex trademark is owned by Playtex Marketing Corporation, of which we own a 50% share and which grants to us a perpetual royalty-free license to the Playtex trademark on and in connection with the sale of apparel in the United States and Canada. The other 50% share of Playtex Marketing Corporation is owned by Playtex Products, Inc., an unrelated third-party, which has a perpetual royalty-free license to the Playtex trademark on and in connection with the sale of non-apparel products in the United States. Outside the United States and Canada, we own the Playtex trademark and perpetually license such trademark to Playtex Products, Inc. for non-apparel products. In addition, as described below, as part of Sara Lee’s sale in February 2006 of its European branded apparel business, an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners, Inc., or “Sun Capital,” has an exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free license to sell and distribute apparel products under the Wonderbra and Playtex trademarks in the member states of the EU, as well as several other European nations and South Africa. We also own a number of copyrights. Our trademarks and copyrights are important to our marketing efforts and have substantial value. We aggressively protect these trademarks and copyrights from infringement and dilution through appropriate measures, including court actions and administrative proceedings.

 

Although the laws vary by jurisdiction, trademarks generally remain valid as long as they are in use and/or their registrations are properly maintained and have not been found to have become generic. Most of the trademarks in our portfolio, including all of our core brands, are covered by trademark registrations in the countries of the world in which we do business, with registration periods ranging between seven and 20 years depending on the country. Trademark registrations generally can be renewed indefinitely as long as the trademarks are in use. We have an active program designed to ensure that our trademarks are registered, renewed, protected and maintained. We plan to continue to use all of our core trademarks and plan to renew the registrations for such trademarks for as long as we continue to use them. Most of our copyrights are unregistered, although we have a sizable portfolio of copyrighted lace designs that are the subject of a number of registrations at the U.S. Copyright Office.

 

We place high importance on product innovation and design, and a number of these innovations and designs are the subject of patents. However, we do not regard any segment of our business as being dependent upon any single patent or group of related patents. In addition, we own proprietary trade secrets, technology, and know how that we have not patented.

 

Shared Trademark Relationship with Sun Capital

 

In February 2006, Sara Lee sold its European branded apparel business to an affiliate of Sun Capital. In connection with the sale, Sun Capital received an exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free license to sell and distribute apparel products under the Wonderbra and Playtex trademarks in the member states of the EU, as well as Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Morocco, Norway, Romania, Russia, Serbia-Montenegro, South Africa, Switzerland, Ukraine, Andorra, Albania, Channel Islands, Lichtenstein, Monaco, Gibraltar, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Reunion and French Guyana, which we refer to as the “Covered Nations.” We are not permitted to sell Wonderbra and Playtex branded products in the Covered Nations and without our agreement Sun Capital is not permitted to sell Wonderbra and Playtex branded products outside of the Covered Nations. In connection with the sale, we also have received an exclusive, perpetual royalty-free license to sell DIM and UNNO branded products in Panama, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Belize, Guatemala, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the United States, Canada and, for DIM products, Japan. We are not permitted to sell DIM or UNNO branded apparel products outside of these countries and Sun Capital is not permitted to sell DIM or UNNO branded apparel products inside these countries. We also are not permitted to distribute or sell certain apparel products, not including Hanes products, in the Covered Nations until February 2007. In addition, the rights to certain European-originated brands previously part of Sara Lee’s branded apparel portfolio were transferred to Sun Capital and are not included in our brand portfolio.

 

Licensing Relationship with Tupperware Corporation

 

In December 2005, Sara Lee sold its direct selling business, which markets cosmetics, skin care products, toiletries and clothing in 18 countries, to Tupperware Corporation, or “Tupperware.” In connection with the sale, Dart Industries Inc., or “Dart,” an affiliate of Tupperware, received a three-year exclusive license agreement to use the C Logo , Champion U.S.A ., Wonderbra , W by Wonderbra , The One and Only Wonderbra , Playtex , Just My Size and Hanes trademarks for the manufacture and sale, under the applicable brands, of certain men’s and women’s apparel in the Philippines, including underwear, socks, sportswear products, bras, panties and girdles, and for the exhaustion of similar product inventory in Malaysia. Dart also received a ten-year, royalty-free, exclusive license to use the Girls’ Attitudes trademark for the manufacture and sale of certain toiletries, cosmetics, intimate apparel, underwear, sports wear, watches, bags and towels in the Philippines. The rights and obligations under these agreements were assigned to us as part of the spin off.

 

In connection with the sale of Sara Lee’s direct selling business, Tupperware also signed two five-year distributorship agreements providing Tupperware with the right, which is exclusive for the first three years of the agreements, to distribute and sell, through door-to-door and similar channels, Playtex , Champion , Rinbros , Aire , Wonderbra , Hanes and Teens by Hanes apparel items in Mexico that we have discontinued and/or determined to be obsolete. The agreements also provide Tupperware with the exclusive right for five years to distribute and sell through such channels such apparel items sold by us in the ordinary course of business. The agreements also grant a limited right to use such trademarks solely in connection with the distribution and sale of those products in Mexico.

 

Under the terms of the agreements, we reserve the right to apply for, prosecute and maintain trademark registrations in Mexico for those products covered by the distributorship agreement. The rights and obligations under these agreements were assigned to us as part of the spin off.

 

Environmental Matters

 

We are subject to various federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations that govern our activities, operations and products that may have adverse environmental, health and safety effects, including laws and regulations relating to generating emissions, water discharges, waste, product and packaging content and workplace safety. Noncompliance with these laws and regulations may result in substantial monetary penalties and criminal sanctions. We are aware of hazardous substances or petroleum releases at a few of our facilities and are working with the relevant environmental authorities to investigate and address such releases. We also have been identified as a “potentially responsible party” at a few waste disposal sites undergoing investigation

and cleanup under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (commonly known as Superfund) or state Superfund equivalent programs. Where we have determined that a liability has been incurred and the amount of the loss can reasonably be estimated, we have accrued amounts in our balance sheet for losses related to these sites. Compliance with environmental laws and regulations and our remedial environmental obligations historically have not had a material impact on our operations, and we are not aware of any proposed regulations or remedial obligations that could trigger significant costs or capital expenditures in order to comply.

 

Government Regulation

 

We are subject to U.S. federal, state and local laws and regulations that could affect our business, including those promulgated under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Consumer Product Safety Act, the Flammable Fabrics Act, the Textile Fiber Product Identification Act, the rules and regulations of the Consumer Products Safety Commission and various environmental laws and regulations. Our international businesses are subject to similar laws and regulations in the countries in which they operate. Our operations also are subject to various international trade agreements and regulations. See “—Trade Regulation.” While we believe that we are in compliance in all material respects with all applicable governmental regulations, current governmental regulations may change or become more stringent or unforeseen events may occur, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our financial position or results of operations.

 

Employees

 

As of December 30, 2006, we had approximately 49,000 employees, approximately 13,300 of whom were located in the United States. As of December 30, 2006, in the United States, approximately 100 were covered by collective bargaining agreements. A portion of our international employees were also covered by collective bargaining agreements. We believe our relationships with our employees are good.

 

This section describes circumstances or events that could have a negative effect on our financial results or operations or that could change, for the worse, existing trends in our businesses. The occurrence of one or more of the circumstances or events described below could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows or on the trading prices of our common stock. The risks and uncertainties described in this Form 10-K are not the only ones facing us. Additional risks and uncertainties that currently are not known to us or that we currently believe are immaterial also may adversely affect our businesses and operations.

 

Risks Related to Our Business

 

A significant portion of our textile manufacturing operations are located in higher-cost locations, placing us at a product cost disadvantage to our competitors who have a higher percentage of their manufacturing operations in lower-cost, offshore locations.

 

Though there has been a general industry-wide migration of manufacturing operations to lower-cost locations, such as Central America, the Caribbean Basin and Asia, a significant portion of our textile manufacturing operations are still located in higher-cost locations, such as the United States. In addition, our competitors generally source or produce a greater portion of their textiles from regions with lower costs than us, placing us at a cost disadvantage. Our competitors are able to exert pricing pressure on us by using their manufacturing cost savings to reduce prices of their products, while maintaining higher margins than us. To remain competitive, we must, among other things, react to these pricing pressures by lowering our prices from time to time. We will continue to experience pricing pressure and remain at a cost disadvantage to our competitors unless we are able to successfully migrate a greater portion of our textile manufacturing operations

to lower-cost locations. However, we cannot guarantee that our migration plans, as executed, will relieve these pricing pressures and our cost disadvantage.

 

We are in the process of relocating a significant portion of our textile manufacturing operations to overseas locations and this process involves significant costs and the risk of operational interruption.

