Ecom Textile Selected For LocalBusiness.com's `'50 to Watch''.

Business Editors and High-Tech Writers

FULLERTON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 16, 2000

Online Textile and Apparel Marketplace Named One of the Most

Newsworthy Emerging Companies in Orange County, Calif.

Ecom Textile Inc., the first company to offer a comprehensive eMarketplace for trade among manufacturers and suppliers in the textile and apparel industry, has been named to LocalBusiness.com's "50 to Watch" in Orange County, Calif.

The "50 to Watch" list is composed of the 50 most newsworthy emerging private and public small-to-medium-cap companies in the county.

"Ecom Textile is proud to be one of LocalBusiness.com's '50 to Watch' in Orange County," said John C. Adams, company chief executive officer. "We're changing the face of electronic procurement and supply chain service, bringing the ultimate sourcing tool to the textile, apparel, machinery and sewn products marketplace.

"Manufacturers and suppliers are conducting business in a way unlike anything they've known. We are at the forefront of an entirely new Internet experience as we establish an unprecedented active relationship between the TAMS industries and an Internet medium."

Each quarter, LocalBusiness.com unveils its "50 to Watch" list that highlights companies that are newsmakers and are poised for change.

Some companies have defined new standards, attracted significant venture capital investment, forged influential business models, developed products and services that will change business, while others may make the news in the next quarter for the challenges they face.

LocalBusiness.com is the leading Internet provider of local business applications, breaking local news and intelligence, tools and research resources for small- and medium-sized businesses in more than 28 major markets across the United States.

In addition, LocalBusiness.com provides its services and applications under a private-label offering. LocalBusiness.com recently acquired TrueAdvantage, a top B2B online provider of private-label sales leads and RFP (requests for proposals) services.

With more than 100 private-label partners accessing sales leads worth more than $1.1 billion, TrueAdvantage has built one of the largest private-label of RFP/sales leads networks in the nation. The acquisition of TrueAdvantage, in addition to the 28 local B2B destination sites and other private-label applications, has positioned LocalBusiness.com as the leading business knowledge solution for small- and medium-sized businesses.

The company's institutional investors include U.S. Equity Partners, L.P., the private equity fund sponsored by Wasserstein Perella & Co. Inc., TMCT Ventures, a venture capital fund, and Tribune Ventures, the strategic investment unit of Tribune Co.

LocalBusiness.com also publishes digitalsouth magazine (digitalsouth.com), the only publication that covers leading-edge technology companies, venture capital and finance from the Mason-Dixon line to the Florida Keys and West to Texas.

Ecom Textile combines its knowledge of e-commerce technology and supply chain management with an in-depth knowledge of the textile industry. EcomTextile.com, EcomTextile's revolutionary B2B eMarketplace, seamlessly connects international buyers and sellers onto a global trading platform for conducting online purchases of goods and services.

EcomTextile.com is the only vertically integrated e-commerce site designed to handle all market segments of the textile and apparel industry. The integration of each of the Textile and Apparel market segments within one e-commerce marketplace allows customers to manage and coordinate all their online acquisition and order fulfillment efforts from a single centralized platform.

The company's chief executive officer is John C. Adams, a 40-year veteran of the apparel industry. Adams' experience includes having served as chairman, president and CEO of Russell Corp., as well as former president of the American Textile Manufacturers Institute (ATMI), the national trade association representing the U.S. textile industry.

Ecom Textile is located at 1501 E. Orangethorpe Ave., Suite 110, Fullerton, Calif. 92831 and can be contacted by phone at 888/765-5060, by fax at 714/578-5723 or on the Web at www.ecomtextile.com.

Launched in August, 2000, EcomTextile.com is a business-to-business site focused on bringing buyers and sellers together in the textile and apparel industry with a user-friendly Web-based sourcing tool.

Bringing extensive industry experience and technology expertise, Ecom Textile is the first company to offer a comprehensive marketplace for trade among manufacturers and suppliers in the textile and apparel industry.