Israel-based Nilit Ltd. – a global manufacturer of nylon 6,6 fibers – has acquired Nylstar Inc., a
nylon manufacturer owned by JP Morgan Chase. Nilit will acquire Nylstar’s US operations and its
nylon 6,6 plant in Martinsville, Va., which will become part of Nilit’s global production facility
network, making the company one of the largest nylon 6,6 producers worldwide. Last year, Nilit
opened a state-of-the-art nylon production facility in Suzhou, China
(See ”
Nilit
Opens New Nylon Facility In Suzhou China,” May 27, 2008).

“Nylstar is a respected manufacturer that shares Nilit’s commitment to innovation and
quality,” said Arie Gottlieb, general manager, Nilit. “Having the Martinsville facility as part of
the Nilit network will expand our ability to service our growing North American customer base, our
US partners and as well as other customers around the world.”

Nilit has named former Nylstar President Basil B. “Sonny” Walker president of Nilit US.
“Sonny’s knowledge of the North American market will help us drive Nilit’s growth on the
continent,” Gottlieb said. “In addition, Sonny’s leadership will ensure a smooth integration and
uninterrupted service for both our existing and new customers.”

“The union of Nilit and Nylstar here in the US will be extremely beneficial for our
customers,” Walker said. “Not only will this new partnership ensure ready supply but we expect even
higher levels of innovation and quality to result from this collaboration.”

Nylstar’s product line includes fully-, partially- and low-oriented yarns in a variety of
filament counts, lusters and cross-section types. Nylstar’s line will complement Nilit’s portfolio
of branded performance yarns for intimate apparel, bodywear, legwear and activewear.

May 5, 2009

Polyester staple fiber producer DAK Americas LLC, Charlotte, and carpet manufacturer Shaw
Industries Group Inc., Dalton, Ga., have formed a joint venture (JV) company, Clear Path Recycling
LLC, to produce Recycle PET (RPET) from post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles.

Clear Path Recycling plans to build a facility at DAK’s Cedar Creek PET resin manufacturing
site in Fayetteville, N.C., and annually will recycle more than 280 million pounds of PET – equal
to around 5 billion bottles. The operation will reduce energy use by some 2.5 trillion British
thermal units compared to virgin polyester production.

DAK and Shaw will use the RPET material primarily in-house, with the balance to be sold
through merchant sales. Operations are expected to begin by first-quarter 2010 and provide
approximately 100 new jobs.

May/June 2009

The Carpet America Recovery Effort™ (CARE) – a voluntary, joint industry and government group that
promotes carpet recycling and re-use – announced winners of the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA)/CARE Innovations in Recycling award, the CARE Recycler of the Year award and the CARE Person
of the Year award at its Seventh Annual Conference, held recently in Lansdowne, Va.

The EPA/CARE award – which recognizes innovative products containing post-consumer carpet
content or a process that diverts large amounts of post-consumer carpet from landfills – was given
to Dalton, Ga.-based Shaw Industries Group Inc.’s Evergreen Nylon Recycling Facility, and the Los
Angeles Fiber Co. and its president, Ronald Greitzer. Since Shaw acquired the Evergreen plant in
2007, the company has recycled more than 220 million pounds of post-consumer nylon 6 carpet and
more than 36 million pounds of post-consumer carpet filler, and has reduced fossil fuel usage
through the plant’s waste-to-energy processing. Los Angeles Fiber and Greitzer have recycled more
than 464 million pounds of post-consumer carpet since 2000, which is more than 40 percent of the
accumulated poundage of recycled carpet CARE has reported since it began collecting data in 2002.

CARE named Calhoun, Ga.-based Mohawk Industries Inc. Recycler of the Year, recognizing the
company for its GreenWorks Post-Consumer Recycling Center in Chatsworth, Ga., which converts
post-consumer carpet into engineered resins that can be used in a variety of products. In 2008, the
GreenWorks Center collected 15 million pounds of post-consumer carpet for processing into
thermoplastic nylons and other materials.

Brendan McSheehy, director of research and development for Universal Fiber Systems, was
named Person of the Year for his exemplary leadership on the CARE Board and for serving as chairman
on various CARE committees. McSheehy holds a patent for a method of cleaning and separating
post-consumer carpet face yarn, and he was instrumental in the development of Universal Fiber’s
ReFresh Fiber, which contains post-consumer content from recycled nylon 6,6 carpet.

In other group news, CARE has released figures from its 2008 annual report indicating a
decrease in the recycling and diversion of post-consumer carpet compared to 2007 levels. The report
revealed that in 2008, 243.4 million pounds of post-consumer carpet were recycled and 292.4 million
pounds were diverted from landfills – an 11.4-percent decrease in recycling and a 0.8-percent
decrease in diversion compared to 2007.

According to CARE Board Chairman Frank Hurd, the reduction was less than expected,
considering the current economic downturn and the negative business results reported by other
industries in 2008. On a positive note, new data collected for the first time in CARE’s 2008 member
survey revealed 1,100 industry employees are directly involved in carpet recycling, which
translates into an additional 2,200 indirect jobs created in local communities.

