Israel-based Browzwear International Ltd. — a developer and producer of 3-D fashion design and
communication software solutions for the apparel and textile industries — has developed a Fabric
Testing Kit to enable fashion designers and pattern makers to easily measure fabric properties
required for true-to-life 3-D apparel. The kit — the first offered for 3-D visualization — measures
a fabric’s stretch, bend and shear properties, and verifies the test results.

When used with Browzwear’s V-Stitcher™ fashion design and communication software, the Fabric
Testing Kit is capable of shortening production time, reducing costs and enhancing the realism and
accuracy of fabric simulation, according to the company.

October 30, 2007

Brussels-based EDANA, the international association representing nonwovens and related industries
and sponsor of nonwovens exhibition INDEX 08, has issued a call for entries for the INDEX Awards
Competition. The competition recognizes innovations in the nonwovens field, and is open to any
EDANA member company and/or company exhibiting at INDEX 08, to be held April 15-18, 2008, at Geneva
Palexpo in Switzerland.

Winners will be chosen in six categories: nonwoven roll goods; finished products made from or
incorporating nonwovens; marketing achievement; raw material; machinery; and humanitarian
contribution. Entries are due Jan. 2, 2008. Winners will be chosen in early 2008, and will receive
their awards during a ceremony at INDEX 08.

For more information, visit www.index08.org or www.edana.org.

October 30, 2007

Florence, Ky.-based Fortron Industries LLC — a joint venture of Germany-based Ticona Engineering
Polymers and Japan-based chemical products manufacturer Kureha Corp. — has completed a three-year
capacity expansion project at its Wilmington, N.C., plant. The facility is now capable of producing
15,000 metric tons of Fortron® linear polyethylene sulfide (PPS) annually — double its previous
capacity. The Wilmington plant now is the world’s largest PPS plant, according to Fortron
Industries.

“The expanded plant is highly efficient and leverages the infrastructure and experienced
workforce in place in Wilmington,” said Fred Daniell, president, Fortron Industries. “It also is a
step forward in PPS production technology that incorporates Kureha’s advanced and environmentally
friendly ‘one-unit’ process. These investments demonstrate our commitment to anticipating the
market need for future supply and to meeting the developing application requirements of our
customers.”

According to Kureha, its one-unit process is an advanced and economically efficient method
utilized in the manufacture of linear PPS — the only PPS suitable for fiber and film production.

October 30, 2007

Amid growing government and public concerns about the safety of imported items, Philadelphia
University has established the Institute for Textile and Apparel Product Safety (ITAPS) to help
ensure the safety of clothing made overseas. Dr. David Brookstein, dean of Philadelphia
University’s School of Engineering and Textiles and an engineer with expertise in textile
technology, will be executive director of ITAPS, and Dr. Jeffrey Ashley, associate professor of
chemistry, will be technical director.

As part of its mission, the institute is conducting research to determine if potentially
toxic chemicals are present in imported clothing; identify which toxic chemicals and agents are
being used and the extent of their use; and help establish protocols for testing and evaluating
imported apparel items. Currently, the institute is testing for the presence of polybrominated
diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), a textile flame retardant that has been banned in the European Union and
has known health consequences. Within the next several weeks, the institute will begin monitoring
for the presence of formaldehyde in children’s imported clothing and bedding.

In a related development, Brookstein recently addressed the issue of the safety of imported
apparel at a public hearing in Washington before the federal Interagency Working Group on Import
Safety, established in July by President Bush to improve the safety of imported products. The
interagency working group’s charge comes on the heels of recent highly publicized incidents
involving Chinese-made toys and toothpaste found to have high levels of chemicals and toxins.

“With concerns growing about the safety of imported toys and toiletries coming into this
country, we recognized that imported textile and apparel items might also contain various levels of
toxic chemicals,” Brookstein said. “As one of the nation’s leading textiles schools, we feel it is
important to use our expertise to investigate the possibility of unsafe exposure to potentially
toxic textile chemicals and dyes.”

The main problem, Brookstein said, is that potentially dangerous textile dyes and finishing
agents that are no longer used by US manufacturing companies may still be in use overseas for
textile and apparel production.

