Gildan sees capex rise if market improves

* Gildan mulls boosting 2010 capex by at least 54 pct

* Could spend more than $100 mln on plant expansion

* Eyes market share boost to 60 percent

* Shares up 4.8 pct at C$18.96

(Adds details. In U.S. dollars)

By Scott Anderson

TORONTO, June 1 (Reuters) - Canadian T-shirt maker Gildan Activewear (GIL.TO) will increase capital spending in 2010 if markets improve enough to boost production at its Central American plants, its chief financial officer said on Monday.

The company, which sells blank T-shirts as well as socks and underwear, would raise its 2010 capital expenditures to "north of $100 million" from roughly $65 million this year, CFO Laurence Sellyn told Reuters.

He said the money would be used to boost production at the company's plants in Honduras and Dominican Republic.

But he said the decision would be based on how quickly the market recovers.

"Depending on the need for capacity and the outlook for economic recovery and our success in retail, it will determine our need for further capacity expansion," Sellyn told Reuters in an interview.

"We haven't developed our plans for next year...Assuming that we do need further expansion, then we would go back to our more historical spending patterns of north of $100 million of capital expenditures."

The company's shares were up 4.8 percent at C$18.96 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Monday afternoon, but are down about 38 percent in the past year.

Gildan deferred capital projects over the past year as it assessed the full impact of the economic downturn amid falling demand for its products and the threat of bankruptcy at one of its biggest U.S. customers.

The customer, Broder Bros, represented about 23 percent of Gildan's 2008 sales in the U.S. screenprint business. It faced a deadline in May for its key lenders to accept a refinancing of its senior notes. Holders of the majority of the debt did end up accepting the terms of the debt-for-equity swap.