 

We currently are relocating and expect to continue to relocate a significant portion of our textile manufacturing operations to locations in Central America, the Caribbean Basin and Asia. The process of relocating significant portions of our textile manufacturing and production operations has resulted in and will continue to result in significant costs. As further plans are developed and approved by management and our board of directors, we expect to recognize additional restructuring costs to eliminate duplicative functions within the organization and transition a significant portion of our manufacturing capacity to lower-cost locations. As a result of these efforts, we expect to incur approximately $250 million in restructuring and related charges over the next three years of which approximately half is expected to be noncash. This process also may result in operational interruptions, which may have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

The integration of our information technology systems is complex, and any delay or problem with this integration may cause serious disruption or harm to our business.

 

As part of our efforts to consolidate our operations, we are in the process of integrating currently unrelated information technology systems across our company which has resulted in operational inefficiencies and in some cases increased our costs. This process involves the replacement of eight independent systems environments running on different technology platforms with a unified enterprise system that will integrate all of our departments and functions onto common software that runs off a single database. We are subject to the risk that we will not be able to absorb the level of systems change, commit the necessary resources or focus the management attention necessary for the implementation to succeed. Many key strategic initiatives of major business functions, such as our supply chain and our finance operations, depend on advanced capabilities enabled by the new systems and if we fail to properly execute or if we miss critical deadlines in the implementation of this initiative, we could experience serious disruption and harm to our business.

 

We operate in a highly competitive and rapidly evolving market, and our market share and results of operations could be adversely affected if we fail to compete effectively in the future.

 

The apparel essentials market is highly competitive and evolving rapidly. Competition is generally based upon price, brand name recognition, product quality, selection, service and purchasing convenience. Our businesses face competition today from other large corporations and foreign manufacturers. These competitors include Berskhire Hathaway Inc. through its subsidiary Fruit of the Loom, Inc., Warnaco Group Inc., VF Corporation (which in January 2007 agreed to sell its intimate apparel business to Fruit of the Loom, Inc.) and Maidenform Brands, Inc. in our innerwear business segment and Gildan Activewear, Inc. and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. through its subsidiaries Russell Corporation and Fruit of the Loom, Inc. in our outerwear business segment. We also compete with many small companies across all of our business segments. Additionally, department stores and other retailers, including many of our customers, market and sell apparel essentials products under private labels that compete directly with our brands. These customers may buy goods that are manufactured by others, which represents a lost business opportunity for us, or they may sell private label products manufactured by us, which have significantly lower gross margins than our branded products. We also face intense competition from specialty stores that sell private label apparel not manufactured by us, such as Victoria’s Secret, Old Navy and The Gap. Increased competition may result in a loss of or a reduction in shelf space and promotional support and reduced prices, in each case decreasing our cash flows, operating margins and profitability. Our ability to remain competitive in the areas of price, quality, brand recognition, research and product development, manufacturing and distribution will, in large part, determine our future success. If we fail to compete successfully, our market share, results of operations and financial condition will be materially and adversely affected.

 

If we fail to manage our inventory effectively, we may be required to establish additional inventory reserves or we may not carry enough inventory to meet customer demands, causing us to suffer lower margins or losses.

 

We are faced with the constant challenge of balancing our inventory with our ability to meet marketplace needs. Excess inventory reserves can result from the complexity of our supply chain, a long manufacturing process and the seasonal nature of certain products. As a result, we are subject to high levels of obsolescence and excess stock. Based on discussions with our customers and internally generated projections, we produce, purchase and/or store raw material and finished goods inventory to meet our expected demand for delivery. However, we sell a large number of our products to a small number of customers, and these customers generally are not required by contract to purchase our goods. If, after producing and storing inventory in anticipation of deliveries, demand is lower than expected, we may have to hold inventory for extended periods or sell excess inventory at reduced prices, in some cases below our cost. There are inherent uncertainties related to the recoverability of inventory, and it is possible that market factors and other conditions underlying the valuation of inventory may change in the future and result in further reserve requirements. Excess inventory can reduce gross margins or result in operating losses, lowered plant and equipment utilization and lowered fixed operating cost absorption, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition. For example, while our total inventory reserves were approximately $99 million at December 30, 2006, $88 million at July 1, 2006 and $89 million at July 3, 2004, our total inventory reserves were approximately $116 million at July 2, 2005, due in part to lower demand for some of our products than forecasted.

 

Conversely, we also are exposed to lost business opportunities if we underestimate market demand and produce too little inventory for any particular period. Because sales of our products are generally not made under contract, if we do not carry enough inventory to satisfy our customers’ demands for our products within an acceptable time frame, they may seek to fulfill their demands from one or several of our competitors and may reduce the amount of business they do with us. Any such action would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

Sales of and demand for our products may decrease if we fail to keep pace with evolving consumer preferences and trends, which could have an adverse effect on net sales and profitability.

 

Our success depends on our ability to anticipate and respond effectively to evolving consumer preferences and trends and to translate these preferences and trends into marketable product offerings. If we are unable to successfully anticipate, identify or react to changing styles or trends or misjudge the market for our products, our sales may be lower than expected and we may be faced with a significant amount of unsold finished goods inventory. In response, we may be forced to increase our marketing promotions, provide markdown allowances to our customers or liquidate excess merchandise, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our net sales and profitability. Our brand image may also suffer if customers believe that we are no longer able to offer innovative products, respond to consumer preferences or maintain the quality of our products.

 

We rely on a relatively small number of customers for a significant portion of our sales, and the loss of or material reduction in sales to any of our top customers would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

During the six months ended December 30, 2006, our top ten customers accounted for 62% of our net sales and our top customer, Wal-Mart, accounted for 28% of our net sales. We expect that these customers will continue to represent a significant portion of our net sales in the future. In addition, our top ten customers are the largest market participants in our primary distribution channels across all of our product lines. Any loss of or material reduction in sales to any of our top ten customers, especially Wal-Mart, would be difficult to recapture, and would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

We generally do not sell our products under contracts, and, as a result, our customers are generally not contractually obligated to purchase our products, which causes some uncertainty as to future sales and inventory levels.

 

We generally do not enter into purchase agreements that obligate our customers to purchase our products, and as a result, most of our sales are made on a purchase order basis. For example, we have no agreements with Wal-Mart that obligate Wal-Mart to purchase our products. If any of our customers experiences a significant downturn in its business, or fails to remain committed to our products or brands, the customer is generally under no contractual obligation to purchase our products and, consequently, may reduce or discontinue purchases from us. In the past, such actions have resulted in a decrease in sales and an increase in our inventory and have had an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. If such actions occur again in the future, our business, results of operations and financial condition will likely be similarly affected.

 

Further consolidation among our customer base and continued growth of our existing customers could result in increased pricing pressure, reduced floor space for our products and other changes that could be harmful to our business.

 

In recent years there has been a growing trend toward retailer consolidation. As a result of this consolidation, the number of retailers to which we sell our products continues to decline and, as such, larger retailers now are able to exercise greater negotiating power when purchasing our products. Continued consolidation in the retail industry could result in further price and other competition that may damage our business. Additionally, as our customers grow larger, they increasingly may require us to provide them with some of our products on an exclusive basis, which could cause an increase in the number of stock keeping units, or “SKUs,” we must carry and, consequently, increase our inventory levels and working capital requirements.

 

Moreover, as our customers consolidate and grow larger they may increasingly seek markdown allowances, incentives and other forms of economic support which reduce our gross margins and affect our profitability. Our financial performance is negatively affected by these pricing pressures when we are forced to reduce our prices without being able to correspondingly reduce our production costs.

 

Our customers generally purchase our products on credit, and as a result, our results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected if our customers experience financial difficulties.

 

During the past several years, various retailers, including some of our largest customers, have experienced significant difficulties, including restructurings, bankruptcies and liquidations. This could adversely affect us because our customers generally pay us after goods are delivered. Adverse changes in our customers’ financial position could cause us to limit or discontinue business with that customer, require us to assume more credit risk relating to that customer’s future purchases or limit our ability to collect accounts receivable relating to previous purchases by that customer, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

International trade regulations may increase our costs or limit the amount of products that we can import from suppliers in a particular country, which could have an adverse effect on our business.

