FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany — April 2011 — The choice is made: we now know this year’s Techtextil
and Avantex Innovation Award winners. With a total of over 80 entries, numerous companies and
research institutes applied to be considered for the 2011 Techtextil and Avantex Innovation Awards.

Ten developments were awarded prizes: seven for the Techtextil Innovations Award and three
for the Avantex Innovation Award. At the same time, three ‘Honourable Mentions’ were awarded.

Techtextil Innovation Award Winners:

• D`Appolonia S.p.A. (Italy) together with the Saxon Textile Research Institute (STFI/Germany),
  Blastech Ltd. (Great Britain), Consorzio CETMA (Italy, Air Tex Solution (U.S.A.), Cargo Network
  (Germany), Meridiana Maintenance S.p.A.(Italy), APC Composite (Sweden), and Riso DTU National
  Laboratory for Sustainable Energy (Denmark) for “Fly-Bag: explosion resistant textile luggage
  container for aircraft cargo holds” in the category of “Safety + Protection”.
• Fibroline France SARL (France) receive an “Honourable Mention” for “a new ‘latex free’ carpet
  for the automotive industry, manufactured with powder coating wastes” in the category of “New
  Processes”
• The Institute of Textile Technology and Process Engineering Denkendorf (Germany) together with
  the Plant Biomechanics Group, University of Freiburg (Germany) and the Institute of Building
  Structures and Structural Design, University of Stuttgart (Germany) for “Bionic facades shading
  based on the model of the strelitzia” in the category of “Architecture”.
• The Institute of Textile Technology and Process Engineering Denkendorf (Germany) together with
  the State Museum of Natural History, (Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde), Stuttgart (Germany), The Institute of Geo-sciences (Institut für Geowissenschaften), University of Tübingen (Germany), Mattes & Ammann
  GmbH & Co. KG (Germany) and Solarenergie Stefanakis (Germany) for “Development of
  three-dimensional textile materials for the recovery of water from fog aerosols” in the category of
  “New Materials”.
• Lindauer Dornier Gesellschaft GmbH (Germany) for “Open Reed Weave Technology” in the category
  of “New Technologies”
• Outlast Europe GmbH (Germany) for “PCM – Polyester fibres” in the category of “New
  Materials”
• PyroTex GmbH (Germany) receives an “Honourable Mention” for “The new safety fiber” in the
  category of “New Materials”

Avantex Innovation Award Winners:

• Berlin-Weissensee Art Academy, College of Design (KHB/Germany) and the Textile Research
  Institute (Textilforschungsinstitut) Thuringia-Vogtland (TITV /Germany) receives an “Honourable
  Mention” for “Tex-Vest” in the category of “Safety + Protection”
• The Hohenstein Institute for Textile Innovation (Germany) together with the Center for
  Computing and Communication Technologies (TZI) and the Institute for Micro-Sensors, Actuators and
  Systems (IMSAS) of the University of Bremen (Germany) for “Sensor-based personal protective
  equipment for forestry work with dangerous machines and tools (power saws)” in the category of
  “Personal Protection”
• Luxilon (Belgium) together with Sofileta (France) for “Luxicool Performing Yarn in Sofileta
  Cooling Fabrics” in the category of “Comfort + Function”.

Both Techtextil and Avantex Innovation Awards are given for outstanding achievements and
exemplary developments in research,materials and product development, technology and applications.

The Awards will be presented in a formal ceremony on 23 May 2011,the eve of Techtextil,
International Trade Fair for Technical Textiles and Nonwovens. A detailed press release on the
individual award-winning developments will be available shortly.

All the award-winning entries for the Techtextil and Avantex Innovation Awards will be on
display in Hall 3.1. The Techtextil Innovation Awards are to be found in the special exhibition on
StandJ58; the Avantex Innovation Awards in the special exhibition on Stand B11.

Posted on May 10, 2011

Source: Messe Frankfurt GmbH

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — COTTON USA’s trade and promotional services throughout the cotton blanket supply
chain in China has led to increased U.S. cotton sales. For the three Chinese brands involved, this
has resulted in sales of U.S. cotton fiber worth an estimated $590,000 at today’s prices.

Ibena Shanghai, a leading home textile supplier, approached CCI Shanghai about identifying
U.S. cotton yarn suppliers for blankets. Thanks to an introduction from CCI, a COTTON USA licensed
yarn manufacturer in China supplied Ibena with 117.6 tons of 100 percent U.S. cotton yarns.

