News Release

TEXTILES WITH A VIEW - OF THE MEDITERRANEAN

August 23, 1999 (New York) -----Anyone in the U. S. home furnishings business knows about Turkey's northern textile industry but now there is a new player - from the South. Çukurova Sanayi Isletmeleri (CSI) is the textile star in the firmament that is Çukurova Group, one of Turkey's largest holding companies.

Çukurova Textiles, constructed in 1888 and modernized in 1950 and 1997, is located in Tarsus, between Adana and Mersin and a short sprint to the Mediterranean. The Anatolian city of Tarsus has retained its original name for 2,500 years and is one of the earliest settlements on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Tarsus became the city of kings, philosophers, merchants and also prophets. In the Middle Ages it was an important city with its social, agricultural and economic activities existing from centuries earlier. Ancient buildings and monuments remain for study in Tarsus and finds from numerous excavations can be seen in the Louvre Museum and the British Museum. Turkish museums in Tarsus, Adana, Mersin, Istanbul and Antakya display statues, vases, floor mosaics and seals .

CSI exports home textiles to France, Italy, UK, Ireland, Denmark and Holland and is now offering to the U. S. distinctive yarn-dyed fabrics and finished goods from its fully-vertical 126,000 square foot facility. Computer-aided technology, a modern quality control lab, high performance machines for spinning, weaving, printing, dyeing, finishing and yarn-dyeing are all features that allow CSI to service home textile clients with wide-width sheets, special dobby constructions and sophisticated printing techniques. CSI uses cotton, linen, polyester, viscose and Lycra yarns.

Çukurova Group of Turkey is a leader in banking and financial services, telecommunications, tourism, steel, paper products, textiles, commercial vehicle manufacturing and construction.

This Fall U. S. retailers can view the newest CSI fabrications at their New York showroom, 745 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1114. EPE, Inc., a sister company to CSI and the New York office of Çukurova Group, is inviting retailers and other prospective customers to become acquainted with this diversified mill. Products on display will include bedsheets, duvet covers, tabletop and kitchen textiles, robes and pajamas, embroidered towels and upholstery fabrics.