CARE is a voluntary initiative supported by US carpet manufacturers and related businesses
to reduce carpet waste sent to landfills. Milliken, whose Milliken Floor Covering division has sent
no carpet manufacturing waste to landfills since 1999, maintains forests and small hydroelectric
plants that absorb and reduce CO2 emissions totaling approximately 900 million pounds per year.

“Our managed forests sequester much more carbon dioxide than our factories produce,” said
Russell Grizzle, global president, Milliken Floor Covering. “Donating credits to reduce the
industry’s impact on landfills fits with our philosophy of respect to the Earth.”

At the conference, CARE released its Fourth Annual Report and announced that respondents to
its annual survey reported diverting 224.6 million pounds of carpet from landfills in 2005,
including 194.3 million pounds that were recycled — 97 percent more than were recycled in 2004.
Since 2002, when CARE began collecting statistics, 483.7 million pounds of carpet have been
diverted from landfills, based on survey results.

“Aside from the known amount we have reported in 2005, we now see a path to demand in 2007
that adds an additional need for more than 400 million pounds of old carpet,” said Robert Peoples,
Ph.D., executive director, CARE. “I am forecasting another increase of greater than 100 percent for
2006, which would reinforce our belief that this new industry of carpet landfill diversion is well
on its way to meet our overall goals.”

CARE also honored Winchester, Ky.-based Champion Polymer Recycling, a division of Old
Saybrook, Conn.-based Infiltrator Systems Inc., as Recycler of the Year; and Ronald Greitzer,
president of Vernon, Calif.-based Los Angeles Fiber Co., as Person of the Year.

Champion has implemented a polypropylene carpet recovery system to provide raw materials for
Infiltrator Systems’ leachfield chamber systems.

Mohawk Industries was selected as the recipient of the award based on the company’s
long-standing commitment to innovation in the textile industry and its business prowess in the
floorcovering industry, according to James M. Borneman, publisher of

Textile World
. Mohawk Industries is the largest floorcovering manufacturer and distributor in the
world, with 2006 sales approaching $7 billion.

“Mohawk is a very special company — one with a rich history, strong leadership that
understands today’s challenging business environment, and one that is one the move strategically
expanding its product and marketing capabilities,” said Borneman.

“Recognition from within one’s industry is always noteworthy and particularly satisfying,”
said Jeff Lorberbaum, Chairman and CEO of Mohawk Industries. “We are honored to be selected for
this honor from

Textile World
, and I think that it represents the continuous effort of employees throughout Mohawk
Industries to improve, renew, and redefine how our company works.”

The

Textile World
Innovation Award is presented annually by

Textile World
magazine in recognition of outstanding efforts and accomplishments in the textile
industry. The July/August 2006 issue of

Textile World
will feature the full Mohawk Industries story. Visit

Textile World
on the web at
www.textileworld.com.

Textile World
has covered the North American textile industry for more than 130 years and is a member
of the Textile Industries Media Group, a division of Atlanta-based Billian Publishing, Inc.

Nominations for future awards may be made by contacting the editorial staff at

Textile World
, 2100 Powers Ferry Road, Atlanta, GA 30339; (770) 955-5656.

A letter to US Trade Representative Rob Portman underscores the economic importance of the
industry and expresses concern over what is being reported about the Doha Round of trade
liberalization talks and the accession of Vietnam to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The letter
says: “We believe that unless the US government takes specific steps, these talks will likely cause
large job losses in the US textile and apparel sector. We are committed to working with you to
ensure that the concerns of this industry, which contributes $75 billion through textile production
and $2.7 billion through apparel to our GNP [gross national product], and is the third largest
exporter of textile products in the world, are addressed at this critical juncture.”

The letter calls for sectoral textile negotiations in the Doha Round and “substantially
equivalent” concessions that would ensure fairer and more open opportunities for both the United
States and its trading partners. It expresses concern the current talks are framed in a fashion
that will produce an “uneven outcome.” The letter says sharp cuts in US textile tariffs will “
almost certainly dismantle our various preferential trading programs that are dependent on
zero-duty arrangements.”

With respect to Vietnam, the letter says: “Like China, Vietnam has a large and subsidized
textile sector that utilizes anti-free market principles to under-price producers here in the
United States and elsewhere. Just as with China, the United States must insist on a textile
safeguard system or an extension of the current quotas until these unfair subsidies are removed.”

