EXHIBIT 4 

Case: 1:17-cv-00754-DRC Doc #: 100-4 Filed: 05/18/21 Page: 1 of 7 PAGEID #: 2026
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO 

SARA HAWES, individually, and on behalf of 

all others similarly situated, 

Plaintiff, 

v. 

MACY’S WEST STORES, INC., 

Defendant. 

Case No. 1:17-cv-00754 

Judge Timothy S. Black 

DECLARATION OF AMIT OMPRAKASH AGARWAL 

I, Amit Omprakash Agarwal, declare and state as follows: 

1. I am over the age of 18 and under no disability. I have personal knowledge of the 

matters set forth herein, unless otherwise specifically indicated. 

2. I am employed by Creative Textile Mills Private Ltd., an Indian corporation 

(“Creative”). I have been employed with Creative since 2015. My current job title is General 

Manager, Business Development, Sales and Merchandising. 

3. Creative is a textile mill that manufactures products for our customers, including 

bed sheets. Creative has been manufacturing bed sheets since 1996. We buy yarn to weave sheets. 

We then handle every aspect of the sheet manufacturing process: using yarn to weave the fabric, 

then cutting, sewing, and finishing the sheets. 

4. I have 25 years of experience in the Home Textiles segment. 

5. Through my employment with Creative, I am familiar with the process by which 

Creative manufactures woven CVC sheets that are ordered by and sold to AQ Textiles. 

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6. The CVC sheets sold to AQ Textiles are manufactured using a process in which a 

polyester weft yarns are woven with cotton warp yarns. The polyester yarns (usually between 15 

denier and 25 denier) are inserted with a number (usually 8 to 12) of yarns being inserted in parallel 

at once. The insertions are made by an air jet that pushes the yarns together through the warp 

yarns. 

7. This results in all of the polyester weft yarns that are inserted simultaneously being 

laid in, parallel, into a single “shed” (the temporary opening between warp yarns through which 

the weft yarns are woven). 

8. The individual polyester yarns inserted into each shed are not twisted or woven 

together in any way, either before or during the weaving process. 

9. Today, Creative manufactures CVC sheets that are sold to AQ Textiles pursuant to 

a group of related patents for the manufacture of CVC sheets using multi-pick insertions. The 

rights to use those patents are licensed from AAVN, Inc., the holder of the patents. 

10. Creative purchases the polyester yarn it uses in weaving the sheets sold to AQ from 

a yarn supplier called Perfect Filaments LTS. That yarn comes to Creative package on cones, 

often with multiple threads of yarn on the same cone. The yarn usually contains 14 filaments in 

each thread. 

11. Creative Textiles does not manufacture sheets for AQ Textiles using polyester 

threads with 200 or higher denier. (As stated above, the sheets manufactured for AQ Textiles 

generally use polyester weft yarns of between 15 and 25 denier.) 

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12. The sheets that Creative manufactures for are manufactured in accordance with the 

specifications provided by AQ Textiles. The specifications are contained on AQ Textile’s 

purchase orders. An example of a purchase order received from AQ Textiles is attached as Exhibit 

A to this Declaration. 

13. On the attached purchase order, “60 cotton singles” indicates the size of cotton warp 

yarn to be used. “15D polyester” means 15-denier polyester yarns. Those will be woven in the 

weft. “165 x 63 (12 pick)” is the construction. Each square inch of fabric will be composed of 

165 cotton warp yarns and 756 polyester yarns in the weft. The polyester yarns will be inserted in 

63 different insertions. Each insertion will contain 12 polyester weft yarns. The total thread count 

would then be 921. In other words, the sheets would be woven using 921 separate threads for each 

square inch. 

14. The specifications for the sheets ordered by AQ have historically varied in a number 

of ways. For example, the sheets may have different characteristics with respect to factors such as 

the size and color of the sheets; the amount of cotton versus polyester; the type and size of the 

cotton and polyester yarns; the origin and quality of the cotton (such as using Egyptian cotton or 

Supima cotton); the type of weave (sateen vs. percale); the finish of the sheets; and the existence 

of unique factors such as deep pockets, extra pillowcases, innovative cooling technology, antipilling sheets, anti-stain sheets, sheets certified to not irritate allergies or asthma, or anti-bacterial 

sheets. 

15. The price of sheets is impacted by the type of material used and the quantities used. 

Using Egyptian cotton, for example, may cost more than other cotton sheets. Similarly, yarns of 

lower denier are more expensive than yarns of higher denier. 

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16. AQ Textiles requires Creative to provide test reports for each individual shipment 

of sheets confirming various aspects of the construction, including the yarn weight and thread 

count. Creative obtains those test reports from accredited, international third-party testing labs in 

India such as SGS or Intertek. 

17. Third-party testing labs initially struggled to properly test the thread count of CVC 

sheets manufactured using multiple simultaneous insertions of polyester weft yarns—such as the 

ones sold to AQ Textiles—because they were unfamiliar with sheets manufactured in that manner 

using such fine polyester yarns, and did not take the time to properly separate those yarns. 

18. However, once the testing labs became more familiar with these sheets and how 

they are manufactured, the labs were able to count them correctly. Often the test reports Creative 

receives from those testing labs will reference both the number of weft insertions, as well as the 

number of individual polyester threads in each insertion, in order to calculate the full thread count 

of the sheets. 

19. In the course of discussing the testing of CVC sheets like these, neither I nor anyone 

else at Creative has ever requested or instructed that any testing lab count individual fibers or 

filaments within threads. Nor has any representative of AQ Textiles ever told me that the thread 

count of sheets should be counted in that manner. 

20. AQ Textiles will not accept any shipments of CVC sheets from Creative without a 

satisfactory third-party test result from an international accredited testing laboratory. On the rare 

occasions when third-party test results have indicated the sheets were not manufactured in 

accordance with AQ Textiles’ specifications, AQ Textiles has refused to accept the product from 

Creative. 

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Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the 

United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct. 

Executed on April 30, 2021. 

       

  ___________________ 

 Amit Omprakash Agarwal

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EXHIBIT A 

 (UNDER PROVISIONAL SEAL)

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