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Tuscaloosa, AL, August 31, 2004 ―  Textile Negotiator of the Executive Office of the President, David Spooner and James Leonard III, U.S. Department of Commerce Deputy Assistant Secretary for Textiles, Apparel & Consumer Goods Industries, met recently with executives of RadiciSpandex Corporation, the Tuscaloosa County Industrial Development Authority, and Area Public Officials at the Radici flagship spandex fiber spinning plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Tuscaloosa County Probate Judge Hardy McCollum stated, “the visit of the Commerce Department should help spotlight to our representatives in Washington what forward thinking U.S. manufacturers are doing to compete in the global economy.” Judge McCollum went on to add, “There have been a lot of arguments on what role the government should play in international trade when it comes to the manufacturing sector; especially in textiles.  Certainly the government should be very active in assuring that international trade agreements are fair and enforced.  It’s good for our officials to see that U.S. manufacturers, like RadiciSpandex, are (and have been) indeed doing the right things; leveraging technology, educating their work force and investing wisely to remain competitive.  Such companies have taken much of their future into their own hands through lean manufacturing, innovation and agility.  Our government needs to know that American ingenuity is alive and well.”

Dara Longgrear, Executive Director of Tuscaloosa County Industrial Development Authority, was also on hand with encouraging words for all area manufacturers; “state and local agencies are all working together in conjunction with industry leaders, utility companies and other providers to create and maintain a fertile environment that will foster the development of new businesses and attraction of world class manufacturers like RadiciSpandex to our area.  The success of RadiciSpandex since its groundbreaking in 1994 and its successive expansions has encouraged others to take advantage of this area’s favorable disposition toward high technology, clean, manufacturing type development that brings quality jobs with a future to our area.”

Rob Rebello, CEO of RadiciSpandex noted the challenges facing textile firms and textile fiber manufacturers in particular, “We’ve been impacted by foreign competition in a big way for the last decade.  It  has forced us to focus on our core competencies, explore overseas sales opportunities to diversify our market exposure and  leverage our product and platform technology for growth in areas in which we were both unfamiliar and uncertain.  There have been no guarantees of our success.  But with steady pursuit of modest goals, product quality, innovation, determination, willingness to change and staying in touch with our markets, we have emerged very confident and optimistic for our future.  We can’t rest here either … we have to keep changing … keep adapting.  We want to encourage and endorse every effort our federal government can take to help our customers with the growing global economic pressures so they too can successfully compete now and into the future.”

The impact of global competition on the domestic textile industry was a back-drop to the visit from Washington that included a tour of the over 180,000 square foot spandex fiber spinning plant to which RadiciSpandex is presently engineering an additional 15% of capacity.  Officials had the opportunity to see how a high performance raw material for fashion, sportswear and industrial fabrics like spandex is manufactured using the latest technology in automation.  Visitors were also shown new product developments in ultra fine deniers and new fiber chemistries that will help this U.S. manufacturer stay ahead of their overseas competitors. 

“We have focus and scale on our side,” says Bill Girrier, Vice President of Marketing and Sales.  “We are not bound by such vast production capacities that require us to run and run and run.  Therefore, we don’t have to compete only on price.  The U.S. industry has been pushed into a very narrow sector in order to survive.  Our customers and us have to produce innovative quality products, at globally competitive prices, just in time and at low volumes because the easy volume business has all gone to Asia.  That means that we have had to become some pretty lean, mean and agile “specialists” in a way.  We’re building relationships with other like-minded textile companies who are taking control of their destinies.  As we survive this global market transition, we will emerge as some very viable competitors in our part of the world … a “new order” of textile manufacturers for the future.”

RadiciSpandex Corp. is a U.S. subsidiary of THE RADICI GROUP, a multi-billion dollar entity based in Italy that employs 9,000 employees in 68 factories worldwide. The company is a multi-national, multi-ethnic industry player whose integrated business activities range from synthetic fibers to chemicals, plastics, packaging and textile machinery. Synthetic fibers (nylon, polyester, polypropylene and spandex/elastane) are the core activity of the group.

For more information on RadiciSpandex Corp. and The Radici Group, visit www.radicispandex.com and www.radicigroup.com.