England-based Tatham Ltd. — a global supplier of drive and control equipment for woolen carding and
nonwoven processing — recently launched the TS Microweigh control system, a new weigh technology
development that monitors and controls the delivery of fiber from a weigh hopper to a carding
machine.

TS Microweigh’s features include automatic fiber weighing and dispensing, a reactive fill
cycle, and Multi Drop capability. The technology can be employed in blending systems, carding
machines, scouring lines, dehairing plants and specialty fiber processing. According to the
company, the system is cost-effective and has been supplied to major yarn spinners worldwide.

Tatham will present its TS series of drive and control equipment at Filtration 2008, to be
held December 9-11 in Philadelphia. The series also includes TS Microfeed, a fiber weight
monitoring system that controls fiber delivery by adjusting the input roller speed according to
fiber density variations; and TS Microbelt belt weighing system, which measures both short- and
long-term fiber density variations using a dual algorithm.

October 7, 2008

Pasadena, Calif.-based Avery Dennison Corp.’s Information and Brand Management Division now is
offering an updated ItemSight™ solution for achieving compliance with Department of Defense (DOD)
textile and apparel radio frequency identification (RFID) mandates.

ItemSight is a software system that enables users to access contracts and orders from the
Virtual Item Manager Apparel Research Network Supply Chain Automation Process (VIM ASAP) via
personal computer. According to the company, it’s the only system that communicates directly with
VIM ASAP and can verify items selected and packaged according to the actual contract.

The new solution’s Subcontractor Module parses orders to an apparel producer’s vendors, thus
allowing the vendors to return data to the producer in a DOD-required format. The module can track
data for each subcontractor, such as contract size, quantity of finished goods and remaining
quantity to be produced.

“The DOD has a rating system that rewards companies that submit data accurately and in
accordance with their RFID requirements,” said Mike Shabet, global sales manager, Avery Dennison. “
The reward is faster payment. Plus, a higher ranking in the rating system shows the company in a
more favorable light for the awarding of future contracts.”

The new ItemSight solution includes ItemSight software, a Psion Model 7525C handheld scanner,
a docking station; a three-year service contract on hardware; and pre-encoded, pre-serialized RFID
carton and pallet labels. Companies that wish to print and encode their own labels can use Avery
Dennison’s AP5.4 RFID label printer and LMS software to do so.

October 7, 2008

The next edition of textile and surface design show Printsource New York will include a special
section of the show dedicated to art licensing in the fields of apparel and home textiles,
stationary and paper goods, home accessories and tabletop, and other consumer goods. The upcoming
show will be held Jan. 13-15, 2009, at the Hotel Pennsylvania, New York City.

The new section will feature international and domestic design studios’ collections created
specifically for upholstery fabrics; curtain and draperies; wallpaper and wall coverings; carpet
and floor coverings; bedding, kitchen and bath linens; tabletop; home accents; paper products; and
quilting. Printsource also will offer seminars and presentations on forthcoming market
developments.

October 7, 2008

A continuing resolution funding virtually all federal government agencies until March 2009 included
$9.5 million for additional textile and apparel customs enforcement officers. The funds are
designed to help the Customs and Border Protection crack down on illegal transshipments of textiles
and apparel.

Approving the funding via a continuing resolution was necessary because Congress has failed
to act on appropriations for the entire fiscal year (FY) 2009 for all agencies except Defense,
Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs.

Rep. Robin Hayes, R-N.C., who succeeded in inserting the customs agents funds when the bill
was pending in the House of Representatives, said, “Getting money specifically to crack down on
illegal textile shipments is a win for our domestic industry,” adding that the funding is “crucial
to continue the battle against massive amounts of transshipped textiles that enter our country
every day and place a tremendous burden on our domestic industry and its workforce.”

The $9.5 million will provide funding for an additional 72 customs agents for several years.

Funding for the government’s long-standing support for textile research conducted through
the colleges and universities that comprise the National Textile Center (NTC) and through the
Textile Clothing Technology Corp. ([TC]
²) was left in limbo by Congress’s failure to act on full FY2009 funding for the
Department of Commerce. At the present time, how much will be appropriated and in what manner
remains in question. In any event, new rules governing appropriations will force the NTC funding to
take on another form, with Congress determining how funds will be allocated between each of the NTC
colleges and universities.

October 1, 2008

DayStrong Rubber Products LLC — a new company established by a group of former managers of Mauldin,
S.C.-based Oerlikon Accotex Texparts Inc. in partnership with Gastonia, N.C.-based
yarn-manufacturing accessories and equipment supplier A.B. Carter Inc. — has acquired Oerlikon
Accotex Texparts’ vulcanized roll and ribbon roll covering businesses. DayStrong will continue to
operate these businesses at Oerlikon Accotex Texparts’ existing location, retaining the associates
and manufacturing processes associated with the acquired businesses.

DayStrong’s management team includes Gordon Culler, president and CEO; Scott Walton, COO; and
Keith Crowe, CFO. The three executives served at Oerlikon Accotex Texparts altogether for 60 years.

DayStrong primarily produces vulcanized rolls for use on Superba® heat-set machinery used in
the carpet industry. The company also manufactures polyvinyl chloride, rubber and cork/rubber
ribbon roll covering products to provide friction on steel rolls used in textile and other
applications.

“This [management buyout] is a great opportunity for our management team to focus on the
production and expansion of the sales of top-quality roll coverings and ribbon products,” Culler
said. “We will continue to provide our customers with the same quality products made with the same
equipment and processes and with the same deep experience of our associates.”

