As many have said, “it’s all about people”. With that in mind, when Barnet made its initial investment in Asia, it set about finding the best people to staff the Barnet Pacific office in Hong Kong.
Barnet searched for people with experience in the fibers and textile industry in order to fulfill the objectives of the Hong Kong office. Cyril Cheung remembers seeing an ad for a job at Barnet Pacific in 1999. Cyril had worked for over 15 years in the textile industry sourcing acrylic fiber & tow, caprolactam, polyester chip, and DTY fabrics for the China market. He was attracted to Barnet because its focus on recycling and re-purposing activities. It was a great match, and Cyril joined Barnet on September 20, 1999. Over his Barnet career, Cyril has spent a great deal of his energy focused on the sale of recycled polymer to the Asia market. With the booming demand for Nylon resin in Asia, he was able to establish many customers in support of Barnet’s recycled polymer business. When Barnet opened its Barnet Trading (BT) office in Shanghai, Cyril worked 50% of his time at the BT office to establish many of the business relationships that still exist today. He spent 5 years traveling back and forth to Shanghai in support of the rapidly developing business in China. During that time, Barnet developed a recycled polyester staple fiber for a major brand in the USA. More recently, Cyril has focused on supporting nega-stat® and Technical Fiber sales in Asia and sourcing fiber, polymer, and yarn for applications at Barnet in the US and Barnet Europe in Aachen. Cyril has been part of Barnet’s shift from providing products to the market to providing solutions to its partners. Cyril sees Barnet as both an extension of his family and as a place to be challenged and to learn. He and his wife have raised two very successful children, a son and a daughter, over the past 23 years while working at Barnet.
