Rep. Robin Hayes (R-NC) has introduced legislation in Congress designed to strengthen the
governments ability to combat illegal textile transshipments, smuggling and other types of fraud.
The bill would authorize increased staffing at the U.S. Customs Service that would enable that
agency to improve its inspection and record-keeping ability. It also would increase penalties for
fraud and reduce Customs ability to unilaterally reduce or waive penalties for illegal textile
trade. Inspectors would be directed to spend more effort looking at container traffic, particularly
goods going to Mexico and Canada under the governments “in transit program. There is not likely to
be any action on the bill since Congress is in recess until Nov. 12 when it will return for a “lame
duck” session. At that time, it will concentrate on appropriation bills and other high priority
legislation. However, the bill is another expression of congressional interest in getting Customs
to do a more effective job of policing illegal textile trade.
October 2002

ESL Offers TensileTester Retrofit KitElectro Standards Laboratories (ESL), Cranston, R.I., is now
offering a tensile tester retrofit kit for manual or motorized test frames. The kit can be
customized to fit with individual requirements. Options include ESLSense I-Plus intelligent
indicator, industry standard load cell and extensometer, and a graphical user interface (GUI)
software package. The new DataView Lite-Plus software provides retrofitted testers with expanded
capabilities for file management, statistical reporting, data plotting, report generation and
password security.
October 2002

Guilford ReorganizationPlan Receives Final ApprovalFollowing a vote of acceptance by its creditors
and stockholders, Greensboro, N.C.-based Guilford Mills Inc. has received final approval from the
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for its reorganization plan. After nearly two years of restructuring and six
months of financial reorganization, we have Guilford positioned exactly where weve wanted all
along, said John A. Emrich, president and CEO.Guilford prenegotiated several aspects of the plan
with its creditors prior to filing for bankruptcy protection last March. Under the plan, the
company will pay all suppliers in full. Senior lenders will own 90 percent of the company, leaving
the remaining 10-percent ownership to existing shareholders. Senior debt will be reduced to $145
million from $270 million owed prior to its bankruptcy filing.Over the past year, Guilford has been
selling off certain assets related to apparel and home fashions in order to focus on producing
fabrics for automotive, technical textile and select apparel markets.
October 2002

The U. S. Trade Negotiator has agreed to permit importation of cotton trousers from Bangladesh in
excess of that nations import quota, but the U.S. will cut next years quota by three times the
amount of this years overshipment. Some 175,000 dozen pairs of cotton trousers have been embargoed
since mid-summer, as the two governments tried to decide what to do about the overshipments.
Importers urged the U.S. government to release the trousers, contending that stores needed them in
time for Christmas sales. The U.S. textile industry and its supporters in Congress insisted that
that quota should be enforced.Bangladesh at first asked that the overshipment be forgiven, and when
that was turned down, it asked to borrow from next years quota, as has been the practice in some
cases in the past. In the end, the U.S. government settled on releasing the embargoed shipments,
but levied a penalty on next years imports.Retailers who had been pressing to receive the goods
were satisfied with the compromise, but noted that it presents a problem for Bangladesh. Parks
Shackelford, president of the American Textile Manufacturers Institute (ATMI), while pointing out
that his organization does not believe overshipments should be permitted, said that under the
circumstances, the governments action was a reasonable compromise.

Glenoit Fabrics Looks AheadNew York City-based Glenoit Fabrics (H.G.) Corp., formerly the sliver
knit pile fabric division of Glenoit Corp., is forming new supplier relationships, as well as
strategies to increase its global market share for pile fabrics.The company is now the North
American division of the China-based Haixin Group International Ltd., also a manufacturer of pile
fabrics. Haixin purchased the division from Glenoit Corp. earlier this year.Glenoit is working with
suppliers of acrylic and modacrylic fiber and raw materials including Germany-based Dralon and
Japan-based Mitsubishi, Kaneka and Mitsui to develop new fibers for Glenoit to use in its
fabrics.The company also is looking into new markets. Glenoit and Haixin pile fabrics currently
comprise approximately 25 percent of global production of these fabrics.Our manufacturing
flexibility allows us and our customers a range of economic, geographic and logistical advantages,
said Larry Levine, president and COO, Glenoit Fabrics. The company can supply fabric from its U.S.
and Canadian mills and from Haixins mills in China, as well as provide complete manufacturing
services as needed.
October 2002