“DayStrong products have a great reputation of excellent quality and service to the markets
they serve,” said Rick Craig, president, A.B. Carter. “We wanted to increase our exposure to
additional quality products serving the carpet and other parts of the textile industry.”

Oerlikon Accotex Texparts also will continue to operate at its existing location in Mauldin
and will continue to serve the textile and carpet industries, offering its cots, aprons and various
rubber products for drawing, roving and spinning applications, and belts for finishing
applications. Sales of these products will be handled by John South Lewis, director of sales,
United States and Canada; and Jim Bane, director of sales, Latin America.

October 1, 2008

Charlotte-based Mallard Creek Polymers, a manufacturer of specialty emulsion polymer products, has
acquired certain performance polymer products and related assets from Research Triangle Park,
N.C.-based Dow Reichhold Specialty Latex LLC for an undisclosed price.

The acquisition includes product formulas, trademarks and patents for some 50 specialty
latex products used in the adhesives, coatings, construction, nonwovens, packaging, personal care,
specialty paper and textile industries, adding to its current offering of carboxylated and
non-carboxylated styrene-butadiene latex and acrylic emulsion products.

Dow Reichhold recently announced that it would close operations, with plans to end all
business activities before the end of 2008.
(See “
Dow
Reichhold To Shut Down Operations,” Aug. 26, 2008). Mallard Creek’s purchase is the final
sale of Dow Reichhold commercial assets, including products and technology.

October 1, 2008

Switzerland-based Rieter Textile Systems recently honored four individuals with the Rieter Award
2008. Presented annually since 1989, the award recognizes students and young professionals who have
distinguished themselves in the realm of textiles. According to the company, this year’s awards
competition saw improvements in topic quality and presentation technique.

The award was presented to Yuguang Yang, China; Yusuf Ali Syed, India; Mohammad Owais Raza
Siddiqui, Pakistan; and Orcun Cakici, Turkey. The winners accepted their awards at Rieter’s
headquarters in Winterthur, where they presented their final theses, and met Rieter employees and
management, visited several plants, and explored local sites of interest.

October 1, 2008

Germany-based spinning manufacturer Spindelfabrik Suessen GmbH is celebrating 10 years of its
EliTe® Compact Spinning system for short- and long-staple spinning frames.

In 1998, Suessen delivered the first EliTe system to its Austria-based customer and yarn
producer Linz Textil Holding AG; and in 1999, the company presented the system to the market at
ITMA in Paris.

To date, Suessen’s EliTe compact spinning system is running on more than 2,800,000 ring
spindles globally, amounting to about 45 percent of the total market of compact ring spindles. More
than 1,300,000 of those are running on spindles in India alone.

Suessen will demonstrate its new EliTe CompactSet V5 with optional EliTwist® applications and
new core yarn COREflex® attachments at India-ITME, to be held in Bangalore Nov. 15-22, 2008. 

October 1, 2008

Chapel Hill, N.C.-based American Fibers & Yarns Co. (AF&Y) has filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection, with the intention of liquidating its assets. The company plans to
discontinue manufacturing operations and close its two plants in Bainbridge, Ga., and Afton, Va.,
on October 17 and auction off its assets. Including manufacturing and corporate employees,
approximately 330 people will lose their jobs.

According to documents filed with the US Bankruptcy Court, the company is the largest US
supplier of solution-dyed polypropylene filament yarns, and is a major supplier to the residential
and contract furnishings marketplaces as well as a supplier of product for industrial, automotive
and apparel applications. The yarns, marketed under the Marquesa® and Innova® brands, have been
touted for their earth-friendly, inherent performance attributes, and the company initiated a
program at its Bainbridge plant for recycling fabrics made with its yarns.

AF&Y cited a number of factors leading to the Chapter 11 filing, including increased
offshore sourcing for residential upholstery fabrics, a spike in the price of polypropylene resin ,
competition from polyester manufacturers, price pressure from lower-cost imported textiles and the
current economic decline. Coupled with those factors have been unsuccessful attempts over a period
of time to secure additional financing or to sell portions of the business.

The company’s outstanding debts include $7.7 million in revolving credit loans from General
Electric (GE) Capital Corp. and more than $6.8 million in accounts payable to its 20 largest
unsecured creditors. AF&Y has requested debtor in possession financing in the amount of $7.7
million from GE Capital to assist it in liquidating its assets in an orderly manner.

“The company has tried for many months to find either incremental investment or someone who
wanted to buy all or portions of the business, and all of those discussions came to naught,” said
Timothy Boates, president of Newport, R.I.-based RAS Management Advisors LLC, which has been
retained by AF&Y to assist it in its efforts to wind down the business and settle its affairs.

Remarking on the cost increases for polypropylene resin and competition from
now-lower-priced polyester-based products, Boates said: “For a long time, there was a real value
differential that AF&Y benefited from, where its products were cheaper than polyester-based
products, but the price of raw materials has gone up so sharply over the last couple of years that
that price advantage has turned the other way around. Right now, there’s a substantial negative
price variance between our product and polyester-based product.”



October 1, 2008

Effective October 1, or as contracts allow, Germany-based BASF will implement a
50-euro-per-metric-ton price increase for acrylic acid and acrylic esters — including glacial
acrylic acid, methyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, n-butyl acrylate, 2-ethyl hexyl acrylate — in
Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The company cited ongoing inadequate margins in announcing the
price increase.

BASF also announced that effective immediately, it has implemented price increases for
ethylamine, propylamine and butylamine in Europe from 30 to 300 euros per ton. The company cited
the rising cost of handling, logistics and raw materials in announcing the increases.

October 1, 2008