 

Because a significant amount of our manufacturing and production operations are in, or our products are sourced from, overseas locations, we are subject to international trade regulations. The international trade regulations to which we are subject or may become subject include tariffs, safeguards or quotas. These regulations could limit the countries from which we produce or source our products or significantly increase the cost of operating in or obtaining materials originating from certain countries. Restrictions imposed by international trade regulations can have a particular impact on our business when, after we have moved our operations to a particular location, new unfavorable regulations are enacted in that area or favorable regulations

currently in effect are changed. The countries in which our products are manufactured or into which they are imported may from time to time impose additional new regulations, or modify existing regulations, including:

 

 

Adverse international trade regulations, including those listed above, would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

Significant fluctuations and volatility in the price of cotton and other raw materials we purchase may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

Cotton is the primary raw material used in the manufacture of many of our products. Our costs for cotton yarn and cotton-based textiles vary based upon the fluctuating and often volatile cost of cotton, which is affected by weather, consumer demand, speculation on the commodities market, the relative valuations and fluctuations of the currencies of producer versus consumer countries and other factors that are generally unpredictable and beyond our control. In addition, fluctuations in crude oil or petroleum prices may also influence the prices of related items used in our business, such as chemicals, dyestuffs, polyester yarn and foam.

 

We are not always successful in our efforts to protect our business from the volatility of the market price of cotton through short-term supply agreements and hedges, and our business can be adversely affected by dramatic movements in cotton prices. For example, we estimate that, excluding the impact of futures contracts, a change of $0.01 per pound in cotton prices would affect our annual raw material costs by $3.7 million, at current levels of production. The ultimate effect of this change on our earnings cannot be quantified, as the effect of movements in cotton prices on industry selling prices are uncertain, but any dramatic increase in the price of cotton would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

We incurred substantial indebtedness in connection with the spin off, which subjects us to various restrictions and could decrease our profitability and otherwise adversely affect our business.

 

We incurred substantial indebtedness of $2.6 billion in connection with our spin off from Sara Lee as described in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources.” In December 2006, we repaid $500 million of that indebtedness with the proceeds of an offering of $500 million of our Floating Rate Senior Notes due 2014 (the “Floating Rate Senior Notes”). We are subject to significant financial and operating restrictions contained in the senior secured credit facility we entered into on September 5, 2006 (the “Senior Secured Credit Facility”) and the senior secured second lien credit facility we entered into on September 5, 2006 (the “Second Lien Credit Facility” and, together with the Senior Secured

Credit Facility, the “Credit Facilities”) and the indenture governing the Floating Rate Senior Notes. These restrictions affect, and in some cases significantly limit or prohibit, among other things, our ability to:

 

 

In addition, the Credit Facilities require us to maintain financial ratios. If we fail to comply with the covenant restrictions contained in the Credit Facilities, that failure could result in a default that accelerates the maturity of the indebtedness under such facilities.

 

Our substantial leverage also could put us at a significant competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors which are less leveraged. These competitors could have greater financial flexibility to pursue strategic acquisitions, secure additional financing for their operations by incurring additional debt, expend capital to expand their manufacturing and production operations to lower-cost areas and apply pricing pressure on us. In addition, because many of our customers rely on us to fulfill a substantial portion of their apparel essentials demand, any concern these customers may have regarding our financial condition may cause them to reduce the amount of products they purchase from us. Our substantial leverage could also impede our ability to withstand downturns in our industry or the economy in general.

 

As a result of our substantial indebtedness, we may not have sufficient funding for our operations and capital requirements.

 

We paid $2.4 billion of the proceeds of the borrowings we incurred in connection with the spin off to Sara Lee and, as a result, those proceeds are not available for our business needs, such as funding working capital or the expansion of our operations. In addition, the restrictions contained in the Credit Facilities and in the indenture governing the Floating Rate Senior Notes restrict our ability to obtain additional capital in the future to:

 

 

We may need to incur additional debt or issue equity in order to fund working capital and capital expenditures or to make acquisitions and other investments. We cannot assure you that debt or equity financing will be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. If we are not able to obtain sufficient financing, we may be unable to maintain or expand our business. It may be more expensive for us to raise funds through the issuance of additional debt than it was while we were part of Sara Lee.

 

If we raise funds through the issuance of debt or equity, any debt securities or preferred stock issued will have rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of holders of our common stock in the event of a liquidation, and the terms of the debt securities may impose restrictions on our operations. If we raise funds through the issuance of equity, the issuance would dilute the ownership interest of our stockholders.

 

To service our substantial debt obligations, we may need to increase the portion of the income of our foreign subsidiaries that is expected to be remitted to the United States, which could significantly increase our income tax expense.

 

We pay U.S. federal income taxes on that portion of the income of our foreign subsidiaries that is expected to be remitted to the United States and be taxable. The amount of the income of our foreign subsidiaries we remit to the United States may significantly impact our U.S. federal income tax rate. In order to service our substantial debt obligations, we may need to increase the portion of the income of our foreign subsidiaries that we expect to remit to the United States, which may significantly increase our income tax expense. Consequently, we believe that our tax rate in future periods is likely to be higher, on average, than our historical income tax rates in periods prior to the spin off on September 5, 2006.

 

If we fail to meet our payment or other obligations under some of the Credit Facilities, the lenders could foreclose on, and acquire control of, substantially all of our assets.

 

In connection with our incurrence of indebtedness under the Credit Facilities, the lenders under those facilities have received a pledge of substantially all of our existing and future direct and indirect subsidiaries, with certain customary or agreed-upon exceptions for foreign subsidiaries and certain other subsidiaries. Additionally, these lenders generally have a lien on substantially all of our assets and the assets of our subsidiaries, with certain exceptions. As a result of these pledges and liens, if we fail to meet our payment or other obligations under the Senior Secured Credit Facility or the Second Lien Credit Facility, the lenders under those facilities will be entitled to foreclose on substantially all of our assets and, at their option, liquidate these assets.

 

Our supply chain relies on an extensive network of foreign operations and any disruption to or adverse impact on such operations may adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

We have an extensive global supply chain in which a significant portion of our products are manufactured in or sourced from locations in Central America, the Caribbean Basin, Mexico and Asia. Potential events that may disrupt our foreign operations include:

 

 

Disruptions to our foreign operations have an adverse impact on our supply chain that can result in production and sourcing interruptions, increases in our cost of sales and delayed deliveries of our products to our customers, all of which can have an adverse affect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

 

The loss of one or more of our suppliers of finished goods or raw materials may interrupt our supplies and materially harm our business.

 

We purchase all of the raw materials used in our products and approximately 23% of the apparel designed by us from a limited number of third-party suppliers and manufacturers. Our ability to meet our customers’ needs depends on our ability to maintain an uninterrupted supply of raw materials and finished products from

our third-party suppliers and manufacturers. Our business, financial condition or results of operations could be adversely affected if any of our principal third-party suppliers or manufacturers experience production problems, lack of capacity or transportation disruptions. The magnitude of this risk depends upon the timing of the changes, the materials or products that the third-party manufacturers provide and the volume of production.

 

Our dependence on third parties for raw materials and finished products subjects us to the risk of supplier failure and customer dissatisfaction with the quality of our products. Quality failures by our third-party manufacturers or changes in their financial or business condition that affect their production could disrupt our ability to supply quality products to our customers and thereby materially harm our business.

 

We may suffer negative publicity if we or our third-party manufacturers violate labor laws or engage in practices that are viewed as unethical or illegal, which could cause a loss of business.

 

We cannot fully control the business and labor practices of our third-party manufacturers, the majority of whom are located in Central America, the Caribbean Basin and Asia. If one of our own manufacturing operations or one of our third-party manufacturers violates or is accused of violating local or international labor laws or other applicable regulations, or engages in labor or other practices that would be viewed in any market in which our products are sold as unethical, we could suffer negative publicity which could tarnish our brands’ image or result in a loss of sales. In addition, if such negative publicity affected one of our customers, it could result in a loss of business for us.

 

We have approximately 49,000 employees worldwide, and our business operations and financial performance could be adversely affected by changes in our relationship with our employees or changes to U.S. or foreign employment regulations.

 

We have approximately 49,000 employees worldwide. This means we have a significant exposure to changes in domestic and foreign laws governing our relationships with our employees, including wage and hour laws and regulations, fair labor standards, minimum wage requirements, overtime pay, unemployment tax rates, workers’ compensation rates, citizenship requirements and payroll taxes, which likely would have a direct impact on our operating costs. We have approximately 35,700 employees outside of the United States. A significant increase in minimum wage or overtime rates in countries where we have employees could have a significant impact on our operating costs and may require that we relocate those operations or take other steps to mitigate such increases, all of which may cause us to incur additional costs, expend resources responding to such increases and lower our margins.

 

In addition, some of our employees are members of labor organizations or are covered by collective bargaining agreements. If there were a significant increase in the number of our employees who are members of labor organizations or become parties to collective bargaining agreements, we would become vulnerable to a strike, work stoppage or other labor action by these employees that could have an adverse effect on our business.

 

Due to the extensive nature of our foreign operations, fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates could negatively impact our results of operations.

