Knix

Essity's Annual Report 2025 records that it acquired 80% of Knix Wear Inc. on September 1, 2022 for CAD 430m and holds a call/put option on the remaining shares, exercisable from September 1, 2025 to August 31, 2026. The 2022 press release names founder Joanna Griffiths as holder of the other 20%. Essity is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm, so its share goes to the EU bucket; the Griffiths stake stays Canadian. Corporations Canada returns no federal record for Knix, so Knix Wear Inc. is presumably an Ontario corporation, and the Ontario Business Registry could not be checked. Whether the option on the last 20% was exercised before the window closed on August 31, 2026 could not be confirmed from Essity's 2026 interim reports.

• Essity Annual Report 2025 filing “On July 8, 2022, Essity announced that the company had acquired 80% of the Canadian company Knix Wear Inc., a leading provider of leakproof apparel for periods and incontinence. The transaction was finalized on September 1, 2022. The agreement with the seller includes a call/put option to buy/sell the remaining shares in three years.”
• Essity acquires Knix and takes global lead in leakproof apparel press “Essity acquires 80% of the shares in Knix. The purchase price amounts to USD 320m (approximately SEK 3.3bn) on a cash and debt free basis for 80%. Joanna Griffiths will hold the remaining 20% share and will stay on as President of Knix.”
• Essity finalizes acquisitions of Knix and Modibodi press “Essity has acquired 80% of the shares in Knix.”
• Corporations Canada federal corporation search: knix registry “0 results were found, 0 returned.”

Knix's own supply chain statement under the Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act says its principal supply chain is the purchase of goods from international suppliers, and it names no Canadian production. The CANADA List records manufacturing in Asia and madeinca.ca lists the products as internationally sourced. Knix does not name its factories or countries, so the whole mix goes to OTHER on the directories' Asia attribution.

• Supply Chain Compliance – Knix Canada vendor_statement “Headquartered in Toronto, Knix's principal supply chain involves the purchase of goods from international suppliers.”
• The CANADA List directory “Ownership (Company): Essity; Ownership (Country): Sweden / Canada; Manufacturing (Countries): Asia; Notes: Originally Canadian-owned; 80% sold to Essity (Swedish); HQ and design still in Canada, manufacturing overseas”
• Intimate Apparel: Knix | Made in CA directory “Manufactured In: Internationally sourced”

The head office is at 179 John St in Toronto, with three floors of workspace including a product and design lab, and Essity's 2022 release put the company at about 200 employees. Retail Insider counted 14 Knix stores in 2024, two of them in the United States (Santa Monica and San Diego), and Griffiths said about half of sales come from the US. The 85/15 split is an estimate that gives the US its share of store staff; no headcount by country is published.

• Careers – Knix Canada vendor_statement “179 John St, Toronto, ON M5T 1X4”
• Essity acquires Knix and takes global lead in leakproof apparel press “Knix has approximately 200 employees”
• Knix Growing Business with New Stores and Wholesale Expansion at Sporting Life [Joanna Griffiths Interview] press “Knix has opened six new stores since last fall, bringing its total store count to 14 now.”

Knix publishes no fabric sourcing, and its finished goods come from international suppliers, so the synthetic knits and absorbent layers are assumed to be sourced where the garments are sewn in Asia. The small Canadian share covers design work done in the Toronto product lab and the Shopify storefront, which the terms of service name as the store host. The split is an estimate.

• Supply Chain Compliance – Knix Canada vendor_statement “Knix's principal supply chain involves the purchase of goods from international suppliers.”
• Terms of service – Knix Canada vendor_statement “Our store is hosted on Shopify Inc.”