Effective Feb. 26, 2007, Chicopee Inc., a division of Charlotte-based Polymer Group Inc., will
raise the prices of all wiper products by 6 percent. The company said the increase will mitigate
the impact of higher viscose prices, which increased more than 20 percent during 2006 and are
expected to remain high for some time to come.
January 30,2007
Developed three years ago, Skintex technology enables apparel manufacturers to treat their
products with microcapsules that contain active naturally derived ingredients that are released to
the skin at a controlled rate over a fixed amount of time, providing benefits that consumers can
feel. The award-winning team has developed this technology to the point where it can be
mass-produced in large batches. Skintex is already found in jeans, pants, underwear and T-shirts
produced by certain apparel makers.
“Many textile producers regard cosmetotextiles and medical textiles with added, long-lasting
functionalities as one of the most important products of the future,” said team member
Oliver-Daniel Bogatu, director, business development textile technology. “Our aim is to help them
open up new markets through specialty chemicals that combine health and beauty benefits. Skintex is
the first branded, effective technology that successfully allows manufacturers to create textiles
with lasting functionalities that consumers can really feel.”
March/April 2007
Service packages offered by DyStar Textile Services include: Testing Solutions, including
colorfastness tests and analytical services based on international standards; Color Solutions,
providing improved color communication in order to reduce lead times; Ecology Solutions, providing
advice and recommendations to enable customers to comply with ecological specifications; and Expert
Solutions, offering advice, customized solutions and new technologies to help customers improve
productivity, comply with quality standards and protect brand image. These service packages are
available not only at the Shanghai service center, but also globally.
January 31, 2007
The report shows that virtually all of the industry’s economic benchmarks in 2006 were down
from 2005 — except for a small gain in profits — as rising imports continued to take their toll. On
the plus side of the ledger, NCTO reports free trade agreements negotiated during 2006 with Peru,
Colombia and Panama were the tightest ever with regard to textiles and apparel. The report also
says the US government, for the first time in 20 years, has moved aggressively on dumping on behalf
of a specific industry, and adds “in a post-quota world, this represents a new and fresh approach
to addressing the problem of dumped and subsidized apparel imports from countries that refuse to
act responsibly and live by their commitments.”
NCTO Chairman Smyth McKissick of Alice Manufacturing said the industry’s successes during
the past year are the “direct effect of relationships we have built with members of Congress and
the Administration.” He added, “It is only through partnerships with elected officials and public
servants that significant results have been achieved by the industry.” McKissick noted that a
series of “Hill to the Mill’ plant tours and other educational activities showed government
officials “a 21st Century, highly innovative industry that is capable of competing against anyone
in the world as long as the rules of trade are applied equitably and fairly.”
Looking toward 2007, McKissick sees a number of major issues to be confronted, but the
long-term treatment of China and Vietnam remain the industry’s top priorities. “With the expiration
of the China safeguards in 2008, the implementation of a new trade preference program for Haiti and
the push to conclude a Doha Round global trade agreement, our future challenges will be no less
daunting than the ones we have confronted in the past,” he said.
He also cited Chinese currency manipulation as a “major issue” and said NCTO will be working
with the China Currency Coalition, which includes a number of manufacturing industries and labor
representatives, to get a “strong” China currency bill enacted. He added that NCTO is looking
forward to working with the new Democratic-controlled Congress on fair trade proposals that will “
ensure the future viability of the US textile industry.”
January 30, 2007
The new DRATEFS system, comprising a product database and a driver-based forecasting model,
provides a report on the global textile end-use market for any of 281 products in the garment,
interior textiles, carpet, technical textiles or nonwovens categories. Product analysis includes
textile fiber and fabric components; dyeing, finishing and process components; and product
characteristics.
The system can provide forecasts up to 10 years ahead for up to 210 countries or specified
regions. It also can customize forecast tables according to client specifications.
January 30, 2007
Developed three years ago, Skintex technology enables apparel manufacturers to treat their
products with microcapsules that contain active naturally derived ingredients that are released to
the skin at a controlled rate over a fixed amount of time, providing benefits that consumers can
feel. The award-winning team has developed this technology to the point where it can be
mass-produced in large batches. Skintex is already found in jeans, pants, underwear and T-shirts
produced by certain apparel makers.
“Many textile producers regard cosmetotextiles and medical textiles with added, long-lasting
functionalities as one of the most important products of the future,” said team member
Oliver-Daniel Bogatu, director, business development textile technology. “Our aim is to help them
open up new markets through specialty chemicals that combine health and beauty benefits. Skintex is
the first branded, effective technology that successfully allows manufacturers to create textiles
with lasting functionalities that consumers can really feel.”
January 30, 2007
Paris-based Lectra, a developer of software, CAD/CAM equipment and related services for fashion
businesses, has released Easy Grading, an automated grading application that will be included in
the company’s PGS and Modaris pattern-design software solutions beginning February 2007.
Easy Grading — which has undergone testing in a variety of applications for men’s, women’s
and children’s wear in several global apparel-sector companies — utilizes conventional grading
methods through Lectra’s grading calculation tools, optimizing the grading process for
apparel-sector companies, and facilitating and accelerating grading activities by up to 70 percent,
according to the company.