 

We sell a majority of our products in transactions denominated in U.S. dollars; however, we purchase many of our products, pay a portion of our wages and make other payments in our supply chain in foreign currencies. As a result, if the U.S. dollar were to weaken against any of these currencies, our cost of sales could increase substantially. We are also exposed to gains and losses resulting from the effect that fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates have on the reported results in our Combined and Consolidated Financial Statements due to the translation of operating results and financial position of our foreign subsidiaries. We use foreign exchange forward and option contracts to hedge material exposure to adverse changes in foreign exchange rates. In addition, currency fluctuations can impact the price of cotton, the primary raw material we use in our business.

 

We have significant unfunded employee benefit liabilities; if assumptions underlying our calculation of these liabilities prove incorrect, the amount of these liabilities could increase or we could be required to make contributions to these plans in excess of our current expectations, both of which could have a negative impact on our cash flows, liquidity and results of operations.

 

We assumed significant unfunded employee benefit liabilities of $299 million as of September 5, 2006 for pension, postretirement and other retirement benefit qualified and nonqualified plans from Sara Lee in connection with the spin off. Included in these unfunded liabilities are pension obligations that have not been reflected in our historical financial statements for periods prior to the six months ended December 30, 2006 because these obligations have historically been obligations of Sara Lee. The pension obligations we assumed were $225 million more than the corresponding pension assets we acquired, and as a result our pension plans are underfunded. As a result of provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, we may be required, commencing with plan years beginning after 2007, to make larger contributions to our pension plans than Sara Lee made with respect to these plans in past years. In addition, we could be required to make contributions to the pension plans in excess of our current expectations if financial conditions change or if the assumptions we have used to calculate our pension costs and obligations prove to be inaccurate. A significant increase in our funding obligations could have a negative impact on our cash flows, liquidity and results of operations.

 

We are prohibited from selling our Wonderbra and Playtex intimate apparel products in the EU, as well as certain other countries in Europe and South Africa, and therefore are unable to take advantage of business opportunities that may arise in such countries.

 

In February 2006, Sara Lee sold its European branded apparel business to Sun Capital. In connection with the sale, Sun Capital received an exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free license to sell and distribute apparel products under the Wonderbra and Playtex trademarks in the member states of the EU, as well as Russia, South Africa, Switzerland and certain other nations in Europe. Due to the exclusive license, we are not permitted to sell Wonderbra and Playtex branded products in these nations and Sun Capital is not permitted to sell Wonderbra and Playtex branded products outside of these nations. We also are not permitted to distribute or sell certain apparel products, not including Hanes products, in these nations until February 2007. Consequently, we will not be able to take advantage of business opportunities that may arise relating to the sale of Wonderbra and Playtex products in these nations. For more information on these sales restrictions see “Business—Intellectual Property.”

 

The success of our business is tied to the strength and reputation of our brands, including brands that we license to other parties. If other parties take actions that weaken, harm the reputation of or cause confusion with our brands, our business, and consequently our sales and results of operations, may be adversely affected.

 

We license some of our important trademarks to third parties. For example, we license Champion to third parties for athletic-oriented accessories. Although we make concerted efforts to protect our brands through quality control mechanisms and contractual obligations imposed on our licensees, there is a risk that some licensees may not be in full compliance with those mechanisms and obligations. In that event, or if a licensee engages in behavior with respect to the licensed marks that would cause us reputational harm, we could experience a significant downturn in that brand’s business, adversely affecting our sales and results of operations. Similarly, any misuse of the Wonderbra and Playtex brands by Sun Capital could result in negative publicity and a loss of sales for our products under these brands, any of which may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

 

We design, manufacture, source and sell products under trademarks that are licensed from third parties. If any licensor takes actions related to their trademarks that would cause their brands or our company reputational harm, our business may be adversely affected.

 

We design, manufacture, source and sell a number of our products under trademarks that are licensed from third parties such as our Polo Ralph Lauren men’s underwear. Because we do not control the brands licensed to us, our licensors could make changes to their brands or business models that could result in a

significant downturn in a brand’s business, adversely affecting our sales and results of operations. If any licensor engages in behavior with respect to the licensed marks that would cause us reputational harm, or if any of the brands licensed to us violates the trademark rights of another or are deemed to be invalid or unenforceable, we could experience a significant downturn in that brand’s business, adversely affecting our sales and results of operations, and we may be required to expend significant amounts on public relations, advertising and, possibly, legal fees.

 

Risks Related to Our Spin Off from Sara Lee

 

If the IRS determines that the spin off does not qualify as a “tax-free” distribution or a “tax-free” reorganization, we may be subject to substantial liability.

 

Sara Lee has received a private letter ruling from the Internal Revenue Service, or the “IRS,” to the effect that, among other things, the spin off qualifies as a tax-free distribution for U.S. federal income tax purposes under Section 355 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the “Internal Revenue Code,” and as part of a tax-free reorganization under Section 368(a)(1)(D) of the Internal Revenue Code, and the transfer to us of assets and the assumption by us of liabilities in connection with the spin off will not result in the recognition of any gain or loss for U.S. federal income tax purposes to Sara Lee.

 

Although the private letter ruling relating to the qualification of the spin off under Sections 355 and 368(a)(1)(D) of the Internal Revenue Code generally is binding on the IRS, the continuing validity of the ruling is subject to the accuracy of factual representations and assumptions made in connection with obtaining such private letter ruling. Also, as part of the IRS’s general policy with respect to rulings on spin off transactions under Section 355 of the Internal Revenue Code, the private letter ruling obtained by Sara Lee is based upon representations by Sara Lee that certain conditions which are necessary to obtain tax-free treatment under Section 355 and Section 368(a)(1)(D) of the Internal Revenue Code have been satisfied, rather than a determination by the IRS that these conditions have been satisfied. Any inaccuracy in these representations could invalidate the ruling.

 

If the spin off does not qualify for tax-free treatment for U.S. federal income tax purposes, then, in general, Sara Lee would be subject to tax as if it has sold the common stock of our company in a taxable sale for its fair market value. Sara Lee’s stockholders would be subject to tax as if they had received a taxable distribution equal to the fair market value of our common stock that was distributed to them, taxed as a dividend (without reduction for any portion of a Sara Lee’s stockholder’s basis in its shares of Sara Lee common stock) for U.S. federal income tax purposes and possibly for purposes of state and local tax law, to the extent of a Sara Lee’s stockholder’s pro rata share of Sara Lee’s current and accumulated earnings and profits (including any arising from the taxable gain to Sara Lee with respect to the spin off). It is expected that the amount of any such taxes to Sara Lee’s stockholders and to Sara Lee would be substantial.

 

Pursuant to a tax sharing agreement we entered into with Sara Lee in connection with the spin off, we agreed to indemnify Sara Lee and its affiliates for any liability for taxes of Sara Lee resulting from: (1) any action or failure to act by us or any of our affiliates following the completion of the spin off that would be inconsistent with or prohibit the spin off from qualifying as a tax-free transaction to Sara Lee and to Sara Lee’s stockholders under Sections 355 and 368(a)(1)(D) of the Internal Revenue Code, or (2) any action or failure to act by us or any of our affiliates following the completion of the spin off that would be inconsistent with or cause to be untrue any material, information, covenant or representation made in connection with the private letter ruling obtained by Sara Lee from the IRS relating to, among other things, the qualification of the spin off as a tax-free transaction described under Sections 355 and 368(a)(1)(D) of the Internal Revenue Code. Our indemnification obligations to Sara Lee and its affiliates are not limited in amount or subject to any cap. We expect that the amount of any such taxes to Sara Lee would be substantial. For more information about the tax sharing agreement, see “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence” below.

 

We have virtually no operating history as an independent company upon which our performance can be evaluated and, accordingly, our prospects must be considered in light of the risks that any newly independent company encounters.

 

Prior to the consummation of the spin off, we operated as part of Sara Lee. Accordingly, we have virtually no experience operating as an independent company and performing various corporate functions, including human resources, tax administration, legal (including compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and with the periodic reporting obligations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or the “Exchange Act”), treasury administration, investor relations, internal audit, insurance, information technology and telecommunications services, as well as the accounting for many items such as equity compensation, income taxes, derivatives, intangible assets and pensions. Our prospects must be considered in light of the risks, expenses and difficulties encountered by companies in the early stages of independent business operations, particularly companies such as ours in highly competitive markets with complex supply chain operations.

 

Our historical financial information is not necessarily indicative of our results as a separate company and therefore may not be reliable as an indicator of our future financial results.

 

Much of our historical financial statements have been created from Sara Lee’s financial statements using our historical results of operations and historical bases of assets and liabilities as part of Sara Lee. For example, we operated as part of Sara Lee for all periods discussed in this Form 10-K, other than the last four months of the six months ended December 30, 2006. Accordingly, the historical financial information we have included in this Form 10-K is not necessarily indicative of what our financial position, results of operations and cash flows would have been if we had been a separate, stand-alone entity during all of the periods presented.

