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Hanesbrands Pension Plan
The Hanesbrands Pension Plan formed on January 1, 2006, as the corporate defined-benefit vehicle for Hanesbrands Inc., the century-old textile manufacturer...
Hanesbrands Pension Plan
The Hanesbrands Pension Plan formed on January 1, 2006, as the corporate defined-benefit vehicle for Hanesbrands Inc., the century-old textile manufacturer behind Champion, Playtex, Bali, and its namesake innerwear. Headquartered alongside the sponsor in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, the plan covers US employees and retirees whose creditable service ended before the company froze or closed participation; like many industrial pensions, it has been in liability-management mode for years, paying benefits without adding new participants. The plan's investment posture reflects a classic middle-market corporate pension allocation, blending actuarial liability-matching with return-seeking satellite exposures. Public filings and review documents point to an asset mix that includes direct commercial real estate held in a dedicated portfolio, separate accounts or pooled funds covering commodities exposure, and a hedge fund of funds sleeve — a three-legged diversification strategy deployed by many sponsor-overseen plans of similar size. Geographically the portfolio is US-centric, though the sponsor's pre-acquisition global footprint (Hanes Australasia employees had Vanguard-managed investment offerings) means some international benefit administration complexity exists at the plan-administrative level, if not in the investment book itself. The plan's corporate sponsor was acquired by Gildan Activewear Inc. in a transaction announced in 2025, a structural shift that will eventually determine the plan's long-term governance. Hanesbrands Inc. remains the plan sponsor and administrator as of the most recent reporting period, and major institutional shareholders — including BlackRock and The Vanguard Group — have held significant stakes in the parent company. The sponsor maintains industry-association ties through the Fair Labor Association and the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, while the Hanes for Good platform carries the philanthropic and community-engagement legacy that operates alongside — not within — the pension trust. March 2025: Gildan Activewear announced its acquisition of Hanesbrands Inc., introducing a new ultimate parent for the plan sponsor that will shape future funding and governance decisions. The plan's structural differentiator is its posture as a frozen corporate pension inside a sponsor that has been acquired by another publicly traded manufacturer. This creates an unusual governance stack: the plan's investment committee and trustees owe fiduciary duties to participants, while the sponsor's new parent — Gildan — has a separate capital-allocation agenda. Allocators evaluating the plan as a potential co-investment counterparty should map the post-acquisition delegation of investment authority, because the board composition and committee reporting lines that governed the plan through 2024 may not be the same structure that governs it in 2026.
General information
Firm type
Pension Fund
Year founded
2006
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Winston-Salem
Corporate office
Winston-Salem, NC, United States
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Is the Hanesbrands Pension Plan still open to new participants?
The plan is effectively closed to new accruals; it has been in run-off mode serving a frozen participant base of retirees and terminated vested employees. Hanesbrands, like many US industrials, shifted toward defined-contribution plans for active workers, leaving this plan to manage legacy obligations.
What asset classes does the plan allocate to?
Public records indicate the plan holds a mix of direct commercial real estate, commodity-linked investments, and a hedge fund of funds sleeve. The real estate portfolio is managed as a discrete commercial property pool, while the commodities and hedge fund exposures likely reside in separately managed accounts or commingled vehicles.
How does the Gildan Activewear acquisition affect the plan?
Gildan Activewear announced its acquisition of Hanesbrands Inc. in 2025. As the new ultimate parent, Gildan inherits the plan sponsor role, which means funding decisions, investment committee appointments, and any potential plan termination or annuity buyout strategy will ultimately flow through Gildan's corporate treasury and board.
Who makes investment decisions for the plan?
Investment decisions are overseen by the plan's trustees and any delegated investment committee, operating under ERISA fiduciary standards. The specific named investment staff or outsourced CIO relationship is not publicly detailed in a single consolidated source, a profile shared by many mid-sized corporate plans.
Does the plan co-invest directly or allocate through external managers?
The plan's commodity and hedge fund of funds exposures suggest a manager-selection model — using pooled funds or separate accounts advised by specialist firms — rather than a direct co-investment program. The direct commercial real estate portfolio is an exception, reflecting a common corporate pension preference to own property outright within the trust.
What is the plan's current funding status?
Specific funded-ratio figures are not published in a single readily accessible public filing indexed under the plan name. As with most frozen industrial pension plans, the gap between assets and projected benefit obligations depends on discount-rate assumptions and mortality tables, and has been subject to the same low-rate-then-rising-rate dynamics that affected the entire US corporate DB universe over the last decade.
Is the Hanesbrands Pension Plan related to the Hanes for Good philanthropic platform?
No. Hanes for Good is a corporate social responsibility and community-engagement initiative of the sponsor, not a program of the pension trust. The plan's assets are held in trust exclusively for the benefit of participants and beneficiaries, legally separate from any philanthropic or operating-company spending.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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