Bonar Technical Fabrics NV— a Belgium-based producer of woven and nonwoven fabrics for geotextile
and agrotextile applications, and a part of United Kingdom-based performance materials manufacturer
Low & Bonar Plc — and National Petrochemical Industrial Co. (Natpet) — a producer of
polypropylene (PP) resin, and a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia-based investment company Alujain Corp. —
have purchased a nonwoven production line from France-based NSC nonwoven for their joint venture
(JV) company in Saudi Arabia. The state-of-the-art line has a 6-meter working width and includes
the Asselin-Thibeau IsoProDyn® control system and the A.C.S. system for high-speed crosslapping,
among other carding and needling equipment. NSC nonwoven reports the line is the fourth Bonar has
purchased that is equipped with the Asselin-Thibeau ProDyn® system.

Bonar and Natpet’s JV will produce geotextile products for the fast-growing civil engineering
markets in the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. The companies have built a new
manufacturing plant at a site located near Natpet’s PP production facility in western Saudi Arabia.
The NSC nonwoven line will be installed at the plant in early 2012 and production is expected to
commence in mid-2012.

June 21, 2011

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published “Draft Guidance for Industry, Considering
Whether an FDA-Regulated Product Involves the Application of Nanotechnology,” and is asking for
feedback from the industrial and public sectors. The draft guidelines present a list of criteria —
including the size and properties of nanomaterials used — to help determine whether nanotechnology
is used in a FDA-regulated product.

The draft guidance is an outgrowth of recommendations made in 2007 by the FDA’s
Nanotechnology Task Force, formed in 2006 to identify potential effects of nanomaterials used in
FDA-regulated products and look into ways to evaluate those effects. The National Nanotechnology
Initiative — a federal research and development program that coordinates the nanotechnology-related
activities of a number of federal agencies — defines nanotechnology as “the understanding and
control of matter at dimensions of roughly 1 to 100 nanometers, where unique phenomena enable novel
applications.” 

“Our goal is to regulate these products using the best possible science,” said FDA
Commissioner Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg. “Understanding nanotechnology remains a top priority within
the agency’s regulatory science initiative and, in doing so, we will be prepared to usher science,
public health, and FDA into a new, more innovative era.”

“Nanotechnology is an emerging technology that has the potential to be used in a broad array
of FDA-regulated medical products, foods, and cosmetics,” said Dr. Carlos Peña, FDA’s director of
emerging technology programs. “But because materials in the nanoscale dimension may have different
chemical, physical, or biological properties from their larger counterparts, FDA is monitoring the
technology to assure such use is beneficial.”

Although FDA has not yet identified particular safety issues related to nanotechnology
applications in FDA-regulated products, it is keeping watch because certain nanomaterials are of
potential concern.

FDA-regulated products that might involve the application of nanomaterials on or in textile
materials include tissue engineering scaffolds and certain other implantable medical devices, and
antimicrobial materials, among other products.

The draft guideance and other related resources are available at
www.fda.gov/ScienceResearch/SpeciallTopics/Nanotechnology/ucm257926.htm.

June 21, 2011

Saint-Gobain Technial Fabrics — a manufacturer of industrial and construction reinforcement fabrics
using technologies including laid scrim, weaving, knitting, mat forming, lamination and coating;
and a division of the France-based Saint-Gobain Group — has renamed the company Saint-Gobain
ADFORS. The name is derived from two roots, with “ad” coming from the word “add”; and “fors”
derived from “force” or “reinforcement.”

“We look forward to building brand equity with the new name by offering best in class
service and excellent product innovation,” said Rudi Coetzee, general manager, Saint-Gobain ADFORS
America Inc., Grand Island, N.Y. “The new ADFORS name provides us the opportunity to really build a
strong brand backed by the globally recognized Saint-Gobain.”

June 21, 2011

OAKLAND, Calif. and LUBBOCK, Texas — June, 13 2011 — Fair Trade USA, the leading third-party
certifier of Fair Trade products in the United States, and Textile Exchange, a leader in
facilitating the expansion of the global organic cotton and sustainable fiber supply chain, have
formed a strategic partnership to offer brands new opportunities in responsible sourcing and to
better support cotton farming communities around the world.  This new partnership will focus
on market-linkage, joint conferences and tradeshows, and educational materials development to
recognize Fair Trade as the gold standard for sustainability in the textile industry. It also
reflects the trend that more and more brands are opting to use dual certified — organic and Fair
Trade — cotton in their retail lines.

