Tri Ocean plans to transform itself to polypropylene yarn making firm

Tri Ocean Textile Co is a Taiwan-based company primarily engaged in the weaving, dyeing, processing and distribution of fibers and fabric products, yesterday unveiled that it plans to close its nylon division next year, aiming to transform itself into a polypropylene yarn making company due to higher prices and better market sentiment the product commands.

The company plans to raise funds to transform its nylon 66 yarn factory in Thailand into one making polypropylene yarns next year, Tri Ocen Textile chairman Jammy Huang said yesterday as the nylon yarn business is not profitable unless they can make nylon chips ourselves.

The reason for the company focusing more on making Dreamfel polypropylene yarns is because of the global popularity that the product has gained.
Tri Ocean’s polypropylene yarn is used by Adidas AG to make its Climacool apparel, a company official said. Adidas purchased 150 tonnes of polypropylene yarn in 2012 and 180 tonnes last year via a trader from Tri Ocean, the official said.

The order accounted for about 7.35 percent of the company’s revenue of NT$882.21 million last year, according to Tri Ocean.

Adidas launched its Climacool apparel before the FIFA World Cup this year after developing the product for two years, the official said.

Currently, Adidas sells two types of Climacool apparel: one with 100 percent polyester and another with 75 percent polyester and 25 percent polypropylene. Tri Ocean’s yarns were used to make the latter type of the apparel.

The official estimated that Adidas used Tri Ocean’s yarn to make between 4.57 million meters and 5.49 million meters of fabric last year for its Climacool apparel with 25 percent polypropylene.

The same yarn is also used by Les Enphants Co and French firm Decathlon Group, the official said, that the company is in talks with US-based Under Armour Inc and a Japanese outdoor brand for selling the yarn.

Zu Zair, local clothing brand also uses the company’s yarn to make its products, which are priced between NT$3,000 and NT$5,000 a piece. It currently has two shops in Eslite outlets in Taipei’s Tianmu area and Hsinchu City, and plans to open 20 to 30 more stores in Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store.

From January through June, Tri Ocean reported losses of NT$17.5 million (US$575,837), or NT$0.25 per share, down 48.5 percent from losses of NT$33.99 million, or NT$0.53 per share, a year ago, according to a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The transformation is set to cause the company to post another year of net losses.