 

Much of the historical financial information is not necessarily indicative of what our results of operations, financial position and cash flows will be in the future and, for periods prior to the six months ended December 30, 2006, does not reflect many significant changes in our capital structure, funding and operations resulting from the spin off. While our historical results of operations include all costs of Sara Lee’s branded apparel business, our historical costs and expenses do not include all of the costs that would have been or will be incurred by us as an independent company. In addition, we have not made adjustments to our historical financial information to reflect changes, many of which are significant, that occurred in our cost structure, financing and operations as a result of the spin off, including the substantial debt we incurred and pension liabilities we assumed in connection with the spin off. These changes include potentially increased costs associated with reduced economies of scale and purchasing power.

 

Our effective income tax rate as reflected in our historical financial information for periods prior to the six months ended December 30, 2006 also may not be indicative of our future effective income tax rate. Among other things, the rate may be materially impacted by:

 

 

We and Sara Lee provide a number of services to each other pursuant to a master transition services agreement. When this agreement terminates, we will be required to replace Sara Lee’s services internally or through third parties on terms that may be less favorable to us.

 

Under the terms of a master transition services agreement that we entered into with Sara Lee in connection with the spin off, we and Sara Lee are providing to each other, for a fee, specified support services related to human resources and payroll functions, financial and accounting functions and information technology for periods of up to 12 months following the spin off (with some renewal terms available). When the master transition services agreement terminates, Sara Lee will no longer be obligated to provide any of these services to us or pay us for the services we are providing Sara Lee, and we will be required to either enter into a new agreement with Sara Lee or another services provider or assume the responsibility for these functions ourselves. At such time, the economic terms of the new arrangement may be less favorable than the arrangement with Sara Lee under the master transition services agreement, which may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. For more information about the master transition services agreement, see “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence” below.

 

We agreed with Sara Lee to certain restrictions in order to comply with U.S. federal income tax requirements for a tax-free spin off and we may not be able to engage in acquisitions and other strategic transactions that may otherwise be in our best interests.

 

Current U.S. federal tax law that applies to spin offs generally creates a presumption that the spin off would be taxable to Sara Lee but not to its stockholders if we engage in, or enter into an agreement to engage in, a plan or series of related transactions that would result in the acquisition of a 50% or greater interest (by vote or by value) in our stock ownership during the four-year period beginning on the date that begins two years before the spin off, unless it is established that the transaction is not pursuant to a plan related to the spin off. U.S. Treasury Regulations generally provide that whether an acquisition of our stock and a spin off are part of a plan is determined based on all of the facts and circumstances, including specific factors listed in the regulations. In addition, the regulations provide certain “safe harbors” for acquisitions of our stock that are not considered to be part of a plan related to the spin off.

 

There are other restrictions imposed on us under current U.S. federal tax law for spin offs and with which we will need to comply in order to preserve the favorable tax treatment of the distribution, such as continuing to own and manage our apparel business and limitations on sales or redemptions of our common stock for cash or other property following the distribution.

 

In our tax sharing agreement with Sara Lee, we agreed that, among other things, we will not take any actions that would result in any tax being imposed on Sara Lee as a result of the spin off. Further, for the two-year period following the spin off, we agreed, among other things, not to: (1) sell or otherwise issue equity securities or repurchase any of our stock except in certain circumstances permitted by the IRS guidelines; (2) voluntarily dissolve or liquidate or engage in any merger (except certain cash acquisition mergers), consolidation, or other reorganizations except for certain mergers of our wholly-owned subsidiaries to the extent not inconsistent with the tax-free status of the spin off; (3) sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of more than 50% of our assets, excluding any sales conducted in the ordinary course of business; or (4) cease, transfer or dispose of all or any portion of our socks business.

 

We are, however, permitted to take certain actions otherwise prohibited by the tax sharing agreement if we provide Sara Lee with an unqualified opinion of tax counsel or private letter ruling from the IRS, acceptable to Sara Lee, to the effect that these actions will not affect the tax-free nature of the spin off. These restrictions could substantially limit our strategic and operational flexibility, including our ability to finance our operations by issuing equity securities, make acquisitions using equity securities, repurchase our equity securities, raise money by selling assets or enter into business combination transactions. For more information about the tax sharing agreement, see “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence” below.

 

The terms of our spin off from Sara Lee, anti-takeover provisions of our charter and bylaws, as well as Maryland law and our stockholder rights agreement, may reduce the likelihood of any potential change of control or unsolicited acquisition proposal that you might consider favorable.

 

The terms of our spin off from Sara Lee could delay or prevent a change of control that our stockholders may favor. An acquisition or issuance of our common stock could trigger the application of Section 355(e) of the Internal Revenue Code. Under the tax sharing agreement that we entered into with Sara Lee, we are required to indemnify Sara Lee for the resulting tax in connection with such an acquisition or issuance and this indemnity obligation might discourage, delay or prevent a change of control that our stockholders may consider favorable. Our charter and bylaws and Maryland law contain provisions that could make it harder for a third-party to acquire us without the consent of our board of directors. Our charter permits our board of directors, without stockholder approval, to amend the charter to increase or decrease the aggregate number of shares of stock or the number of shares of stock of any class or series that we have the authority to issue. In addition, our board of directors may classify or reclassify any unissued shares of common stock or preferred stock and may set the preferences, conversion or other rights, voting powers and other terms of the classified or reclassified shares. Our board of directors could establish a series of preferred stock that could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a transaction or a change in control that might involve a premium price for our common stock or otherwise be in the best interest of our stockholders. Our board of directors also is permitted, without stockholder approval, to implement a classified board structure at any time.

 

Our bylaws, which only can be amended by our board of directors, provide that nominations of persons for election to our board of directors and the proposal of business to be considered at a stockholders meeting may be made only in the notice of the meeting, by our board of directors or by a stockholder who is entitled to vote at the meeting and has complied with the advance notice procedures of our bylaws. Also, under Maryland law, business combinations between us and an interested stockholder or an affiliate of an interested stockholder, including mergers, consolidations, share exchanges or, in circumstances specified in the statute, asset transfers or issuances or reclassifications of equity securities, are prohibited for five years after the most recent date on which the interested stockholder becomes an interested stockholder. An interested stockholder includes any person who beneficially owns 10% or more of the voting power of our shares or any affiliate or associate of ours who, at any time within the two-year period prior to the date in question, was the beneficial owner of 10% or more of the voting power of our stock. A person is not an interested stockholder under the statute if our board of directors approved in advance the transaction by which he otherwise would have become an interested stockholder. However, in approving a transaction, our board of directors may provide that its approval is subject to compliance, at or after the time of approval, with any terms and conditions determined by our board. After the five-year prohibition, any business combination between us and an interested stockholder generally must be recommended by our board of directors and approved by two supermajority votes or our common stockholders must receive a minimum price, as defined under Maryland law, for their shares. The statute permits various exemptions from its provisions, including business combinations that are exempted by our board of directors prior to the time that the interested stockholder becomes an interested stockholder.

 

In addition, we have adopted a stockholder rights agreement which provides that in the event of an acquisition of or tender offer for 15% of our outstanding common stock, our stockholders shall be granted rights to purchase our common stock at a certain price. The stockholder rights agreement could make it more difficult for a third-party to acquire our common stock without the approval of our board of directors.

 

These and other provisions of Maryland law or our charter and bylaws could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a transaction or a change in control that might involve a premium price for our common stock or otherwise be considered favorably by our stockholders.

 

Not applicable.

 

We own and lease facilities supporting our administrative, manufacturing, distribution and direct outlet activities. We own our approximately 470,000 square-foot headquarters located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Our headquarters house our various sales, marketing and corporate business functions. Research and development as well as certain product-design functions also are located in Winston-Salem, while other design functions are located in New York City.

 

As of December 30, 2006, we had 164 manufacturing, distribution and office facilities in 21 countries. We owned 76 of our manufacturing, distribution and office facilities and leased the others as of December 30, 2006. The leases for these facilities expire between 2007 and 2016, with the exception of some seasonal warehouses that we lease on a month-by-month basis. For more information about our capital lease obligations, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Future Contractual Obligations and Commitments.”

 

As of December 30, 2006, we also operated 220 direct outlet stores in 41 states, most of which are leased under five-year, renewable lease agreements. We believe that our facilities, as well as equipment, are in good condition and meet our current business needs.