Innovative companies like prAna, Maggie’s Organics and Greenlight Apparel have found there
are ways to go above and beyond the commitment to organic cotton. With Fair Trade consumers can
rest assured that their garment was produced under both socially and environmentally sustainable
conditions. Leading organic cotton buyers are also evolving from traditional corporate social
responsibility efforts to supply chain transparency and integrated sustainability initiatives,
taking their responsibility commitments to a whole new level. The move to organics was a huge step
for many mainstream brands, but as consumers continue to demand more ethical sourcing practices,
companies are beginning to look for new, more transparent and verifiable ways to make a difference.
This partnership between Textile Exchange and Fair Trade USA offers brands a solution to this
challenge.

“More than half (62%) of all Fair Trade products are also certified organic,” said Heather
Franzese, Senior Manager, Fair Trade USA. “Cotton is no exception.  Increasing consumer demand
for sustainably produced clothing is truly driving this shift in industry values; people want to
know that their purchase was made at no cost to the environment or the people who worked hard to
produce it. This partnership helps make that a reality.”

Additionally, Fair Trade cotton sourcing offers brands access to long-term, sustainable
supply chains. Today cotton prices are at a 15-year high, leaving brands scrambling to secure
stable supply of their raw materials at reasonable prices. Fair Trade and organic are a vehicle for
companies to form direct, long-term relationships with suppliers and farmers, helping them to
secure supply at the right quality and price, and reducing risks associated with price volatility.

“The intention of sustainability has always been about evolving and doing better; taking the
principle of organic sourcing and including Fair Trade standards not only secures market access, it
also guarantees higher prices for farmers to invest back into product quality,” said Nicole
Bassett, prAna’s Director of Sustainability. “It is exciting to see this new partnership between
Textile Exchange and Fair Trade USA emerge as it leverages knowledge and best practices that will
undoubtedly create a ripple effect of responsible sourcing in the textile industry.”

“This partnership with Fair Trade USA brings together the respective strengths of both
organizations to help provide a framework to support long-term relationships and benefits for
farmers, brands and consumers,” said LaRhea Pepper, Managing Director of Textile Exchange. “It
truly is a win for all.”

Posted on June 21, 2011

Source: Fair Trade USA

Vancouver, Canada-based Naturally Advanced Technologies Inc. (NAT) — a developer of biomass
resources from flax, hemp and other bast fibers — and Covington, Ky.-based Ashland Inc. — a
specialty chemicals manufacturer and solutions provider serving water treatment, paper products,
personal care and household, construction, architectural coatings, energy, pharmaceutical and other
markets — have entered into a two-year agreement to jointly develop CRAiLEX® high-grade dissolving
pulp for commercial applications.

NAT collaborated with Canada-based Alberta Innovates — Technologies Futures to develop an
environmentally friendly pulping process to make Crailex dissolving pulp from bast fibers cut to a
uniform 10-millimeter length. The patented process does not require the use of harsh chemicals or
costly equipment traditionally used to make kraft pulp. According to the company, Crailex exhibits
superior properties compared with traditional high-quality dissolving pulps, and can be extruded
into yarn for performance apparel or used as a base to make biodegradable plastics, and paper
towels and other consumer products. Ashland will use Crailex pulp derived from both flax and hemp
to develop a line of cellulosic products for a range of applications.

“This is the start of our Crailex technology roll out,” said NAT CEO Ken Barker. “In the same
manner and strategy we employed to bring our CRAiLAR® technology to commercialization, partnering
with an industry leader such as Ashland Inc. is a key milestone in the development of Crailex. We
are extremely proud of the opportunity and partnership potential in working with Ashland.”

NAT’s Crailar technology is used to process bast fiber as a staple fiber for textile and
apparel uses. The company is currently ramping up its cultivation and processing of fiber flax and
has partnered with a number of companies to develop various textile and apparel products and bring
them to market
(See ”
Quality
Fabric Of The Month: Flax Unshackled,”
Textile World, May/June 2011).

June 14, 2011

It is no secret that many textile-producing companies, mainly in Western countries with higher
production and labor costs than in the developing countries, are trying to escape from the “Fashion
Trap,” as the Rupp Report likes to call it. It also is no secret that for at least the last two
decades, Asian countries, particularly China and other countries in the Pacific Rim, have overtaken
the Western Hemisphere to produce the major commodity portion of fabrics and apparel.

Industrial Fabrics

At an early stage, some Western companies started a new business sector: specialty textile
products — to put it bluntly — to “make some money again.” The key to this money making was and
still is industrial fabrics, also called technical textiles. Since then, many companies, including
the textile machinery manufacturers, have diversified their product portfolios and become an
important player in this promising market.

