Delta Apparel, Inc. said it expects net sales for its March quarter to be approximately $130 million, representing a 20 percent increase compared to the prior year’s second-quarter result of $108.6 million, with double-digit sales growth in the Delta Group and Salt Life Group segments.
Second-quarter net sales set a new record for a March quarter at Delta Apparel, up 26 percent from its pre-pandemic fiscal 2019 second-quarter sales.
Robert W. Humphreys, chairman and CEO, said, “Consumer demand for Delta Apparel’s brands, including Salt Life, Delta and Soffe products, remains strong with our Delta Group having an outstanding sales quarter in our Activewear DTG2Go businesses. Activewear growth was driven by higher unit sales, increased value-added services and our continued ability to update our pricing in the marketplace to offset higher input costs. Additionally, our DTG2Go digital print business delivered an increase in units shipped over the prior year’s second quarter, driven by our newly developed digital-first technology. We continue to invest in our digital print ecosystem with new state-of-the-art print equipment, and our digital-first technology is now operating in three of our eight DTG2Go locations and will soon expand to a fourth location.
“The Salt Life brand also outperformed the prior year’s second quarter, despite continuing capacity constraints resulting from inventory shipping delays. Our wholesale channel continued to demonstrate strength in the first half of 2022, and the Salt Life branded retail footprint was further expanded with the opening of two new locations during the quarter in Sarasota and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, bringing the number of retail doors to 17 locations across five states. Our recent Salt Life retail location openings have surpassed our internal sales expectations, continuing to validate the strength of the Salt Life brand and our go-to-market strategy.”
Humphrey further commented, “We continue to see the competitive advantage of our vertical supply chain servicing our five focused go-to-market strategies and are currently enjoying strong demand across all the channels we serve. We recently installed additional manufacturing equipment to increase our capacity across our production network. Furthermore, we are consistently investing in manufacturing technology to improve our production efficiencies and reduce our environmental footprint while finding new ways to service our customers in what remains a highly fluid supply chain environment. Demand for our products across our Delta and Salt Life Group segments remains strong, and we see further opportunities for future growth. We look forward to providing more information on our March quarter results and business outlook in early May.”
Photo courtesy Delta Apparel/Soffe