In 2010, Ibena joined the COTTON USA licensing program with 70,000 pieces of 100 percent U.S.
cotton blankets, which pulled 470 bales of U.S. cotton through the supply chain. Ibena Shanghai
Technical Textile Co. Ltd is a subsidiary of Ibena Textilwerke GmbH, (Bocholt, Germany), a company
with a leading position in the international market for its home textile line.

As cotton blankets are becoming a hot item in the Chinese domestic market this year, Ibena’s
products labeled with the COTTON USA Mark are attracting interest from consumers. CCI Shanghai is
now working with Ibena to promote COTTON USA to their customers, further expanding the local demand
for products made of U.S. cotton.

After meeting with the top three Chinese home brands, CCI also recruited Luolai Home Textile
Co. Ltd. and Hunan Mine Home Technology Co., Ltd. to join the COTTON USA licensing program.

Luolai Home’s COTTON USA license covers 12,550 U.S. cotton blankets, which equates to about
90 bales of U.S. cotton.The COTTON USA Mark-labeled blankets are sold in 1,000 shops in China.
COTTON USA show card are displayed at each point-of-sale.

Hunan Mine Home Technology Co., Ltd. has also joined the COTTON USA Program, and has placed
an order for 10,000 U.S. cotton blankets, the equivalent of about 70 bales of U.S. cotton.

Posted on May 9, 2011

Source: Cotton Council International

SPRESIANO, Italy — May 4, 2011 — The Italian HIP-MITSU is one of the most qualified producers of
web-coating and laminating equipment, systems and turn-key lines for hot melt adhesives
application.

Specialization, technological innovation and continuous R&D are our strength points,
evidence being supported by several international patents owned from the company.

More than 1.900 machines successfully installed worldwide in 38 Countries into the most
different industrial fields allowed the company to accumulate skills, transferred to the Customers
in each phase of the investment evaluation. 

At the forthcoming Techtextil HIP-MITSU will show the last technological developments into
following fields:

 

Hot melt application – process
technology                                                                                               

·         hot melt adhesive coating

·         double and multi-layer hot melt lamination

·         UV coating and laminating

·         Hot melt spraying

·         Hot melt dot application

·         Hot melt glue line application

·         Sheets and boards coating and lamination

Hot melt application – final results

·         Breathable TBS
lamination                                                 

·         Technical textile coating &
lamination                                              

·         Assembly of end products and substrates

·         Foam coating and
lamination                                                            

·         Labels and label stock
adhesivation                                                    

·         Paper coating and
lamination                                                            

·         Nonwoven coating and
laminating                                                                                                                                   

·         Film
lamination                                                                                                                                 

·         Tapes and specialty tapes coating &
lamination

·         Breathable, filtering, self-adhesive,
waterproofing, bituminous membrane coating &
lamination                                              

·         Hot melt carpet backing

·        
Gasket       

                                           

and related coming advantages: production flexibility, quick variation of process parameters
(coating width, coating weight, pattern, adhesive, etc), machine downtimes close to zero, modular
philosophy for later on machine integration.

HIP-MITSU modular solutions give answer to every application need from 0,3 up to 6.000 mm
coating width, speeds from 2 up to 800 m/min, adhesive coating weights from 0.02 up to 1.000 gr/sqm
and roll diameter up to  1.600 mm, both for continuous, partial and intermittent applications.

HIP-MITSU also avails of a modern Competence Center, equipped with a full range of production
lines enabling testing on Customer’s own materials in each phase of the project.

Posted on May 9, 2011

Source: HIP-MITSU

NORTH
WALES, Pa. — May 5, 2011 — TSG Holding Company, Inc. (formerly known as TSG Incorporated) announced
its exit from bankruptcy court protection effective May 1, 2011 under a Plan of Reorganization
approved overwhelmingly by the Company’s creditors and the United States Bankruptcy Court for the
Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Under the terms of its Plan of Reorganization and with the
support of its lender, the Company restructured all of its long-term obligations, while offering a
significant return to its unsecured creditors. “We are thrilled to have exited bankruptcy court
protection with such tremendous employee, customer and creditor support,” said Jeffrey S. Goldman,
President and Chief Operating Officer. “With the restructuring completed, our organization looks
forward to attending to our customers’ needs with outstanding and sophisticated service, while
continuing with the development of new and cutting-edge technologies as we have for the past 110
years.”