The congressmen warn “failure to address these concerns will substantially impact our view
of the administration’s legislative trade agenda from this point forward.”

Calabasas, Calif.-based Buxbaum Group, which has a controlling interest in Maya Apparel,
expects the facility to produce 300,000 to 700,000 units a month once it is completely on-line.
Maya will contract additional volume to other Honduran plants. The renovation will add special
services, incentive programs, and amenities such as air conditioning and an on-site medical
facility for the plant’s 400 employees. A group of local professionals will oversee quality control
at Maya’s facility and the contract plants, and will coordinate international shipping as well as
potential changes resulting from international commerce laws.

“Ownership of this facility will allow us to gain a greater degree of control over
production in order to ensure on-time delivery, as well as provide a level of quality that will
meet the most stringent criteria, including those of major retailers like Target, Wal-Mart and
Federated Department Stores,” said David Gren, president, Maya Apparel.

Additionally, the plant purchase and renovation are part of Buxbaum Group’s planned
turnaround of Indosheen, which previously had a structure that was not capable of handling the
manufacturer’s rapid growth, according to Gren.

“To take the company to the next level, we infused Maya with capital, hired additional
customer service personnel, and dramatically changed the operations and production procedures of
the business,” said Paul Buxbaum, chairman and CEO, Buxbaum Group.

The association’s board adopted what it called a new position regarding support for trade
agreements. While NCTO has supported a number of bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) and
CAFTA-DR, the board said it would not support and could actively oppose upcoming FTAs and other
trade agreements if, in the judgment of the industry, they “compromise the integrity and intended
trade benefits of current and future agreements.” These include decisions on the pending Peru and
Colombia FTAs and the Vietnam WTO accession.

With respect to CAFTA-DR fixes, both textile manufacturers and importers feel the pact is
not working out as planned. Because not all of the six signatories are on board, the duty-free
provisions have not yet kicked in for all of the countries, creating problems where there is
coproduction in the CAFTA-DR region. The NCTO board also cited problems with the treatment of
pocketing and linings and called for “quick legislation” to correct the problems associated with
the pact, which both importers and manufacturers viewed as a means to prevent China from taking
over the US market.

In connection with the Doha Round, the industry is continuing to press for textile sectoral
negotiations whereby textile issues would be considered separate. Importers are opposed to sectoral
negotiations, and the US government has not yet taken a position.

Day International is a manufacturer and distributor of highly engineered consumable products
for digital, flexographic and offset printing processes. The company’s Textile Products Group — a
major supplier of consumable, precision-engineered rubber cots, aprons, compressive shrinkage belts
and other fabricated rubber products used in yarn spinning and glass-fiber-forming applications —
employs approximately 270 people at its production facilities in Greenville and Germany, and sales
offices in Italy, Turkey and Hong Kong. In 2005, it realized sales totaling approximately $45
million.

Day’s textile products are sold directly to spinning mills globally and to textile machinery
original equipment manufacturers. Cots and aprons are marketed under the brands Accotex® and
Daytex®. Its Superba® rolls are used to seal tunnels used in carpet yarn processing.

“Day views this transaction as an opportunity to focus on our core image transfer business
while aligning our Textile Products Group with a successful, market-leading global company that is
focused on providing its customers full-service textile solutions,” said Dennis Wolters, president
and CEO, Day.

According to Day spokesman Dwaine Brooks, the acquisition by Saurer is a good fit for the
Textile Products Group. “We were wanting a good situation for our associates in the group, one of
whom has been with us for 65 years,” he said. “We feel good about the whole deal.”

“The proliferation of labels and hangtags on garments in stores can be confusing, especially
as the information they contain is often expressed in complicated technical language,” said Eric
Marohn, global head, Special Effects. “The new High IQ labels will give clear consumer benefit
statements, thus enhancing convenience and confidence in garment selection and purchase.”

SSML, part of the Sara Elgi Group, operates four divisions: Agriculture, Spinning, Weaving
and Garments. The three units comprising the Spinning Division produce carded and combed cotton
weaving and knitting yarns ranging from Ne 6 to Ne 140 using a range of spinning processes
including compact single, core spun, EliTwist and fancy. The company also spins organic cotton on
Suessen’s EliTeCompactSet system.