Parkdale Acquires US Cotton, Expands Production Capacity

Gastonia, N.C.-based yarn spinner Parkdale Mills Inc. has acquired US Cotton LLC — a Rio Rancho, N.M.-based manufacturer of private label cotton-based consumer products including cotton balls, pads and swabs sold through major US and Canadian retail chains — for an undisclosed price. The acquisition enables Parkdale to enter the growing personal care products market in addition to channeling its yarn-manufacturing byproducts into downstream end products.

“US Cotton provides us with a highly strategic and complementary technology as their manufacturing processes are noted to be some of the most efficient in the world using equipment and technology developed from years of research and development with the highest-quality vendors in the industry,” said Anderson Warlick, president and CEO, Parkdale. Warlick added that Parkdale will support US Cotton’s operations with the resources necessary
to allow it to increase its presence in markets worldwide.

Founded in 1983 by current President and CEO Anthony Thomas, US Cotton will operate as a wholly owned, independent subsidiary of Parkdale and will retain existing management. The company currently maintains manufacturing and distribution facilities in Rio Rancho, Charlotte, Cleveland and Montreal.

Parkdale, founded in 1916, and today the largest sales yarn spinner in the United States, maintains 24 manufacturing facilities in four countries. Its cotton consumption represents 30 percent of total US cotton consumption.

In addition to its expansion into a new market with the acquisition of US Cotton, Parkdale is expanding its rotor-spinning production capacity. The company has placed orders with Switzerland-based Rieter Machine Works Ltd. for 48 R 40 rotor-spinning machines with 500 positions each, for a total of 24,000 spinning positions; and with Germany-based Trützschler GmbH & Co. KG for 36 cards with integrated draw frame (IDF).

According to Rieter, the 500-position machine is the longest rotor-spinning machine in the world, and the Parkdale order is one of the largest single orders the company has received from a sales-yarn spinner.

Including the cards just ordered, Parkdale will have more than 800 Trützschler cards installed in its facilities, making the company Trützschler’s biggest card customer globally.

January/February 2008