The Bankruptcy Court confirmed the Company’s Plan of Reorganization on April 12, 2011, which
became effective on May 1, 2011. Under the Plan of Reorganization, the Synthetics Finishing, SynFin
Industries, Combeau Industries and Longview Machinery plants will continue their operations
uninterrupted under TSG Finishing, LLC.

Posted on May 6, 2011

Source: TSG Finishing LLC

Italy — May 5, 2011 — MESDAN® S.p.A., Italy, since 1952 is a renowned manufacturer of YARN SPLICERS
for knotless yarn joining as well as LABORATORY QUALITY CONTROL TESTING equipment for textiles. The
division dedicated to the production and marketing of Laboratory equipment is branded Mesdan-Lab.
In its product portfolio there is a wide range of testing equipment used for the QC of technical
textile and PPE (Personal Protective Equipment).

The main testing parameters that can be assessed in this field with the Mesdan-Lab range of
products are referred to:

–    Perforation, strength (up to 50kN capacity), fatigue (cycle testing) and
elongation

–    Bursting

–    Tearing

–    Air permeability

–    Water permeability

–    Water vapor absorption and coefficient

–    Static electricity

–    Wear and abrasion (Martindale) as well as flexion

–    Impact and abrasion (for sport clothes and accessories)

–    Glove Cutting (according to EN-388)

–    Vertical Flammability (in conformity to major ISO standards)

–    Thickness

–    Coating (sample preparation)

–    Polymerisation (with humidity and temperature control)

–    Washing and dimensional stability

–    Color fastness (rubbing, sunlight, ecc)

–    Moisture content & humidity

–    Sample cutting and weight measurement

–    PH assessment, ecc.

Furthermore, Mesdan-Lab is the exclusive distributor in the Western part of Europe of MTNW
(Measurement Technology North West – USA), famous manufacturer of measuring equipment for the
Thermal & Psychological comfort of fabrics and garments (Sweating Guarded Hot Plate, Manikins,
etc).

At the forthcoming TECHTEXTIL show in Frankfurt  (24-26 May 2011) Mesdan®  will
exhibit:

•  a complete range of knotters and yarn Splicers (Jointair® – Aquasplicer® – Hot
Jointair®) for industrial yarns such as Carbon, Aramids, Tyre cord, Glass fibre, Carpet yarns,
Sewing threads, yarns for Artificial grass,  etc.

•  a variety of QC equipment (strength, elongation, perforation, flammability, tear,
abrasion, cutting, moisture, comfort, etc).

Among the equipment on display, a highlight: ELMATIC, fully automatic digital Elmendorf tear
tester characterized by:

• Measuring range 200 – 30.000 cN for fine and heavy-duty materials (textiles, leather,
paper, plastic, etc).

• Automatic pendulum identification and fully automatic execution of tear test:

1.    automatic cut of the specimen

2.    automatic release of the pendulum

3.    automatic tear of the specimen

4.    automatic measure of the tear force

5.    automatic stop of the pendulum

6.    automatic reposition of pendulum in the starting position

•    Complete safety cover with safety lock during testing operation
until pendulum swinging is terminated

•    Large LCD display, PC & printer connection

•    Results can be expressed in a variety of different units (N, Kg, LBS,
etc)

•    ELMATIC software for data storage, graphic and statistic elaboration of
results

•    High accuracy (0,09 degree) and results repeatability

•    In conformity with major International testing Standards

•    Supplied complete with 2 Pendulums and 2 Check-weight

•    High productivity (about 150 tests could be executed in 15 minutes!)

•    Produced and designed in Italy

Mesdan will showcase in Hall 3.0, booth °J 23, you’re welcome!

Posted on May 6, 2011

Source: Mesdan S.p.A.

Certainly, many Rupp Report readers experienced this situation when they were kids: You didn’t
behave in the way it was expected and something, whatever, happened. You were expecting some kind
of punishment, for example, no TV tomorrow or even the whole week, and so on. Many parents would
say after this circumstance: “You are responsible for your own doings. Now change your attitude and
do better.”

Old-fashioned Values

In modern times, this discipline may seem old-fashioned to many people, and a good education
promoting personal responsibility seems to have vanished. Today, there seems to be more of a “who
cares” attitude. Almost every day, one may read of another situation in which — sometimes — a
barely credible lack of responsibility is seen. And in most of the cases, it seems the impetus is
money or power.

