Milliken has announced the appointment of one of its own executives, Steve Layton, as president of Polartec, who will take the place of Gary Smith and lead the integration process. Leyton joined Milliken in 2012, serving most recently as vice president of sales and marketing for Westex, the flame-retardant fabric business of the group. As it turns out, Smith had been discussing a possible deal with Milliken since 2014. There were many other candidates for the acquisition, but Milliken offered the best fit, and the negotiations started after Halsey Cooke became its chief executive last September. Polartec's knitting, dyeing and finishing operations don't compete with the facilities of Milliken, which gets about half of its annual turnover of around $1 billion from textiles and chemicals.

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