But, which is the way to go in this sector? First of all, it takes a lot of action to
establish a serious and profitable production line; and secondly, it also takes a lot of time to
build up a reputation and become an important source for industrial fabrics and products. And, of
top of that, there are endless possibilities, meaning sectors to enter: construction, civil
engineering, agrotextiles, geotextiles, and so on.

Humankind

As evidenced frequently in reports in

Textile World
and its sister magazines

Textiles Panamericanos
and

Textile World Asia
, the sectors of protective garments, including medical textiles, could be very promising
markets to ensure the future of experienced and specialized textile enterprises. One might even
call them “textiles for humankind.” The simple reason for this expression is the fact that there is
nothing more important in this world than each and every human being. And the global population is
still rising, mainly in the emerging countries. And all these people must be served and protected
from whatever problem there is for the human body, above and below the soil, with the right textile
product. The following estimate and projection about the world’s population now is becoming further
ammunition to support this observation:

Rising Population

In the recently published “2010 Revision of World Population Prospects,” the Population
Division of the United Nations (UN) Department of Economic and Social Affairs estimates that the
global population will reach 9.3 billion in 2050 and 10.1 billion in 2100. In a previous report
published in 2008, the UN estimated the global population would reach up to 9.15 billion people in
2050.

It is predicted that a substantial part of this increase will come from high-fertility
countries, 39 of which are in Africa, nine in Asia, six in Oceania and four in Latin America. Of
these countries, 15 — including Pakistan, Nigeria, the Philippines, Ethiopia, the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, the United Republic of Tanzania, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Iraq, Afghanistan,
Ghana, Yemen, Mozambique and Madagascar — represent 75 percent of the population.

Low-fertility countries include all but two countries in Europe, 19 Asian countries, 14
countries in the Americas and two in Africa, as well as Australia. Among these countries, nine —
including China, Brazil, the Russian Federation, Japan, Vietnam, Germany, Iran, Thailand and France
— represent 75 percent of the population.

Among intermediate-fertility countries, three-fourths of the population lives in India, the
United States, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Mexico and Egypt. Most of the population — and also textile —
growth in the future is likely to occur in high-fertility countries, which between 2011 and 2100
would see a more than threefold population increase, from 1.2 billion to 4.2 billion, according to
medium variant projections. By comparison, the population of the intermediate-fertility countries
would grow by 26 per cent, from 2.8 billion to 3.5 billion; and in the low-fertility countries,
there would be an approximate 20 percent drop in population, from 2.9 billion to 2.4 billion.

And Now?

These somewhat theoretical figures seem to point to big opportunities for new textile
business outside the fashion sector. However, as noted by investment banker Martin O. Hutchinson, a
contributing editor to the Money Map Report and Money Morning: “[T]his explosive population growth
figures to be a disaster from a global-resources standpoint – and for two very good reasons.

“First, if we want all 10.1 billion people [in 2100] to enjoy a standard of living that’s
essentially on par with us here in the West (meaning they all have automobiles, washing machines,
refrigerator/freezers, and all the rest of the latest electronic gadgets), the consumer demand will
put an impossible strain on global resources – and if the global-warming theory proves accurate,
will heat our planet up like a meatball in a wok.

“Second, the vast majority of these new people will be in very poor countries, many of which
are already stretched in terms of water, food and other resources.”

In this scenario, recycling becomes a simple matter of surviving; and recycled fiber material
is an excellent raw material for all kinds of industrial textiles products such as geotextiles and
many more.

Just Go For It

Here is the chance to do some real new business: All these countries, which are competitors
in the commodity businesses such as apparel, need new products, and mainly textiles for humankind.
Under the soil, they need geotextiles to prevent the land from being lost and specialty textiles to
keep the water where it’s needed. Above the soil, they need all kinds of housing, tents,
agrotextiles to protect food crops from too much heat, and more. And on top of that, all these
people will have a need for personal textile products such as protective garments for various
applications, hygiene and medical textiles, and so on.

Imagination

Just think about the soaring costs for raw materials and energy. On the other hand, prices
for commodity textiles are constantly shrinking. For a Western textile producer who reads these
figures, wherever he may be, there is only one way to get out of this vicious circle: stay away
from commodities, specialize. Imagination is one of the key words for future success in textiles.

If one thinks about the personal requirements of a human being in a developed society, there
are no bounds for imaginative new products, and the sky is the only limit.

June 14, 2011