Thomson Develops New Antimicrobial Treatment

Thomson Research Associates Inc., Toronto, has developed Ultra-Fresh® Silpure, the latest in its
line of antimicrobial Ultra-Fresh products. According to the company, Silpure provides superior
resistance to fiber degradation and odor through the use of metallic silver.

Silpure uses proprietary nanotechnology manufacturing processes for the metallic silver, and
is applied to textiles at the finishing stage. Using typical application processes on 100-percent
polyester fabrics, plant trials have shown bacterial survival is less than 0.1 percent after 50
washings.

“Previous cost barriers to the wider use of silver have been overcome,” said Laval Yau,
Ph.D., president. “Now, silver antimicrobials are no longer confined to niche markets. They can be
used effectively and profitably through the broadest range of consumer products.
”

July/August 2005

Küsters Supplies Equipment To Turkish Textile Companies

Eduard Küsters Maschinenfabrik GmbH and Co. KG, Germany, has delivered a continuous washing range,
a CPB dyeing center and a continuous open-width dyeing range to companies in Turkey.

In order to transition to continuous finishing, contract knit finisher Ariteks Boyacilik has
installed a continuous washing range for knits and a CPB dyeing center. With the new washing range,
which includes Elanit open-width washing machines, Ariteks is able to handle a wide range of
fabrics, from light, flat articles to heavy pile knitwear, in weights ranging between 150 and 250
grams per square meter (g/m2).

Oztek has received a continuous open-width dyeing range capable of treating cotton fabrics in
weights ranging from 140 to 300 g/m2. Despite being seven years old, the range was considered to be
brand-new. Delivered by Küsters to a Russian company in 1997, the range had never been unpacked and
assembled. Küsters service engineers were able, however, to assemble and commission the range. It
will run at production speeds of up to 50 meters per minute.

kusters_Copy_3
Küsters washing unit, part of a pad-steam dyeing range, during assembly at Oztek

July/August 2005

Zimmer Commissions Plant In China For Fujian Jinlun

Zimmer AG, a Frankfurt-based engineering and construction company, has commissioned a polyester
staple fiber plant in China for Fujian Jinlun Petrochemical Fiber Industry Co. Ltd. The plant,
which represents a 30 million-euro investment, has been designed to have a production capacity of
400 tons per day. It comprises two lines that use state-of-the-art spinning and staple fiber
production technology.

zimmer_Copy_1
Fiber line installed by Zimmer at Fujian Jinlun’s new plant in China

Germany-based Fleissner GmbH, a Zimmer affiliate, designed the staple fiber production lines,
which are equipped with the worlds largest crimper. Zimmer provided the technology, engineering and
key equipment; and supervised the construction and start-up of the facility.

July/August 2005

Uster Bestows USTERIZED® Quality Certificates In China

Uster Technologies AG, Switzerland, recently bestowed the first USTERIZED® certificate of quality
on a customer in China. The certificate serves as a seal of quality for yarns tested, inspected and
cleared using Uster products.

Esquel Textile Co. Ltd. CEO Lim Cho Chui received the certificate at a ceremony held during
the recent ShanghaiTex exhibition. Esquel spinning mills Xinjiang Esquel Textile Co. Ltd. and
Turpan Esquel Textile Co. Ltd. both received certification.

July 2005

Industry Opposes Change In Competitiveness Program

Cotton textile manufacturers, farmers and merchants are strongly opposed to the Bush
administration’s plans immediately to eliminate subsidy payments that have been a key element in
the US governments cotton competitiveness program. Under that program’s so-called step two, textile
mills and merchants are paid the difference between the domestic price for cotton and the world
price when the world price is lower than the domestic price. By law, US textile manufacturers are
virtually prohibited from importing cotton under a long-standing program designed to help support a
domestic cotton industry.

The Bush administration announced last week it needs to eliminate the subsidy in order to
comply with a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling that the subsidies are illegal.

US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said implementing the proposed changes will make the
United States in compliance with WTO trade rules, something he said is essential to a successful
Doha Round of trade liberalization negotiations.

