Fleetwood Enterprises Announces Sale of Drapery Operation

RIVERSIDE, Calif., Jan. 23, 2004 -- Fleetwood Enterprises, Inc. , the nation's leader in recreational vehicle sales and a leading producer and retailer of manufactured housing, announced today the sale of its drapery operation in Douglas, Georgia, to Decorator Industries, Inc., the industry's leading manufacturer of quality window treatments, pillows, bedspreads, and accessories for the recreational vehicle and manufactured housing markets.

"The drapery operation has been part of our supply subsidiaries since July 1996, designing and manufacturing decor-related items for our own internal production requirements," said Larry Mace, Fleetwood's senior vice president of Supply and Materials. "Initially we determined that we could design and fabricate our own decor packages more efficiently than could be purchased from outside suppliers. Today's manufacturing environment, combined with the necessity to increase our manufacturing capacity for the added volume of the RV business, would dictate a substantial capital investment to automate the manufacturing facility to be more efficient and increase productivity. Because of Decorator's quality products and continued investment in this business, we have developed a long-term partnership agreement with this company to supply all of our drapery and other decor-related requirements for the next several years."

Fleetwood has no plans to change the operating status of its other vertically integrated supply subsidiaries.

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements and information based on the beliefs of Fleetwood's management as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, Fleetwood's management. Such statements reflect the current views of Fleetwood with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, including risk factors identified in Fleetwood's 10-K and other SEC filings. These risk factors include, without limitation, the cyclical nature of both the manufactured housing and recreational vehicle industries; ongoing weakness in the manufactured housing market; the potential impact on demand for our products as a result of changes in consumer confidence levels; continued acceptance of the Company's products; expenses and uncertainties associated with the introduction and manufacturing of new products; the availability of manufactured housing wholesale and retail financing in the future; changes in retail inventory levels in the manufactured housing and recreational vehicle industries; competitive pricing pressures; the ability to attract and retain quality dealers, executive officers and other personnel; and the ability to obtain the financing we need in order to execute our business strategy. Actual results, events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Fleetwood undertakes no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Kathy A. Munson, Director-Investor Relations (909) 351-3650