Textile makers from Japan are beginning to...

Textile makers from Japan are beginning to move plants into Southern California. Pan Pacific Yarn Inc., a joint venture of Technical Marketing Inc., Kanematsu-Gosho Ltd. and Mitsubishi Rayon, opened a spinning plant in Rancho Dominguez to produce knitting yarn.

“Having a spinning plant here will enable us to serve our customers, such as K mart, more efficiently,” explained Hiroshi Niwa, president of Technical Marketing Inc. The new plant employs 70. Until now, Technical Marketing has only processed--steamed, skeined and packaged--the yarn which is sold under the Love Knit and Pop’n Yarn labels.

“Love Knit has proved popular with our customers,” said Marilyn Gill, divisional merchandise manager for the Home Fashions division of K mart. Gill, who arrived from Troy, Mich., for the plant opening, said: “We carry it in more than 600 of our stores throughout the U.S. With K mart’s support, Love Knit will change from ‘Made in Japan’ to ‘Made in U.S.A.’ ”