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                     U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             Washington, D.C. 20549

                                     FORM 3

             INITIAL STATEMENT OF BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP OF SECURITIES

     Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
       Section 17(a) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 or
               Section 30(f) of the Investment Company Act of 1940

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1.   Name and Address of Reporting Person*

     Adams                         John                      W.
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   (Last)                            (First)              (Middle)

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     c/o Smith Management LLC, 885 Third Avenue
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                                    (Street)

     New York                      New York                 10022
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   (City)                            (State)                (Zip)

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2.   Date of Event Requiring Statement (Month/Day/Year)

     10/28/00*
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3.   IRS Identification Number of Reporting Person, if an Entity (Voluntary)


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4.   Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol

     JPS Industries, Inc. ("JPST")
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5.   Relationship of Reporting Person to Issuer
     (Check all applicable)

     [_]  Director                             [X]  10% Owner
     [_]  Officer (give title below)           [_]  Other (specify below)

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6.   If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Day/Year)


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7.   Individual or Joint/Group Filing  (Check applicable line)

     [X]  Form Filed by One Reporting Person

     [_]  Form Filed by More than One Reporting Person

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             Table I -- Non-Derivative Securities Beneficially Owned
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                                                                 3. Ownership Form:
                                      2. Amount of Securities       Direct (D) or
1. Title of Security                     Beneficially Owned         Indirect (I)       4. Nature of Indirect Beneficial Ownership
   (Instr. 4)                            (Instr. 4)                 (Instr. 5)            (Instr. 4)
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Common stock, par value $.01 per share       991,029                   I               Held as sole shareholder of JWA Investments
                                                                                       Corp., general partner of JWA Investments,
                                                                                       L.P., the beneficial owner.
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Reminder: Report on a separate line for each class of securities beneficially
          owned directly or indirectly.

*    If the Form is filed by more than one  Reporting  Person,  see  Instruction
     5(b)(v).

POTENTIAL PERSONS WHO ARE TO RESPOND TO THE COLLECTION OF INFORMATION CONTAINED
IN THIS FORM ARE NOT REQUIRED TO RESPOND UNLESS THE FORM DISPLAYS A CURRENTLY
VALID OMB NUMBER.

                                                                          (Over)
                                                                  SEC 1473(3-99)



FORM 3 (continued)

              Table II -- Derivative Securities Beneficially Owned
         (e.g., puts, calls, warrants, options, convertible securities)

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                                                                                                        5. Owner-
                                                    3. Title and Amount of Securities                      ship
                                                       Underlying Derivative Security                      Form of
                         2. Date Exercisable           (Instr. 4)                                          Derivative
                            and Expiration Date     ---------------------------------    4. Conver-        Security:
                            (Month/Day/Year)                               Amount           sion or        Direct      6. Nature of
                         ----------------------                            or               Exercise       (D) or         Indirect
                         Date       Expira-                                Number           Price of       Indirect       Beneficial
1. Title of Derivative   Exer-      tion                                   of               Derivative     (I)            Ownership
   Security (Instr. 4)   cisable    Date            Title                  Shares           Security       (Instr. 5)     (Instr. 5)
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Explanation of Responses:

* As of October 28, 2000, pursuant to a share repurchase program, JPS
Industries, Inc. (the "Company") had repurchased 267,500 shares, thereby
reducing the number of the Company's shares outstanding from 10,000,000 shares
to 9,732,500 shares and causing the Reporting Person's beneficial ownership to
increase to over 10%.


     /s/  John W. Adams                                     April 30, 2001
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     Name:  John W. Adams                                Date
     Title: President of JWA Investments Corp.,
              general partner of JWA Investments, L.P.

**   Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal Criminal
     Violations.

     See 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a).

Note:  File three copies of this Form, one of which must be manually signed.
       If space provided is insufficient, see Instruction 6 for procedure.

Potential persons who are to respond to the collection of information contained
in this form are not required to respond unless the form displays a currently
valid OMB Number.

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