Arvind Takes Control of Dalco-GFT, Gaining U.S. Technical Textiles Foothold

Arvind just bought its way into a part of workwear most people never see: the guts. By taking nearly 61% of Dalco-GFT, the Indian textile group put a U.S. nonwovens maker inside its technical textiles arm, and that matters for the hidden layers that make industrial apparel function, from insulation and liners to protective components that sit between the body and the jobsite.

Dalco-GFT is based in Conover, North Carolina, and runs manufacturing facilities in North and South Carolina with about 75 million pounds of annual production capacity. That is serious scale for a business built on specialized needle-punched nonwoven fabrics, the kind of material that shows up in automotive, industrial, construction, furniture and bedding, geotextile, and specialty applications. For workwear brands, the attraction is obvious: a domestic footprint in a materials category that can shorten sourcing timelines, reduce cross-border friction and give designers more room to build technical garments with the right hand, loft and protection.

Arvind is not coming in blind. Its wholly owned subsidiary, Arvind Advanced Materials Limited, already makes flame-retardant fabrics, high-visibility workwear, functional uniforms and defense-grade protective gear for steel, oil and gas, firefighting, rail and road construction, healthcare, defense and security. Put those capabilities next to Dalco-GFT’s nonwoven platform and the strategic logic gets sharp. Arvind is not just buying capacity; it is buying a U.S. materials foothold that can feed the layers inside the uniforms, shells and protective systems it already knows how to sell.

The ownership change also looks built for continuity, not disruption. Snow Peak Capital, which bought Dalco and Global Felt Technologies in October 2022, kept a minority stake after the sale. Joey Duncan stayed on as chief executive and Matt Sims remained president, a smart move when customers care less about who owns the plant than whether the plant keeps shipping. Snow Peak said it had added equipment, expanded manufacturing capacity and strengthened operations during its hold period, which helps explain why the asset was attractive now.

Arvind called Dalco-GFT a roughly $100 million revenue business with about a 17% EBITDA margin and roughly 40% ROCE on CY25 audited financials. The company also said AAML has posted a 23% revenue CAGR over the past five years and margins around 15%, a growth profile that explains why it is pushing beyond India and into the world’s largest technical textile market. Deal estimates later placed the transaction around $136 million and pointed to a plan to buy the remaining 39% over four years. For workwear brands that live and die on reliable supply, that is the real story: more control, more technical depth, and a tougher supply chain under the layers nobody sees.