Hanes Partners with Wake Forest University Athletics

Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based Hanesbrands Inc. (HBI) and Wake Forest University Athletics announce a new, long-term partnership. Under the partnership, HBI serves as the university’s retail apparel licensee.

Wake Forest and HBI say they will focus their efforts on expanding the Demon Deacons retail footprint across the Triad community and nationally at key retailers to ensure access to Demon Deacons gear.

Wake Forest worked with its exclusive licensing agent, CLC, to conduct a thorough analysis of its licensed apparel program to identify growth opportunities before executing this new agreement with HBI, which includes Wake Forest branded men’s, women’s, unisex, youth, infant, and toddler apparel across mass, midtier, and campus retail channels.

HBI says it has agreed to provide hands-on development opportunities for Wake Forest student-athletes and undergraduate students each year to integrate the partnership further. These activities include company leaders’ participation in on-campus events as guest speakers or lecturers, involvement in class projects, and an invitation to an annual corporate social responsibility trip to an HBI facility for select members of the Wake Forest University faculty, staff, and students.

“Wake Forest is proud to partner with Hanesbrands to further cultivate a relationship that will prove to be extremely valuable for our university and our entire community while it expands the retail availability of merchandise for students, alumni, fans, and anyone living in the Triad!” remarks Wake Field director of athletics John Currie.

“We are thrilled to partner with Wake Forest University,” says John Fryer, HBI’s president of sports apparel. “Wake Forest is a treasure in our shared hometown of Winston-Salem. Creating this dynamic, long-term partnership is a win for Wake Forest, Winston-Salem, and our company. Champion and our other iconic brands will help students, alumni and fans celebrate the college experience, and we’ll work together to create unique educational and business opportunities that benefit the university, our company, and the community.