New trade group seeks to bolster U.S. textiles
Two existing industry associations, including ATMI, appear on verge of folding
By Susan M. Andrews -- Furniture Today, March 1, 2004
WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON — A new trade group called the National Council of Textile Organizations is forming with the intention of representing the beleaguered U.S. textile industry.
The NCTO aims to have a broader base than the American Textile Manufacturers Institute and the American Yarn Spinners Assn. The latter groups recently considered merging, and both are said to be dismantling.
Formation of the NCTO has been under way for some time, sparked by the trade agreement signed with Vietnam by the Bush administration in May 2003.
According to a letter mailed to about 200 executives in textiles and related industries such as fibers, chemicals and machinery, the NCTO "has emerged from the expressed desire to unify and enjoy the potential synergy available to us all."
The letter was signed by Allen Gant, president of Glen Raven. He is president of the new group, which has an April 1 target date for launching.
NCTO's strategy, as outlined in the letter, will be to have a small team in Washington and an operations office in North Carolina, perhaps in Gastonia, to keep costs down and be closer to the bulk of the industry in the Southeast.
Board members, in addition to Gant, listed in an attachment to the letter, are Stephen Felker, Avondale Mills; Hank Truslow Jr., Sunbury; Billy Moore, Polymer Group Inc.; Werner Bieri, Buhler Quality Yarns; Van May, Plains Cotton Cooperative Assn.; Gail Strickler, Saxon Textile; Jim Copland, Copland Inds.; Jim Chesnutt, National Spinning Co.; Steve Dobbins, Carolina Mills; Malloy Evans, Cheraw Yarn Mills; Smyth McKissick, Alice Mfg.; Rob Chapman, Inman Mills; Jerry Rowland, National Textiles; Jim Morgan, Rieter-ICBT; Joe Okey, American Monforts; and Roger Chastain, Mount Vernon Mills.
The small number of upholstery companies represented on the board may spur interest in a coalition of upholstery fabric producers that is being explored by Larry Liebenow of Quaker Fabric, Mike Shelton of Valdese Weavers and Roger Berkley of Weave Corp., among others.
Bankruptcies and mergers related to foreign competition have weakened the membership rosters and financial positions of both the ATMI and AYSA. But a merger of the two groups proved to be technically unfeasible, said Mike Hubbard, executive vice president of Gastonia-based AYSA.
Hubbard would not confirm that AYSA is dismantling because the membership hasn't voted on the issue.
"Our members may well decide to join the NCTO or they may want us to stay around," he said.
AYSA represents about 95% of the industry's spinners, but Hubbard acknowledged that membership continues to decline as companies exit the business.
