Industry Notes - November 2003

Cone Mills filed for bankruptcy as part of an acquisition agreement with WL Ross & Co. The $90 million transaction, including cash and assumed loans and liabilities, has been approved by Cone's Board. The proposed sale will enable Cone Mills to strengthen its leadership in denim and improve its ability to compete in the global textile marketplace, the company reports. Ross also purchased Burlington Industries last July.

DuPont Textiles & Interiors has changed its name to INVISTA. The company will build the INVISTA name primarily with trade audiences, and will link the consumer product brand marketing campaigns to the corporate identity. INVISTA will launch a business-to-business campaign to support its corporate identity to global trade media via a variety of communications channels. Details of that plan will be revealed in the coming months.

ProfitLogic has acquired Spotlight Solutions. The companies have joined to provide added experience and expertise in the merchandise optimization market.

Retail Technologies International Inc. (RTI), developer of Retail Pro software, announced a reseller agreement with Changyi Technologies, a provider of IT and application solutions to retailers in China. In addition to their systems design and implementation capabilities, Changyi develops software products, focusing on value chain management from manufacturers to customers for the distribution industry. Their total solutions can support various platforms from IBM to Sybase. Providing Retail Pro to retailers in China expands their POS, inventory control, business analytics, customer relationships, multi-store operations and e-commerce offering.

Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg P.A. (ST&R) has acquired the assets of Washington, D.C.-based International Business & Economic Research center (IBERC), a business division of Fasturn Inc. ST&R and IBERC each market interactive textile quota reporting and analysis services to more than 100 subscribers. ST&R produces the daily quota status and analysis service T/QUAS Interactive, while IBERC provides consulting services, research and analysis through its Trade Management suite of services to the commercial and apparel trading communities.

Shore To Shore has opened a new sales office and production facility in Bangkok, Thailand to serve the Indo-China market. The countries primarily serviced by this new facility include Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.