For the year that ended July 31, more than $93 billion in textiles and apparel were imported
to the United States from around the globe, according to data from the Office of Textiles and
Apparel of the US Department of Commerce. China accounted for more than 32 percent of all imported
textiles and apparel that year.

In recent weeks, Mattel has recalled some 9.5 million toys in the United States because of
safety concerns about lead. And in June, the US Food and Drug Administration warned consumers not
to use toothpaste made in China after some brands were found to contain a poisonous ingredient also
found in antifreeze.

Michael O. Leavitt, secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services and chair of
the Interagency Working Group on Import Safety, wrote in the working group’s initial September 10
report that, while Americans benefit from among the highest standards of consumer protection in the
world, “it is not possible to eliminate all risk with imported and domestic products, [and] being
smarter requires us to find new ways to protect American consumers and continually improve the
safety of our imports.”

Philadelphia University, with its long-standing history of textile-related programs and a
research center already dedicated to state-of-the-art research in textiles and apparel, is
perfectly positioned to lead efforts to identify problems and help ensure the safety of imported
apparel. The university also is a member of the National Textile Center, a federally funded group
made up of eight top universities that conduct textiles research.



Press Release Courtesy Of Philadelphia University



October 30, 2007

Government assistance for workers who lose their jobs as a result of import competition is gaining
momentum in Congress as the House Ways and Means committee has weighed in with a bill that would
liberalize benefits and make access to them easier. Legislation that would expand the federal
government’s long-standing Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Act was introduced in March by Rep.
Robin Hayes, R-N.C., who has been concerned about textile and apparel job losses. While a companion
measure was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., no action was taken on either
bill.

The new bill, approved by the Ways and Means committee last week by a vote of 26-14, takes a
broader approach than the earlier measures. It would provide adjustment assistance to workers
employed by a firm that experiences significant layoffs when there is a connection between the
layoffs and import competition or production relocation — offshoring.

Under current law, many manufacturing workers are left out of TAA because of restrictive
eligibility criteria. For example, workers who lose their jobs because their factory moves to, say,
China, may not get TAA benefits because at the present time, such workers must show that the
factory relocation will result in increased imports to the United States. If goods are produced by
that factory for an overseas market, TAA would not apply.

Under present law, certification for TAA benefits is on a firm-by-firm basis. The new bill
would require the secretary of labor to conduct an industry-wide certification investigation when
three petitions from firms in the same industry are certified within a six-month period. It also
requires the secretary of labor to develop criteria for industry-wide certification. The bill
provides for automatic certification of workers from a firm covered by an International Trade
Commission finding in an anti-dumping or countervailing duty safeguard proceeding.

The new bill doubles the current job retraining funding cap from $220 million to $440 million
and permits it to increase to $660 million by 2010.

“In the rush to embrace global trade, American workers have been left by the side of the
road,” said Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., one of the bill’s co-sponsors. “It is time to put American
workers and their families first, and this legislation puts us on that path.”



October 30, 2007

After analyzing trade data for the first six months of this year, the US Department of Commerce
(DOC) has concluded there is no basis at this time to warrant self-initiation of an anti-dumping
investigation. The Vietnam import monitoring program was created in 2006 when Congress was
considering granting normal trade relations status to Vietnam, a necessary step toward Vietnam’s
accession to the World Trade Organization. Sens. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., and Lindsey Graham,
R-S.C., blocked the legislation until the administration could come up with a plan to protect US
textile interests.

Under the program, the DOC examined import and price data for five particularly sensitive
textile product categories — trousers, shirts, underwear, swimwear and sweaters — from January
through July 2007. Value of the imports was compared to imports from several comparable countries.
The DOC said it will continue to monitor imports in the selected product categories during the next
six month review period that will begin in March 2008 after receipt of the January 2008 data. Data
will be published on the department’s website, www.commerce.gov.

While importers of textiles and apparel welcomed the conclusion that there is no present need
to initiate anti-dumping proceedings, Laura Jones, executive director of the US Association of
Importers of Textiles and Apparel, called for cancellation of the monitoring program, calling it “
both unjustified and unfair.” Importers contend that the very existence of the monitoring program
has had a chilling effect on trade in textiles and apparel with Vietnam and that it results in
fewer choices and higher prices.

Unless the program is cancelled, and that is not likely, it will run until Jan. 19, 2009,
when President George W. Bush leaves office.

October 30, 2007