Delta Apparel, Inc. Announces the Acquisition of New Textile Capacity

DULUTH, Ga., Mar 22, 2002 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Today Delta Apparel, Inc. (AMEX:DLA) announced the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Alabama has provisionally approved the proposed sale of the textile assets owned by Fayette Manufacturing, Inc. to Delta Apparel, Inc. subject to a notice to creditors.

Fayette Manufacturing, Inc. has been in bankruptcy proceedings since May 14, 2001. The purchase price of the textile plant located in Fayette, Alabama is approximately $2.6 million.

Delta Apparel expects to take possession of the facility on March 25, 2002, and close on the final purchase of the assets in April 2002. Delta expects to begin production in late April and will initially employ approximately 100 associates at the facility.

In commenting on this purchase, Robert W. Humphreys, President & CEO of Delta Apparel, stated, "We are excited to have this new textile capacity and look forward to becoming a part of the Fayette community. This modern facility contains the particular equipment needed for our product lines and we will benefit from the major capital investments made by the previous owners. We will use this plant to knit, dye, finish and cut fabric into parts that will be assembled into garments in our sewing facilities located in Honduras and Mexico.

In our initial phase of operations, the Fayette Plant will increase the output of Delta Apparel by approximately twenty-five percent. We will be able to further grow the output with modest capital investments in the future.

We have been running our fabric manufacturing facilities at full capacity, and believe we have maximized the output available to us in our existing finishing plant in Maiden, North Carolina. We are experiencing strong demand for our products and expect to have record sales for our current fiscal quarter, which will end on March 30, 2002. This new capacity will allow us to service the new accounts we are adding to our customer base, and allow us to expand our product offerings to existing customers."

Delta Apparel, Inc. is a vertically integrated manufacturer and marketer of high quality knit apparel. The Company specializes in selling undecorated T-shirts, golf shirts and tank tops to distributors, screen printers and private label accounts. Delta Apparel has operations in five states, two company-operated sewing facilities in Honduras and one company-operated sewing facility in Mexico. The Company employs about 2,700 worldwide.

Statements and other information in this press release that are not reported financial results or other historical information are forward-looking statements. These are based on Delta Apparel's expectations and are necessarily dependent upon assumptions, estimates and data that the Company believes are reasonable and accurate but may be incorrect, incomplete or imprecise. Forward-looking statements are also subject to a number of business risks and uncertainties, any of which could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, changes in the retail demand for apparel products, the cost of raw materials, competitive conditions in the apparel and textile industries, the relative strength of the United States dollar as against other currencies, changes in United States trade regulations and the discovery of unknown conditions (such as with respect to environmental matters and similar items). Accordingly, any forward-looking statements do not purport to be predictions of future events or circumstances and may not be realized. The Company does not undertake to publicly update or revise the forward-looking statements even if it becomes clear that any projected results will not be realized.

CONTACT:          Delta Apparel, Inc.
                  Herb Mueller, 678/775-6948

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Released March 22, 2002