 

The following table summarizes our facility space by country as of December 30, 2006:

 

 

 

 

The following table summarizes the facility space primarily used by our segments as of December 30, 2006:

 

 

 

 

Although we are subject to various claims and legal actions that occur from time to time in the ordinary course of our business, we are not party to any pending legal proceedings that we believe could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.

 

No matters were submitted to a vote of stockholders during the three months ended December 30, 2006.

 

Market for our Common Stock

 

Our common stock currently is traded on the New York Stock Exchange, or the “NYSE,” under the symbol “HBI.” A “when-issued” trading market for our common stock on the NYSE began on August 16, 2006, and “regular way” trading of our common stock began on September 6, 2006. Prior to August 16, 2006, there was no public market for our common stock. Each share of our common stock has attached to it one preferred stock purchase right. These rights initially will be transferable with and only with the transfer of the underlying share of common stock. We have not made any repurchases of our equity securities in the past year, nor have we made any unregistered sales of our equity securities.

 

The following table sets forth the high and low prices for our common stock for the indicated periods:

 

 

The market price of our common stock has fluctuated since the spin off and is likely to fluctuate in the future. Changes in the market price of our common stock may result from, among other things:

 

 

Holders of Record

 

On February 1, 2007, there were 65,143 holders of record of our common stock. Because many of the shares of our common stock are held by brokers and other institutions on behalf of stockholders, we are unable to determine the total number of stockholders represented by these record holders, but we believe that at the time of the spin off on September 5, 2006, there were more than 25,000 beneficial owners of our common stock.

 

Dividends

 

We currently do not pay regular dividends on our outstanding stock. The declaration of any future dividends and, if declared, the amount of any such dividends, will be subject to our actual future earnings, capital requirements, regulatory restrictions, debt covenants, other contractual restrictions and to the discretion

of our board of directors. Our board of directors may take into account such matters as general business conditions, our financial condition and results of operations, our capital requirements, our prospects and such other factors as our board of directors may deem relevant.

 

The following table presents our selected historical financial data. The statements of income data for each of the fiscal years in the three fiscal years ended July 1, 2006 and the six-month period ended December 30, 2006, and the balance sheet data as of December 30, 2006, July 1, 2006 and July 2, 2005 have been derived from our audited Combined and Consolidated Financial Statements included elsewhere in this Form 10-K. The statements of income data for the years ended June 28, 2003 and June 29, 2002 and the balance sheet data as of July 3, 2004, June 28, 2003 and June 29, 2002 has been derived from our financial statements not included in this Form 10-K.

 

Our historical financial data are not necessarily indicative of our future performance or what our financial position and results of operations would have been if we had operated as a separate, stand-alone entity during all of the periods shown. The data should be read in conjunction with our historical financial statements and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” included elsewhere in this Form 10-K.

 

 

 

 

 

This management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations, or MD&A, contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Please see “Forward-Looking Statements” in this Form 10-K for a discussion of the uncertainties, risks and assumptions associated with these statements. This discussion should be read in conjunction with our historical financial statements and related notes thereto and the other disclosures contained elsewhere in this Form 10-K. On October 26, 2006, our Board of Directors approved a change in our fiscal year end from the Saturday closest to June 30 to the Saturday closest to December 31. We refer to the resulting transition period from July 2, 2006 to December 30, 2006 in this Form 10-K as the six months ended December 30, 2006. All references to fiscal years 2006 and earlier, unless otherwise noted, are references to our 52- or 53-week fiscal year that ended on the Saturday closest to June 30 of that calendar year. Fiscal years 2006, 2005 and 2004 were 52-, 52- and 53-week years, respectively. All reported results for fiscal 2004 include the impact of the additional week. The results of operations for the periods reflected herein are not necessarily indicative of results that may be expected for future periods, and our actual results may differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including but not limited to those listed under “Risk Factors” in this Form 10-K and included elsewhere in this Form 10-K.

 

MD&A is a supplement to our Combined and Consolidated Financial Statements and notes thereto included elsewhere in this Form 10-K, and is provided to enhance your understanding of our results of operations and financial condition. Our MD&A is organized as follows:

 

 

 

Overview

 

Our Company

 

We are a consumer goods company with a portfolio of leading apparel brands, including Hanes, Champion, Playtex, Bali, Just My Size, barely there and Wonderbra. We design, manufacture, source and sell a broad range of apparel essentials such as t-shirts, bras, panties, men’s underwear, kids’ underwear, socks, hosiery, casualwear and activewear. Our brands hold either the number one or number two U.S. market position by sales in most product categories in which we compete.

 

We were spun off from Sara Lee on September 5, 2006. In connection with the spin off, Sara Lee contributed its branded apparel Americas and Asia business to us and distributed all of the outstanding shares of our common stock to its stockholders on a pro rata basis. As a result of the spin off, Sara Lee ceased to own any equity interest in our company. In this Form 10-K, we describe the businesses contributed to us by Sara Lee in the spin off as if the contributed businesses were our business for all historical periods described. References in this Form 10-K to our assets, liabilities, products, businesses or activities of our business for periods including or prior to the spin off are generally intended to refer to the historical assets, liabilities, products, businesses or activities of the contributed businesses as the businesses were conducted as part of Sara Lee and its subsidiaries prior to the spin off.

 

Our Segments

 

During the six months ended December 30, 2006, we changed our internal reporting structure such that operations are managed and reported in five operating segments, each of which is a reportable segment: innerwear, outerwear, hosiery, international and other. These segments are organized principally by product category and geographic location. Management of each segment is responsible for the assets and operations of these businesses. Prior to the six months ended December 30, 2006, we evaluated segment operating performance based upon a definition of segment operating profit that included restructuring and related accelerated depreciation charges. Beginning in the six months ended December 30, 2006, we began evaluating the operating performance of our segments based upon a new definition of segment operating profit, which is defined as operating profit before general corporate expenses, amortization of trademarks and other identifiable intangibles and restructuring and related accelerated depreciation charges. Prior period segment results have been conformed to the new measurements of segment financial performance.

 

 

 

Business and Industry Trends

 

Our businesses are highly competitive and evolving rapidly. Competition generally is based upon price, brand name recognition, product quality, selection, service and purchasing convenience. While the majority of our core styles continue from year to year, with variations only in color, fabric or design details, other products such as intimate apparel and sheer hosiery have a heavier emphasis on style and innovation. Our businesses face competition today from other large corporations and foreign manufacturers, as well as department stores, specialty stores and other retailers that market and sell apparel essentials products under private labels that compete directly with our brands.

 

Our distribution channels range from direct to consumer sales at our outlet stores, to national chains and department stores to warehouse clubs and mass-merchandise outlets. For the six months ended December 30, 2006, approximately 47% of our net sales were to mass merchants, 20% were to national chains and department stores, 9% were direct to consumer, 9% were in our international segment and 15% were to other retail channels such as embellishers, specialty retailers, warehouse clubs and sporting goods stores.

 

In recent years, there has been a growing trend toward retailer consolidation, and as result, the number of retailers to which we sell our products continues to decline. For the six months ended December 30, 2006, for example, our top ten customers accounted for 62% of our net sales and our top customer, Wal-Mart, accounted for over $630 million of our sales. Our largest customers in the six months ended December 30, 2006 were Wal-Mart, Target and Kohl’s, which accounted for 28%, 15% and 6% of total sales, respectively. This trend toward consolidation has had and will continue to have significant effects on our business. Consolidation creates pricing pressures as our customers grow larger and increasingly seek to have greater concessions in their purchase of our products, while they also are increasingly demanding that we provide them with some of our products on an exclusive basis. To counteract these and other effects of consolidation, it has become increasingly important to increase operational efficiency and lower costs. As discussed below, for example, we are moving more of our supply chain from domestic to foreign locations to lower the costs of our operational structure.

 

Anticipating changes in and managing our operations in response to consumer preferences remains an important element of our business. In recent years, we have experienced changes in our net sales, revenues and cash flows in accordance with changes in consumer preferences and trends. For example, since fiscal 1995, net sales in our hosiery segment have declined in connection with a larger sustained decline in the hosiery industry. The hosiery segment only comprised 6% of our net sales in the six months ended December 30, 2006 however, and as a result, the decline in the hosiery segment has not had a significant impact on our net sales, revenues or cash flows. Generally, we manage the hosiery segment for cash, placing an emphasis on reducing our cost structure and managing cash efficiently.