The US cotton industry from farmers to textile mills are opposed to the immediate
implementation of the changes and will seek modification of the proposal when it is considered by
Congress. National Cotton Council Chairman Woods Eastland said the approach being suggested by the
administration would change the terms and conditions of the cotton program in the middle of the
marketing season. The administration’s approach would alter a fundamental piece of the sales and
marketing structure for cotton in the United States in mid-stream, harming many US cotton merchants
and textile manufacturers, he said.

Conceding that the elimination of the payments likely is a done deal, W. Duke Kimbrell, whose
Parkdale Mills is the nation’s largest spinner of cotton yarn, said the action will make US textile
manufacturers even less competitive and likely result in further job losses and mill closings.
While emphasizing the immediate elimination of the subsidies would be extremely harmful, he
expressed the hope they could be continued until 2006 when the current farm bill expires.

Legislation eliminating the subsidies must be approved by Congress, and the mills and cotton
growers and merchants will be seeking what they say will be a fair and appropriate response to the
WTO decision.



July 2005

What Is Your Future In Textiles?



W
 inning in today’s marketplace isn’t easy, and it is full of obstacles — but for many it
is happening. Innovation in the way companies are managed, in understanding markets and in a
company’s relationship to the global marketplace is making a difference. It is the future. “
Smaller,” “ leaner,”and “innovative” keep coming up as adjectives to describe the future of the US
textile industry.

The nagging debate over China, the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and trade
in general is a major distraction from building strategies that deal with the inevitable changes
facing the US industry. While many wait for an outcome of trade issues, others insist this is a
lingering process that will bump along until 2008, when it would appear all bets will be off and no
safeguard process will be left to affect trade with China. Then the full impact of China on the
US-CAFTA region will be felt. The focus quickly will shift to abolishing tariffs around the globe —
the next trade battleground.

One North American manufacturer said recently that sooner or later business is going to be
about leading companies competing and collaborating on a global scale — and not about the economic
wrangling associated with trade fairness.

For some, true open markets are a scary thought; for others, wishful thinking; and still
others say it can never happen because of discrepancies in wage, environment and currency issues.
Regardless of who is right, winning companies are embracing the future and moving forward without
fanfare.

At some point, the doom and gloom gets pretty old. It can’t be allowed to overshadow those
who are engaged, moving forward and finding their way through challenging times. At the recent
VESTEX show in Guatemala, the majority of US companies had positive things to say about their
businesses and about the future — they were there, looking for business and looking for partners.

At ShanghaiTex, with seven buildings, 100,000 square meters of machinery and 35,000
attendees on the first day, machinery producers spoke of slowing Chinese investment in equipment.
Three buildings of China-produced equipment drew interest as producers quietly spoke of Chinese
machinery rivaling well-known global producers at “85 percent of the technology and 35 to 40
percent of the price.”

It is apparent the change afoot affects more than manufacturers — it is impacting the entire
supply chain. One leading machinery manufacturer said he has been working in China for more than 25
years and his focus is, Where is the next China? Uzbekistan? Russia? India? For him, the next
opportunity is the future.

By many accounts, the Techtextil show in Frankfurt was a great success, showing the dynamics
of change that have flowed into the nonwovens and technical textiles marketplace.

As the world gets smaller, markets widen and competition increases, US competitiveness will
continue to be challenged — fairly or unfairly. Understanding the marketplace, using marketing to
lead product development, building brands and value that compete for global recognition — those who
get it will win, and win for the long run.


July/August 2005

Embargoes Placed On Chinese Imports

Textile manufacturers, organized labor and the US government are continuing to use a market
disruption safeguard mechanism to limit a continuing flood of Chinese textile and apparel imports.
On July 8, the US government announced it has embargoed any further shipments this year of three
categories of Chinese apparel. Products covered by the embargo are cotton knit shirts (categories 338/339), cotton trousers (c
ategories 347/348) and underwear (categories 352/652) where import growth has been as much as 1,000 percent over 2004. The
government acted with unusual speed, as it placed the embargo on the shipments just six weeks after
safeguards on the three product categories were approved.