The Rupp Report is far from being a political observer. However, everyone should take his/her
own share of responsibility for the sake of the whole community. And today the world is more than
just countries — it’s a global community.

In industry in general, and in the textile and chemical industries in particular, a trend
that has been observed in the past few years has been to take over another company, often the major
competitor, to “create synergies” or be stronger in the market. And in many cases, this has been
done with borrowed money; and the acquirer has not been able to pay the money back. Result: big
losses and jobless people. Is it modern management to claim that whatever you do, it’s not your
responsibility, and you are a victim of circumstances? Fortunately, there are still some true
patrons of family-owned businesses, who take pride in taking care not only of their own
pocketbooks, but also their employees.

In a nutshell, the financial crisis starting in 2008 was thought by some to illustrate a
considerable lack of responsibility by the major financial players, who would privatize the benefit
but see the losses socialized, without concern for people living on Main Street.

Increased Salary, No Dividends

In Switzerland, people are currently shaking their heads. At the annual general assembly of
UBS Switzerland, the management declared that the bank is not able to pay a dividend. However, it
was possible for the management to increase its own salaries and benefits quite heftily.

Soaring Energy Consumption

One year ago, the Gulf of Mexico was flooded with oil — a major disaster. One year later,
some companies are already asking for permission for new drillings. Some wonder whether they care
about the people living and working in the neighborhood of the Gulf of Mexico. The world’s hunger
for oil must be satisfied, and the profits of the companies as well.

An even more devastating catastrophe happened a few weeks ago in Japan: First the tsunami and
then the breakdown of the nuclear power plants. For weeks and weeks, the operator of the plant
wasn’t honest in his reporting, and the impact of this disaster appeared to be trivialized. Even
before the accident happened, the government was aware of the problems at this plant. And the
responsibility went from one place to the other. Yes, of course, the increasing population around
the world needs more energy, and at the moment there may not be a better alternative to nuclear
power plants to produce enough energy, but there’s the issue of getting rid of nuclear waste in a
safe way. One has to care for the environment and not leave the world to the children as a garbage
dump. The Chinese understand the need to care for the environment
(See ”
The
Rupp Report: The Chinese Way To Economy And Ecology,” www.
TextileWorld.com, April 19, 2011).

By the way, last Monday, the Japanese Physicist Toshiso Kosako retired from his job as a
special consultant for the Japanese government concerning the recent Fukushima event. The reason he
gave for his retirement was that he “couldn’t take the responsibility as a scientist to accept a
higher radiation dosage for children,” as the government intended to do so.

Information Is Motivation

The first lesson of managing people is that information means motivation. Today, with all the
electronic information technology tools, most of the global citizens are well aware of all these
problems, and they expect honesty from their own governments and, of course, from industry as well.
And after all, a bad spirit full of mistrust in the population leads to a bad situation. And a bad
situation leads to a bad economic environment with the well-known results as noted above. By
searching for solutions and intermingling economy and ecology, responsible people are able to solve
the problems and to get the right answers. Everyone has to assume responsibility.

If you have a story to tell about what the word “responsibility” means to you or your
company, write to the Rupp Report
jrupp@textileworld.com.

May 3, 2011

Textile Trends LLC — a startup company that will manufacture finished linen products such as
napkins, tablecloths and aprons for the hospitality industry — is investing approximately $440,000
to establish a cut-and-sew operation in Jonesville, S.C., creating 100 jobs in the process. The
company will begin hiring employees early this month.

“Textiles have always been the backbone of Union County and I’m glad to see the industry
making a comeback,” said Sen. Harvey Peeler, R-S.C. “We’re excited that Textile Trends has decided
to located its operations in South Carolina.”

“We welcome the addition of Textile Trends to the Jonesville community and to Union County,”
said Andrena Powell-Baker, executive director, Union County Development Board. “Because of our rich
and vibrant history in textiles, the company was able to identify the vacant Milliken Packaging
building as an ideal location. They moved very quickly to lease the facility and began the process
to initiate operations. They will be supplying a growth industry, so we are anticipating much
success from this new startup company. The forecasted hiring of 100 people is great news for the
state of South Carolina, Union County and the Town of Jonesville.”

May 3, 2011