 

Our Key Business Strategies

 

Our core strategies are to build our largest, strongest brands in core categories by driving innovation in key items, to continually reduce our costs by consolidating our organization and globalizing our supply chain and to use our strong, consistent cash flows to fund business growth, supply-chain reorganization and debt reduction and to repurchase shares to offset dilution. Specifically, we intend to focus on the following strategic initiatives:

 

 

Restructuring and Transformation Plans

 

Over the past several years, we have undertaken a variety of restructuring efforts designed to improve operating efficiencies and lower costs. We have closed plant locations, reduced our workforce, and relocated some of our domestic manufacturing capacity to lower cost locations. For example, we recently announced decisions to close four textile and sewing plants in the United States, Puerto Rico and Mexico and consolidate three distribution centers in the United States. While we believe that these efforts have had and will continue to have a beneficial impact on our operational efficiency and cost structure, we have incurred significant costs to implement these initiatives. In particular, we have recorded charges for severance and other employment-related obligations relating to workforce reductions, as well as payments in connection with lease and other contract terminations. These amounts are included in the “Cost of sales,” “Restructuring” and “Selling, general and administrative expenses” lines of our statements of income. As a result of the restructuring actions taken since the beginning of fiscal 2004 through the spin off on September 5, 2006, our cost structure was reduced and efficiencies improved, generating savings of $80.2 million for periods prior to the spin off. Savings from recently announced restructuring actions are expected to occur in future periods. For more information about our restructuring actions, see Note 4, titled “Restructuring” to our Combined and Consolidated Financial Statements included in this Form 10-K.

 

As further plans are developed and approved by management and our board of directors, we expect to recognize additional restructuring costs to eliminate duplicative functions within the organization and transition a significant portion of our manufacturing capacity to lower-cost locations. As a result of these efforts, we expect to incur approximately $250 million in restructuring and related charges over the next three years of which approximately half is expected to be noncash. As part of our efforts to consolidate our operations, we also are in the process of integrating information technology systems across our company. This process involves the replacement of eight independent information technology platforms with a unified enterprise system, which will integrate all of our departments and functions into common software that runs off a single database. Once this plan is developed and approved by management, a number of variables will impact the cost and timing of installing and transitioning to new information technology systems over the next several years.

 

Components of Net Sales and Expense

 

Net sales

 

We generate net sales by selling apparel essentials such as t-shirts, bras, panties, men’s underwear, kids’ underwear, socks, hosiery, casualwear and activewear. Our net sales are recognized net of discounts, coupons, rebates, volume-based incentives and cooperative advertising costs. We recognize net sales when title and risk of loss pass to our customers. Net sales include an estimate for returns and allowances based upon historical return experience. We also offer a variety of sales incentives to resellers and consumers that are recorded as reductions to net sales.

 

Cost of sales

 

Our cost of sales includes the cost of manufacturing finished goods, which consists largely of labor and raw materials such as cotton and petroleum-based products. Our cost of sales also includes finished goods sourced from third-party manufacturers that supply us with products based on our designs as well as charges for slow moving or obsolete inventories. Rebates, discounts and other cash consideration received from a vendor related to inventory purchases are reflected in cost of sales when the related inventory item is sold. Our costs of sales do not include shipping and handling costs, and thus our gross margins may not be comparable to those of other entities that include such costs in costs of sales.

 

Selling, general and administrative expenses

 

Our selling, general and administrative expenses include selling, advertising, shipping, handling and distribution costs, research and development, rent on leased facilities, depreciation on owned facilities and equipment and other general and administrative expenses. Also included for periods presented prior to the spin off on September 5, 2006 are allocations of corporate expenses that consist of expenses for business insurance, medical insurance, employee benefit plan amounts and, because we were part of Sara Lee during all periods presented, allocations from Sara Lee for certain centralized administration costs for treasury, real estate, accounting, auditing, tax, risk management, human resources and benefits administration. These allocations of centralized administration costs were determined on bases that we and Sara Lee considered to be reasonable and take into consideration and include relevant operating profit, fixed assets, sales and payroll. Selling, general and administrative expenses also include management payroll, benefits, travel, information systems, accounting, insurance and legal expenses.

 

Restructuring

 

We have from time to time closed facilities and reduced headcount, including in connection with previously announced restructuring and business transformation plans. We refer to these activities as restructuring actions. When we decide to close facilities or reduce headcount, we take estimated charges for such restructuring, including charges for exited non-cancelable leases and other contractual obligations, as well as severance and benefits. If the actual charge is different from the original estimate, an adjustment is recognized in the period such change in estimate is identified.

 

Other Expenses

 

Our other expenses include charges such as losses on extinguishment of debt and certain other non-operating items.

 

Interest expense, net

 

As part of our historical relationship with Sara Lee, we engaged in intercompany borrowings. We also have borrowed monies from third parties under a credit facility and a revolving line of credit. The interest charged under these facilities was recorded as interest expense. We are no longer able to borrow from Sara Lee. As part of the spin off on September 5, 2006, we incurred $2.6 billion of debt in the form of the Senior Secured Credit Facility, the Second Lien Credit Facility and a bridge loan facility (the “Bridge Loan Facility”), $2.4 billion of the proceeds of which was paid to Sara Lee, and subsequent to the spin off, we repaid all amounts outstanding under the Bridge Loan Facility with the proceeds from the offering of the Floating Rate Senior Notes. As a result, our interest expense in the current and future periods will be substantially higher than in historical periods.

 

Our interest expense is net of interest income. Interest income is the return we earned on our cash and cash equivalents and, historically, on money we lent to Sara Lee as part of its corporate cash management practices. Our cash and cash equivalents are invested in highly liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less.

 

Income tax expense (benefit)

 

Our effective income tax rate fluctuates from period to period and can be materially impacted by, among other things:

 

 

 

In particular, to service the substantial amount of debt we incurred in connection with and subsequent to the spin off and to meet other general corporate needs, we may have less flexibility than we have had previously regarding the timing or amount of future earnings that we repatriate from foreign subsidiaries. As a result, we believe that our income tax rate in future periods is likely to be higher, on average, than our historical effective tax rates in periods prior to the spin off on September 5, 2006.

 

Inflation and Changing Prices

 

We believe that changes in net sales and in net income that have resulted from inflation or deflation have not been material during the periods presented. There is no assurance, however, that inflation or deflation will not materially affect us in the future. Cotton is the primary raw material we use to manufacture many of our products and is subject to fluctuations in prices. Further discussion of the market sensitivity of cotton is included in “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.”

 

Combined and Consolidated Results of Operations—Six Months Ended December 30, 2006 Compared with Six Months Ended December 31, 2005

 

 

 

Net sales decreased $52 million, $12 million and $17 million in our innerwear, hosiery and other segments, respectively. These declines were offset by increases in net sales of $13 million and $2 million in our outerwear and international segments, respectively. Overall net sales decreased due to a $28 million impact from our intentional discontinuation of low-margin product lines in the outerwear segment and a $12 million decrease in sheer hosiery sales. Additionally, the acquisition of National Textiles, L.L.C. in September 2005

caused a $16 million decrease in our other segment as sales to this business were included in net sales in periods prior to the acquisition. Finally, we experienced slower sell-through of innerwear products in the mass merchandise and department store retail channels during the latter half of the six months ended December 30, 2006. We expect the trend of declining hosiery sales to continue as a result of shifts in consumer preferences, which is consistent with the long-term decline in the overall hosiery industry.

 

 

Cost of sales were lower year over year as a result of a decrease in net sales, favorable spending from the benefits of manufacturing cost savings initiatives and a favorable impact from shifting certain production to lower cost locations. These savings were offset partially by higher cotton costs, unusual charges primarily to exit certain contracts and low margin product lines, and accelerated depreciation as a result of our announced plans to close four textile and sewing plants in the United States, Puerto Rico and Mexico.

 

 

As a percent of net sales, gross profit percentage decreased to 32.0% for the six months ended December 30, 2006 from 32.9% for the six months ended December 31, 2005. The decrease in gross profit percentage was due to $21 million in accelerated depreciation as a result of our announced plans to close four textile and sewing plants, higher cotton costs of $18 million, $15 million of unusual charges primarily to exit certain contracts and low margin product lines and an $11 million impact from lower manufacturing volume. The higher costs were partially offset by $38 million of net favorable spending from our prior year restructuring actions, manufacturing cost savings initiatives and a favorable impact of shifting certain production to lower cost locations. In addition, the impact on gross profit from lower net sales was $16 million.

 

 

Selling, general and administrative expenses increased partially due to higher non-recurring spin off and related costs of $17 million and incremental costs associated with being an independent company of $10 million, excluding the corporate allocations associated with Sara Lee ownership in the prior year of $21 million. Media, advertising and promotion costs increased $12 million primarily due to unusual charges to exit certain license agreements and additional investments in our brands. Other unusual charges increasing selling, general and administrative expenses by $12 million primarily included certain freight revenue being moved to net sales during the six months ended December 30, 2006 and a reduction of estimated allocations to inventory costs. In addition, we experienced slightly higher spending of approximately $10 million in numerous areas such as technology consulting, distribution, severance and market research, which were partially offset by headcount savings from prior year restructuring actions and a reduction in pension and postretirement expenses.

