Asahi Kasei Fibers Corp. — one of nine core businesses operated by Japan-based conglomerate Asahi
Kasei Corp. — has announced it will discontinue spandex production at its U.S. subsidiary, Asahi
Kasei Spandex America Inc., Goose Creek, S.C., effective October 2012. The action, which will
result in the loss of 133 jobs, is part of a restructuring strategy influenced by a global
oversupply of spandex in tandem with high feedstock prices, and by weak market demand in the United
States since the global financial crisis of 2008 and expectations that no major recovery will occur
in the U.S. market in the foreseeable future.
Asahi Kasei Fibers acquired the Goose Creek operation in 2006, when it purchased the
Dorlastan® fibers business, which also includes a spandex manufacturing site in Germany, from
Germany-based Lanxess AG. Asahi Kasei has continued to market spandex from those two facilities
under the Dorlastan brand, and the site in Germany will continue to produce Dorlastan for the
markets it serves.
The company also produces spandex under its Roica™ brand at four facilities in Asia
including sites in Japan, Taiwan, China and Thailand.
With the closing of the Goose Creek facility, only one spandex producer will remain in the
United States and in the region covered by the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Central
America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement. Wichita, Kan.-based Invista produces Lycra®
spandex at facilities in Waynesboro, Va., and in Monterrey, Mexico.
August 7, 2012