Commenting on the government’s speedy action, Cass Johnson, president of the National Council
of Textile Organizations, said: China was ready to ambush the US textile industry in 2005, but
timely action by the Bush administration has kept damage to a minimum. He added to his comments an
appeal for Congress to approve the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement
(DR-CAFTA), which is pending in the US House of Representatives, In this competitive climate, the
US textile industry not only needs strong action against [China’s] unfairly subsidized imports, but
it must also have advantageous trade agreements such as DR-CAFTA, he said.

Following the action on the embargoes, on July 11 an industry/labor coalition kept the ball
rolling on safeguards by filing five more petitions for relief. Products involved are cotton and
man-made fiber non-knit shirts (categories 341/641), other cotton and man-made fiber shirts
(categories 342/642), cotton and man-made fiber pajamas and nightwear (categories 351/651), cotton and man-made fiber swimwear (categories 359s/659s) and cotton and man-made fiber curtains (categories 369/999.

July 2005

Reliance, Rieter Team Up To Adapt Fiber Spinning Processes

Reliance Industries Ltd., India, and Switzerland-based Rieter Machine Works Ltd. recently
celebrated the opening of the new Reliance Fiber Application Center in Patalanga, India. The new
center includes a complete Rieter trial process line, which will be used to conduct joint trials
with the goal of adapting Reliance’s polyester fiber properties and/or Rieter’s spinning machinery
to gain maximum suitability of both fiber and spinning processes for targeted downstream
applications.

The Reliance/Rieter partnership will enable Reliance to test the performance of newly
developed fibers on Rieter machinery before offering them to its customers. It is expected that
changing the fiber properties and fine-tuning the machinery as needed will lead to enhanced
performance of the fibers and improved operational efficiency for spinners.

July/August 2005

Philadelphia Offers Textile Engineering Technology Degree

As of the Fall 2005 semester, Philadelphia University will offer a four-year program leading to a
bachelor of science degree in textile engineering technology. “The Textile Engineering Technology
program will give students the tools to successfully manage textile businesses around the world,”
said David Brookstein, Sc.D., dean of the university’s School of Engineering and Textiles.
“Graduates will have the top-notch management and technology skills needed to lead textile and
apparel businesses in today’s global business environment.”

The program will offer four areas of concentration: product development; quality assurance
and assessment; textile manufacturing management; and pre-masters in business administration.
Textile courses taken as part of the curriculum include survey courses covering the textile and
apparel industries, yarn engineering, knitting, weaving, dyeing and finishing, nonwovens, textile
materials and textile costing. Designed to comply with Accrediting Board for Engineering and
Technology requirements, the program will be eligible for such accreditation upon graduation of its
first class.

July/August 2005

CAFTA Summit 2005 In El Salvador Draws Large Number Of Attendees

CAFTA was the main focus of the recent Textile and Apparel Summit – officially
named The CAFTA Summit 2005 – held July 18-20 in San Salvador, El Salvador. In its third
year, the summit was organized for the first time by the Atlanta-based American Apparel Producers’
Network (AAPNEtwork). Attendees came primarily from North and Central America, and initial
estimates put total attendance around 300 visitors. Mike Todaro, managing director, AAPNetwork,
said 80 US-based companies had a presence at the summit, indicating to him that the United States
apparel supply chain is definitely interested in opportunities in the CAFTA region. The first
day of the summit focused on speakers who offered attendees a glimpse of the region and potential
opportunities available, as well as a global perspective with a look at the threat from China.
Speakers, who included Jim Jacbos, Milliken and Company; Mike Tyndall, Cotton Incorporated;
Jonathan Fee, Alston and Bird LLP; Tim Heberlein, TS Edgewater Consultants; and Thomas Morten
Haugen, Li and Fung USA; gave presentations and then took questions from the audience. The
format changed slightly on the second day of the summit. Panels comprised of experts from various
segments of the supply chain, from finance to fabric, held interactive discussions with the
audience about concerns and advantages of working in the region. “I see a more committed
attitude to the region than ever before at this Summit,” said Alfonso Hernandez, chairman and CEO,
The Argus Group, Medley, Fla., in closing the summit on Wednesday. “It’s up to us. Only we can make
it happen, and we can only make things happen if we work as a team and realize we are on the same
side of the fence.”

July 2005

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