 

 

In December 2006, we notified retirees and employees that we will phase out premium subsidies for early retiree medical coverage and move to an access-only plan for early retirees by the end of 2007. We will also eliminate the medical plan for retirees ages 65 and older as a result of coverage available under the expansion of Medicare with Part D drug coverage and eliminate future postretirement life benefits. The gain on curtailment represents the unrecognized amounts associated with prior plan amendments that were being amortized into income over the remaining service period of the participants prior to the December 2006 amendments. We will record postretirement benefit income related to this plan in 2007, primarily representing the amortization of negative prior service costs, which is partially offset by service costs, interest costs on the accumulated benefit obligation and actuarial gains and losses accumulated in the plan. We expect to record a final gain on curtailment of plan benefits in December 2007.

 

 

During the six months ended December 30, 2006, we approved actions to close four textile and sewing plants in the United States, Puerto Rico and Mexico and consolidate three distribution centers in the United States. These actions resulted in a charge of $11 million, representing costs associated with the planned termination of 2,989 employees for employee termination and other benefits in accordance with benefit plans previously communicated to the affected employee group. In connection with these restructuring actions, a charge of $21 million for accelerated depreciation of buildings and equipment is reflected in the “Cost of sales” line of the Combined and Consolidated Statement of Income. These actions are expected to be completed in early 2007. These actions, which are a continuation of our long-term global supply chain globalization strategy, are expected to result in benefits of moving production to lower-cost manufacturing facilities, improved alignment of sewing operations with the flow of textiles, leveraging our large scale in high-volume products and consolidating production capacity.

 

 

Operating profit for the six months ended December 30, 2006 decreased as compared to the six months ended December 31, 2005 primarily as a result of facility closures announced in the current period and restructuring related costs of $32 million, higher non-recurring spin off and related charges of $17 million, higher costs associated with being an independent company of $10 million, unusual charges of $35 million primarily to exit certain contracts and low margin product lines, charges to exit certain license agreements and additional investments in our brands. In addition, we experienced higher cotton and production related costs of $29 million, lower gross margin from lower net sales of $16 million and slightly higher selling, general and administrative spending of approximately $10 million in numerous areas such as technology consulting, distribution, severance and market research. These higher costs were offset partially by favorable spending from our prior year restructuring actions, manufacturing cost savings initiatives, a favorable impact of shifting

certain production to lower cost locations and lower corporate allocations from Sara Lee totaling $59 million and the gain on curtailment of postretirement benefits of $28 million.

 

 

In connection with the offering of the Floating Rate Senior Notes as described below under interest expense, net, we recognized a $6 million loss on early extinguishment of debt for unamortized debt issuance costs on the Bridge Loan Facility entered into in connection with the spin off from Sara Lee. We recognized approximately $1 million loss on early extinguishment of debt related to unamortized debt issuance costs on the Senior Secured Credit Facility for the prepayment of $100 million of principal in December 2006.

 

 

In connection with the spin off, we incurred $2.6 billion of debt pursuant to the Senior Secured Credit Facility, the Second Lien Credit Facility and the Bridge Loan Facility, $2.4 billion of the proceeds of which was paid to Sara Lee. As a result, our net interest expense in the six months ended December 30, 2006 was substantially higher than in the comparable period.

 

Under the Credit Facilities, we are required to hedge a portion of our floating rate debt to reduce interest rate risk caused by floating rate debt issuance. During the six months ended December 30, 2006, we entered into various hedging arrangements whereby we capped the interest rate on $1 billion of our floating rate debt at 5.75%. We also entered into interest rate swaps tied to the 3-month London Interbank Offered Rate, or “LIBOR,” whereby we fixed the interest rate on an aggregate of $500 million of our floating rate debt at a blended rate of approximately 5.16%. Approximately 60% of our total debt outstanding at December 30, 2006 is at a fixed or capped rate. There was no hedge ineffectiveness during the current period related to these instruments.

 

In December 2006, we completed an offering of $500 million aggregate principal amount of Floating Rate Senior Notes due in 2014. The Floating Rate Senior Notes will bear interest at a per annum rate, reset semiannually, equal to the six month LIBOR plus a margin of 3.375 percent. The proceeds from the offering were used to repay all outstanding borrowings under the Bridge Loan Facility.

 

 

Our effective income tax rate increased from 24.3% for the six months ended December 31, 2005 to 33.8% for the six months ended December 30, 2006. The increase in our effective tax rate as an independent company is attributable primarily to the expiration of tax incentives for manufacturing in Puerto Rico of $9 million, which were repealed effective for the periods after July 1, 2006, higher taxes on remittances of foreign earnings for the period of $9 million and $5 million tax effect of lower unremitted earnings from foreign subsidiaries in the six months ended December 30, 2006 taxed at rates less than the U.S. statutory rate. The tax expense for both periods was impacted by a number of significant items that are set out in the

reconciliation of our effective tax rate to the U.S. statutory rate in Note 17 titled “Income Taxes” to our Combined and Consolidated Financial Statements.

 

 

Net income for the six months ended December 30, 2006 was lower than for the six months ended December 31, 2005 primarily as a result of reduced operating profit, increased interest expense, higher incomes taxes as an independent company and losses on early extinguishment of debt.

 

 

Net sales in our innerwear segment decreased primarily due to lower men’s underwear and kids’ underwear sales of $36 million and lower thermal sales of $14 million, as well as additional investments in our brands as compared to the six months ended December 31, 2005. We experienced lower sell-through of products in the mass merchandise and department store retail channels primarily in the latter half of the six months ended December 30, 2006.

 

As a percent of segment net sales, gross profit percentage in the innerwear segment increased from 36.5% for the six months ended December 31, 2005 to 37.0% for the six months ended December 30, 2006, reflecting a positive impact of favorable spending of $21 million from our prior year restructuring actions, cost savings initiatives and savings associated with moving to lower cost locations. These changes were partially offset by an unfavorable impact of lower volumes of $18 million, higher cotton costs of $7 million and unusual costs of $8 million primarily associated with exiting certain low margin product lines.

 

The decrease in segment operating profit is primarily attributable to the gross profit impact of the items noted above and higher allocated selling, general and administrative expenses of $8 million. Media, advertising and promotion costs were slightly higher due to changes in license agreements, net of lower media spend on innerwear categories. Our total selling, general and administrative expenses before segment allocations increased as a result of unusual charges, higher stand alone costs as an independent company and higher spending in numerous areas such as technology consulting, distribution, severance and market research, which were partially offset by headcount savings from prior year restructuring actions and a reduction in pension and postretirement expenses.

 

 

Net sales in our outerwear segment increased primarily due to $33 million of increased sales of activewear and $33 million of increased sales of boys’ fleece as compared to the six months ended December 31, 2005. These changes were partially offset by the $28 million impact of our intentional exit of certain lower margin fleece product lines, lower women’s and girls’ fleece sales of $16 million and $9 million of lower sportshirt, jersey and other fleece sales.

 

As a percent of segment net sales, gross profit percentage declined from 20.7% for the six months ended December 31, 2005 to 19.8% for the six months ended December 30, 2006 primarily as a result of higher cotton costs of $11 million, $5 million associated with exiting certain low margin product lines and higher duty, freight and contractor costs of $6 million, partially offset by $19 million in cost savings initiatives and a favorable impact with shifting production to lower cost locations.

 

The decrease in segment operating profit is primarily attributable to the gross profit impact of the items noted above, higher media advertising and promotion expenses directly attributable to our casualwear products of $15 million and higher allocated selling, general and administrative expenses of $10 million. Our total selling, general and administrative expenses before segment allocations increased as a result of unusual charges, higher stand-alone costs as an independent company and higher spending in numerous areas such as

technology consulting, distribution, severance and market research, which were partially offset by headcount savings from prior year restructuring actions and a reduction in pension and postretirement expenses.

 

 

Net sales in our hosiery segment decreased primarily due to the continued decline in U.S. sheer hosiery consumption. As compared to the six months ended December 31 2005, overall sales for the hosiery segment declined 8% due to a continued reduction in sales of L’eggs to mass retailers and food and drug stores and declining sales of Hanes to department stores. Overall, the hosiery market declined 4.5% for the six months ended December 30, 2006. We expect the trend of declining hosiery sales to continue as a result of shifts in consumer preferences, which is consistent with the long-term decline in the overall hosiery industry.

 

Gross profit declined slightly primarily due to the decline in net sales offset by favorable spending of $3 million from cost savings initiatives and a reduction in pension and postretirement expenses.

 

Segment operating profit increased due primarily to $10 million of lower allocated selling, general and administrative expenses.