MEXICAN SWEATER MANUFACTURER TARGETS JUNIORS MARKET WITH NEW YARN FROM AF&Y.

Press Contact:
John Avant 919-676-4115 (john.avant@avant.com)

Chapel Hill, NC (Feb. 9, 2004) - Textiles Intenacionales Riza, S.A. de C.V., a Mexican sweater manufacturer, has adopted an ultra soft yarn developed by American Fibers and Yarns (AF&Y) for use in a new line of sweaters targeted for the Juniors market. The sweaters will be sold in Mexico and the West Coast of the United States, and will carry the Innova brand, the AF&Y trademark for its apparel yarns.

The Innova yarn developed by AF&Y has been engineered for the soft hand required in the Juniors market. Juniors fashion apparel, not known for its performance characteristics, will now offer both fashion and performance. New hang tags have been designed for the market launch to stress in clear and concise language the "invisible" benefits that are important to junior-aged young ladies:

• Won't fade
• Won't shrink
• Won't stain
• Won't pill
• Bleach resistant
• Easy care/machine washable

"The Innova yarn allows us to offer performance that has never before been achieved in the Juniors market," said Alejandro Rivero of Riza. The ability to offer colors, including red, that are not affected by bleach was almost unbelievable until we saw the yarn's performance with our own eyes. Additionally, we found the yarn actually accentuated our knit detail and made the sweater patterning more pronounced and attractive. Finally, the Innova yarn substituted very easily into our existing manufacturing process, making the transition efficient and cost-effective."

About American Fibers and Yarns Company
American Fibers and Yarns Company (AF&Y) is the world's leading supplier of solution dyed filament yarns. With thousands of yarns in its product portfolio and the ability to engineer yarns to customer specifications, AF&Y is a dominant supplier to the residential and contract furnishings marketplace, and has a growing presence in the hospitality, apparel, automotive and industrial markets. Headquartered in Chapel Hill, NC, AF&Y maintains a Technology Center that specializes in engineering filament yarn with innovative combinations not available from other suppliers. The company also operates three U.S. production facilities totaling a million square feet of manufacturing space. For more information on AF&Y and its products, please visit www.afyarns.com or call 800-925-0668.