Despite the efforts to stop it by a couple of investors, Gildan has not only proceeded with new CEO Vince Tyra, they moved up his start date to January 15th from an original start date late in February, and Vince changed all his personal plans and he was in attendance Day One at the Impressions Expo in Long Beach.

We caught up with Vince briefly at the Expo.

A few observations from a brief chat:

• The fact of his starting early and also his explanation of it to us spoke volumes about his willingness to do whatever is necessary for him to succeed and for Gildan to move forward and succeed.
• From every corner of the show we heard nothing but praise for him from those who  know him from his prior stints at Fruit of the Loom and at Broder Brothers, about who he is a a person, his leadership abilities, his calm in a crisis, and his ability to take on challenges.
• Nothing like meeting someone in person and seeing how they look you in the eye and judging the sincerity in their voice. He came off as a strong but relaxed and down to earth leader, as genuine and not arrogant. He clearly has a passion for a challenge and in good news for all of us in the decoration community he also clearly has a passion for the industry. He spoke with great clarity about how it was to walk the show and feed off the energy in the hall, the thousands of small businesses, artists, and decorators in the room, the heart and soul of the decoration community.

Regime change isn’t easy. The feeling at the Gildan stands in the exhibition hall was one of confidence going forward, at least so far of smooth transition coming out of the Boardroom strife of the past month.