Scuffle in the boardroom.

The article focuses on the corporate turnaround at Texfi Industries Inc. in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Founded in 1963 to make polyester double knits, the smallish company ranked third in polyester sales. At the peak of the double-knit craze in the late Sixties and early Seventies, Texfi founder Joseph Hamilton grew so enthusiastic over polyester's prospects that he invested $40 million in two polymer plants to crack oil and extrude synthetic fibers. When polyester double knits began to fall out of fashion in the mid-Seventies, the polymer plants became a liability for Texfi.