May 5, 2009

Taiwan-based Everest Textile Co. Ltd. – a vertically integrated textile company with yarn spinning,
twisting, weaving, dyeing, finishing and printing operations – reports it is the first company in
Asia to receive bluesign® certification for coating and lamination products. The bluesign standard
is a third-party international quality guideline that denotes eco-friendly production and textiles
as well as efficient use of resources.

Everest Textile’s coating and lamination products underwent product, environmental and
personnel safety tests to become certified. The company has installed devices to reduce pollution
such as gas gather equipment, soft curtains and exhausts in the laminating machine and stirring
areas where solvent evaporates or odors are emitted. Everest also has created the dimethyl
formamide (DMF) circulation system, which allows DMF solvent to be recycled and reused, thereby not
polluting the environment.

In 2007, Everest Textile launched its Everest Sustainability Model initiative, which
includes strategic measures to save energy, reduce waste, and meet the goal of zero emissions at
its three plants. Everest officially became a bluesign partner in May 2008. The company currently
has 22 product lines and 935 products that are bluesign-certified, and its plants in Shanghai and
Thailand are undergoing bluesign screenings.

May 5, 2009

Winston-Salem, N.C.-based innerwear, outerwear and hosiery apparel manufacturer and marketer
Hanesbrands Inc. will reduce its corporate management and US distribution workforce by 500 people
in an effort to cut costs and weather the current global economic downturn.

The layoffs will impact approximately 200 management employees based in Winston-Salem, 30
located elsewhere in the United States and 20 outside of the United States. Citing decreased
product volume, Hanesbrands also will lay off 40 employees from its Annapolis Drive distribution
center in Winston-Salem and expects to shutter the center by the end of 2010, letting go the
remaining 200 workers. The company also will cancel its contract with a logistics firm that
operates a distribution center in Jacksonville, Fla., by the end of 2010, affecting 10 employees.
Products currently distributed through the centers will be moved to Hanesbrands’ distribution
centers in Martinsville, Va., and Perris, Calif.

Hanesbrands will provide affected employees with severance and outplacement benefits.

April 28, 2009

“What is your best price?” This question is as old as mankind. In times of a rough market climate,
the question seems to be even more obvious. But is it really so?

As

Textile World
reported last week, IMB took place in Cologne, Germany, April 21-24. In view of the current
economic situation, there were obviously fewer visitors. However, IMB is still the world’s
number-one show and the most important trade fair for processing all kinds of textiles. The trend
toward verticalization is more prominent than ever. The whole production chain must know what the
upstream and downstream links in the chain are doing. “Simple” apparel information is not enough
any more. (
TW
will refer to this trend in the next Rupp Report.)



Mixed Emotions At IMB

Some exhibitors from Europe and the United States were quite happy with the show and had a
hard time handling all the visitors. On the other hand, it was quite remarkable to see that mainly
Far East exhibitors had a hard time too, but rather with no visitors during the show. And, as it’s
been since 2003 – who is shouting ITMA Birmingham? – there were some companies present at the show,
but also some absent.

The French company Lectra, a global leader for machinery and software for the apparel and
technical textiles industry, was present with a 500-square-meter booth, and the stand was crowded
during the whole exhibition. Lectra invited some journalists to an evening presentation to discuss
the market situation and the future of the global textile industry.

The Market Position Is The Determinant

Lectra CEO Daniel Harari gave a remarkable opening speech. In his presentation, he mentioned
that every company has to evaluate first its position in the market: “Low-value products are always
under pressure. There is always another one with a lower price. If you produce high-quality
products, and you can convince your customer with the added value of your products, you will make
more money.” Then he asked himself if the lowest price is always the best price, and the answer
came promptly.



Do You Want To Make Money?

“Well,” Harari said, “first of all, you have to believe in the future. If you don’t believe
in it, you will not invest. So we always ask our customers, do you want the lowest or so-called
‘best price,’ or do you want a return on your investment? The question, ‘what is your best price?’
becomes obsolete if the equipment is fine-tuned to the requirements of the customer. The best or
lowest price is usually not the best solution, and definitely not in hard times. When the market is
booming, you can sell anything. But in hard times, every customer wants the best product for a
competitive price. And to be competitive means to have the right equipment. One should always
strive for the best equipment for his production to make money. And that’s what we all are here
for. Without any profit, every company will go down the drain. How do you want to further invest,
if you don’t make money?”

Let

Textile World
know if you agree or not with this statement. We’ll be happy to see your comments. Write to
jrupp@textileworld.com.

April 28, 2009

A diverse coalition of importers, apparel manufacturers, business groups and   
associations seeking to reduce poverty throughout the world is appealing to Congress and the Obama
administration to make major changes in trade preference agreements to place more emphasis on
helping underdeveloped nations.

If successful, the effort could make major changes in or eliminate the US textile industry’s
coveted yarn forward rule of origin for textile and apparel imports in existing and future trade
preference agreements (TPAs).

