Cary, N.C.-based Cotton Incorporated’s newest Seal of Cotton trademark, which includes the word “
Natural,” will soon be found on the packaging of 100-percent cotton articles from six companies
offering a range of products from apparel and infants’ products to bedding and home fashions to art
papers to personal-care swabs and pads. The new Natural™ trademark is intended as a reminder to
consumers that in the current eco-conscious environment, cotton is a natural fiber; and also points
to 25 years of environmental improvements in the cultivation of cotton.

“The US cotton industry has made tremendous gains in being a cleaner and greener crop: pesticide
use has been cut in half and the use of irrigated water has been reduced nearly that much,” said J.
Berrye Worsham, president and CEO, Cotton Incorporated. “At the same time, yields have increased on
virtually the same acreage.”

The six companies that have adopted the new trademark include: Greensboro, N.C.-based AQ
Textiles LLC, for its Intellatex™ anti-allergenic bedding; Scranton, Pa.-based Concorde Apparel Co.
LLC, for its corduroy, seersucker and velvet sports coats and men’s apparel; New York City-based
Cutie Pie Baby Inc., for its infant/layette products; Legion Paper, New York City, initially for
its Rising®, Stonehenge and Somerset art paper lines, with others to be added; Los Angeles-based
Filo America, for its cotton swabs, rounds and squares; and Allentown, Pa.-based Sure Fit Inc., for
its organic cotton slipcovers.

Interest in using the Natural trademark is growing, and a number of other brands are also
expected to adopt it, according to a Cotton Incorporated spokesperson.

January 29, 2008

Polymer Group Inc. (PGI), Charlotte, has announced price increases globally across all products.
The company said the hikes will vary based on product composition, but generally will exceed 10
percent.


PGI attributes the increases to record high prices — in some cases, increasing by more than
30 percent — charged by its suppliers  for both resin and fiber-based raw materials including
polyester, polypropylene, pulp and rayon.

January 29, 2008

Hanesbrands Inc., Winston-Salem, N.C., has announced plans to close its narrow elastic production
plants in Advance and Asheboro, N.C., by the end of June 2008, resulting in the loss of
approximately 120 jobs. Going forward, the company will outsource that production, which comprises
waistbands mainly for women’s and girls’ underwear that it already is making up outside the United
States, to suppliers located around the world.

“We regret the need to close these facilities and the effect it will have on our employees and
their communities,” said Gerald Evans, executive vice president and chief global supply chain
officer. “These are well-run operations with very good workforces, but apparel has become a global
industry,” he added, noting that sending elastic produced in its US facilities to its offshore
facilities for inclusion in end products constructed there is not cost-effective.

Evans said the company would attempt to place terminated employees in positions at other
operations when openings become available. Affected employees also will be eligible for severance
benefits and US Trade Adjustment Act assistance.

Hanesbrands currently employs 6,600 people at its various North Carolina facilities including
headquarters, manufacturing plants, distribution centers and outlet stores.

January 29, 2008

Crailar® Fiber Technologies Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Canada-based Naturally Advanced
Technologies Inc. (NAT), has signed a Phase II Joint Collaboration Agreement with the National
Research Council (NRC) of Canada in order to further develop Crailar eco-friendly enzyme
technologies for the processing of bast fibers such s hemp and flax for the textile market. The
agreement will enable NAT and the NRC to continue a research and development partnership, formed in
2004 through an initial joint collaboration agreement with the NRC Institute for Biological
Sciences, through May 2010.


Plans call for the investment of more than CAN$3.5 million (US$3.4 million) in research,
development and commercialization of Crailar products. NAT will hold an exclusive worldwide license
from the NRC to intellectual property, including a patent application for hemp fiber extraction,
developed under the agreement.

NAT also plans to begin construction this year on its first Crailar manufacturing facility,
to be built according to Canadian Green Building Council guidelines on an 80-acre site in Craik,
Saskatchewan. The plant will be a primary processing facility utilizing patent-pending
decortication technology developed in collaboration with the Alberta Research Council, and also
will conduct secondary processing of hemp fiber for apparel, carpeting, home furnishings and basic
composite end-uses. It is expected to have an annual production capacity of 114 million pounds of
feedstock fiber, which will be processed primarily using renewable utility resources. Production
startup is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2009.

January 29, 2008

Organically Grown Group LLC, a Los Angeles-based licensing company recently founded to provide
fashion, footwear, accessories, home furnishings and textiles made with organically grown
materials, has signed its first licensees.

Delta Galil Industries Ltd., Israel, will manufacture sleepwear. Kids Headquarters, New York
City, will manufacture babies’ and children’s apparel; and Kayo of California, Los Angeles, will
manufacture womenswear. The new lines, all bearing the Organically Grown brand name, are set to
launch in Fall 2008.

“These companies are the best manufacturers in their respective categories, with combined sales of
approximately $2 billion,” said Larry Brandt, co-founder of the group, which is currently looking
for licensees for home furnishings and textiles, junior sportswear, footwear and accessories.

Organically Grown grew out of Brandt’s and co-founder and co-CEO Bob Stein’s desire to “
provide organic fashion for the entire family at a value,” according to Stein. Brandt acquired the
Organically Grown and Organically Grown Kids brand names from TJX, a Framingham, Mass.-based
apparel and home fashions retail company that he previously worked for, transforming the assets
into the Organically Grown Group.

Wearology Ltd. — an India-based business involved in organic farming and apparel, as well as
real estate development, recently acquired a 50-percent interest in the new company.

January 29, 2008

GoldToeMoretz LLC, Newton, N.C., a manufacturer and marketer of socks under its own as well as
licensed brands, and also for private label programs, has announced it will close its plant in
Burlington, N.C., and move production to its global supply chain. The closure will affect 430
employees, with layoffs in its finishing and knitting operations beginning in March and shutdown of
all operations to be completed by mid-year.


“Today we live in a global marketplace, which necessitates the expansion of our Canofil
facilities in Mexico and our supply chain partners in Asia,” said Bill Sheely, executive vice
president of operations. “We thank the past and continued commitment to the company of all
associates at the Burlington facility. This was a very difficult decision, but allows us to
continue to focus on the long-term goals of the company.”

Affected employees are eligible for severance benefits, and a Rapid Response Team deployed by
the North Carolina Department of Commerce will assist workers in finding new jobs and/or training.
The Rapid Response Team comprises representatives from state and local agencies such as the
community’s work force development board, the employment Security Commission and the NC Community
College System.

January/February  2008