The new system enables the user the select a graphical template from a user-customized
library, with grading information by product type. Once a measurement chart is selected, the user
loads the pattern pieces and automatically or manually positions them onto the template. Grading is
then performed with a click of the mouse.
“With this intelligent application, … grading of the majority of garments can now be
performed by anyone,” said Astrid Marlier, product manager for pattern-making and marker-making
applications. “Easy Grading enables fashion professionals to optimize grading activity and greatly
increase their productivity while capitalizing on the company’s knowledge and best practices. With
this innovation, grading takes only four clicks and a few minutes!”
Lectra also has released the latest version of Lectra Fashion PLM, V1R3. The totally
Web-based solution enables all those involved in a product’s life cycle to collaborate on the same
virtual version of fabrics and models. The latest version offers such improvements specific to
collection development process management as Workflow Management and Product Development
applications.
According to Lectra, Product Development enables rapid and precise synchronization and
management of multiple bids, prototype review and effective cost simulation that takes into account
a product’s multiple variants. Workflow Management organizes and controls collection project
activities, allowing close monitoring of collection development activities at various levels.
January 30, 2007
Fortune Magazine has named W.L. Gore & Associates Inc., Dow Corning Corp. and Milliken &
Company to its 100 Best Companies to Work For list. Ranking and selection were based on opinions of
company employees, and evaluation of the culture and policies of each company.
Newark, Del.-based W.L. Gore & Associates — manufacturer of GORE-TEX® fabric — marked its
10th consecutive year on the list, with a number 10 ranking overall and number 7 ranking among
medium-sized companies.
“All of our practices stress maximizing individual potential, cultivating an environment that
fosters creativity, and operating with high integrity in everything we do,” said Terri Kelly,
president and CEO, W.L. Gore.
Dow Corning Corp., Midland, Mich., ranked number 55, its first time on the list. “It is an
honor to be recognized for offering our team a great place to work,” said Stephanie A. Burns,
chairman, president and CEO, Dow Corning. “A healthy company begins and ends with healthy, happy
employees, who want to come to work, do their best, deliver results and contribute to the overall
success of Dow Corning and our customers.”
Spartanburg-based Milliken & Company once again achieved a spot on the list, ranking 93
overall, and 36th for medium-sized companies. Milliken is the only South Carolina-based company on
the list this year.
“Milliken’s incredibly talented workforce has demonstrated again that quality of work-life
goes hand in hand with quality of product, environmental excellence and social responsibility,”
said Ashley Allen, Ph.D., president and CEO, Milliken. “We will continue to work together to build
a great place to work, and I am glad we can all be recognized as one of the best companies in
America.”
January 24, 2007
San Francisco-based GAP Inc.’s Board of Directors and Paul Pressler have announced that Pressler
has resigned from his position as president and CEO, and his seat on the board. Robert J. Fisher,
non-executive chairman of the board, now serves as president and CEO on an interim basis. A search
committee has been formed by the board to find a new CEO.
“During this important transition period for our company, the board of directors and I are
committed to working with our employees to enhance our focus on what has been at the heart of the
company’s past success, reinvigorating our brands and charting a new course for the future that
will deliver strong returns for shareholders” said Fisher.
January 24, 2007
The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) has urged extension of the countervailing duty
law to non-market economies, such as China, charging that failure to impose such duties harms the
US textile industry. At the present time, the US Department of Commerce (DOC) has held, for a
number of reasons, that companies may not seek redress from imports from non-market economies for
what the say are unfair trade practices.
Appeals for a change by the department were triggered by an action in December, when DOC
officials agreed to look at a petition from a paper company asking for countervailing duties to be
applied to Chinese imports. The DOC has accepted the petition and has called for comments from
interested parties. If the petition is approved after public comments are reviewed, the DOC would
conduct a full-scale investigation into whether countervailing duties may be justified.
Charging that imports from China cause more harm and cost the industry more jobs than do
imports from any other country, NCTO President Cass Johnson, in a letter to the DOC, said the
department should overturn its “indefensible” policy and show leadership in defending laws designed
to prevent unfair trade practices.
In the past, the DOC has contended it cannot “unpeel subsidies” from non-market economies,
and as a result it has been unable to take countervailing duty actions against them.
“Subsidies are created to give real and tangible benefits to industries, and it seems amazing
that the United States government actually contends that it cannot arrive at a defensible
estimation of how much of a benefit a particular subsidy may deliver,” said Johnson. “The fact that
every other developed country says that they can unpeel these subsidies from non-market economies
makes such a stand indefensible.”
Johnson said China’s commitment to full and open disclosure as a member of the World Trade
Organization further weakens the US government’s position. “If China is not disclosing its
subsidies as most experts agree,” he said, “ the US government should discover them through an
intensive examination of Chinese policies.”
The US textile industry contends that China is subsidizing its exports with government
grants, low interest rates, currency manipulation, preferential tax rates and subsidized raw
materials.
January 24, 2007