The coalition strongly supports TPAs as a way to fight poverty and raise the standard of
living in less developed countries, but it believes they should be changed to permit wider coverage
and elimination of what it calls “restrictive” rules. They also believe trade preferences benefit
US consumers by giving them a wider choice of products at affordable prices.

Kevin Burke, president and CEO of the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA), says
the current set of US trade preference programs “have short durations, rigid product restrictions
and complex, often contradictory, rules that lead to immense uncertainty and confusion that has
severely limited the benefits of these programs.”

In letters to the House and Senate trade committee leaders in Congress and the US Trade
Representative, the coalition said: “For decades, the United States has extended preferential,
duty-free access to imports from selected developing countries through a growing number of
preference programs. These programs have contributed to economic development around the world and
improved the livelihoods of people living in poverty. In many cases jobs created under preference
programs have provided opportunities for women and low-skilled workers who otherwise have
relatively few economic alternatives in many countries, yet are responsible for supporting entire
families and communities.”

While strongly endorsing the idea of trade preference agreements, the coalition is calling
for reforms, including:

• one simple, unified U.S. trade preference program that extends benefits to all developing
  countries, including advanced developing countries; contains consistent, transparent, predictable
  and enforceable rules for termination of country and product eligibility; includes a mechanism for
  public comment and a clear review process for continued participation with regular reporting to
  Congress on performance and trends; and uses a simple rule of origin for all products and remains
  in effect long enough to encourage long-term investments and sourcing; and
• enhanced benefits for least developed countries, including sub-Saharan Africa and designated
  low-middle-income countries including extension of duty-free, quota-free market access for all
  products; and a less restrictive rule of origin for eligible sub-Saharan Africa countries.

The coalition also calls for extension of two TPAs set to expire at the end of this year – the
General System of Trade Preferences program and the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act
– and a successful conclusion of the World Trade Organization’s Doha Development Agenda.

The 29-member coalition includes such diverse interests as the US Association of Importers
of Textiles and Apparel, AAFA, the Business Roundtable, the US Chamber of Commerce, the Emergency
Committee for American Trade, the National Retail Federation, the Center for Global Development,
Women Thrive Worldwide, The Hunger Project, the US-Bangladesh Advisory Council and the US-India
Business Council.



April 28, 2009

In a major policy speech at Georgetown University in Washington, US Trade Representative (USTR) Ron
Kirk called for a fresh approach to international trade that can help lift the United States and
other nations out of the current worldwide recession and build a foundation for future growth and
prosperity.

Kirk was highly critical of past trade policies, which he says “lacked rhyme and reason.” He
said people have wondered if the United States is getting a fair shake in trade agreements, that
enforcement has been lacking and “our trading partners have run roughshod over us.”

The newly appointed USTR, in one of his early policy speeches, said “an aggressive effort to
keep trade flowing and open more markets to American goods and services absolutely must be a big
part of our economic recovery here at home.”

Noting that one in six jobs currently is supported by exports, Kirk said the way to get the
economy back on track is to open more markets for US goods and “level the playing field to ensure
that foreign governments play by the rules and treat our companies and workers fairly.”

He cited examples of initiatives already underway, including a review of the free trade
agreements with Panama, Colombia and South Korea that have been negotiated but await congressional
consideration. He placed considerable emphasis on working through the World Trade Organization to
strengthen a rules-based trading system employing dialogue or formal consultations where possible,
but litigation if that fails.

Noting that the world’s poorest nations have “a special place in the Obama trade agenda,”
Kirk said, “We are committed to promoting policies that help even the poorest developing countries
succeed at trade.” He believes a successful Doha Round of trade liberalization negotiations is
important, saying, “An agreement that takes the global terms of trade beyond the current status quo
will provide benefits for years to come.”

Kirk concluded by saying, “Working together with our people here, and with our partners in
the world, we can make trade a vital part of a brighter future.”



April 28, 2009

Greensboro, N.C.-based International Textile Group (ITG) has reduced capacity at its White Oak
Plant, which manufactures denim for ITG’s Cone Denim division. The company cited a decrease in
current demand in announcing the layoffs, which affected 100 employees. The news follows Cone
Denim’s announcement last December that it would shut down the White Oak Plant’s yarn operation and
reduce weaving capacity, laying off some 150 people. The White Oak facility now employs
approximately 300 people and continues to service the premium jeans market in the United States and
Europe.

ITG also announced it will idle operations at its Cone Denim Nicaragua (CDN) facility for an
extended time as a result of weakness in the global economy and reductions in the Central American
supply chain. CDN is a fully vertical manufacturing facility near Managua, Nicaragua, that opened
in April 2008. The plant employs some 850 people to process raw cotton fiber into finished denim
fabric.

“We continue to believe that the Central American supply chain is a viable supply chain mid-
to longer-term, and we are continuing to work with the Nicaraguan government and others in the
supply chain to develop future opportunities,” said Delores Sides, director of corporate
communications and human relations, ITG.

In other company news, ITG’s Burlington Worldwide uniform business recently received a
contract from the US Department of Defense to manufacture uniform fabric.

April 28, 2009