Posted February 28, 2017

 

Last year, the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) embarked on an ambitious rebranding campaign aimed at telling the “real story” of the U.S. textile industry today. That is, to educate and engage target audiences, build support, strengthen alliances and create a more positive and accurate perception of the 21st century textile industry. The primary audience of the campaign is policy influencers, business leaders and the media and, in effect, many in the general populace.

 

We ain’t there yet, folks.

 

The fact that more work needs to be done in this area became clearer last week when I read an op-ed piece in The News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C. A UNC-Chapel Hill professor, Dr. Peter A. Coclanis, penned the column, under the unfortunate headline, “Textiles spun a new N.C., but what will replace it?” and an equally regrettable photo of the shell of a former textile factory. In the lead, he noted that after he was invited to speak to at a function in Salisbury, N.C., he was asked for a title for the talk.

 

“I suggested ‘Spinning History: The Rise and Fall of the North Carolina Textiles Industry,’ ” wrote Coclanis, the university’s Albert R. Newsome Distinguished Professor of History and director of the Global Research Institute. “That seemed about right, given that fact that textiles are now pretty much gone in the state.”

 

Later, he added: “The jobs created and communities built by textiles and apparel drove the economy in much of the state until they didn’t any longer, beginning in the 1980s. And now those jobs are mostly gone and many of those communities are suffering.”

 

And later: “But most jobs in textiles and apparel didn’t pay a lot and didn’t require much skill, so maybe their loss shouldn’t be mourned.”

 

The point of his misconceived screed, I think, was that textiles are history, move on and find the next Big Thing to help propel the North Carolina economy.

 

To which I ask: What rock has he been living under?

 

Now, I know the good prof. plies his trade on Tobacco Road, but that thoroughfare parallels the unofficial “Textile Belt” (the I-85 corridor), where the industry is undergoing something of a renaissance, from Raleigh to Montgomery. And just some 25 miles away is the home of the largest textile school in the country and one of the largest in the world. If textiles are “pretty much gone,” why would 1,200 students be working toward degrees at N.C. State’s College of Textiles?

 

I would suggest he take the short a drive to Raleigh to tour the College, visit its labs and speak to the deans, educators and students. I’m sure he’ll come away with a different perception of the industry. (I certainly was impressed during the College’s recent Career Fair by the excitement textile students showed at the prospect of joining the industry.) Or perhaps he should take the short trek to Alamance County to see the operations of global fabric maker Glen Raven. Or maybe he can mosey on down to Gastonia and check out the headquarters and a few plants of America's largest yarn spinner, Parkdale.

 

Sure, the industry will never reclaim its former glory in the state or the South – and it doesn’t profess this lofty goal. But technological innovations are occurring at whirlwind speeds in textiles, all for peoples' benefit. New breakthroughs are emerging that are making us safer, more protected, more comfortable, healthier and better stewards of our planet. Textiles touch our lives every day in more ways than one can imagine. They are key components in everything from advanced heart valves to high fashion, aircraft bodies to body armor, home furnishings to shade structures.

 

Oh, and if textiles are “pretty much gone,” why would companies be expanding again?

 

If textiles are “pretty much gone,” why would these companies be hiring again?

 

if textiles are “pretty much gone,” why would the U.S. federal government be in investing $75 million (to be augmented by nearly $250 million in cost sharing from non-federal investments) to accelerate the development of the next generation of highly functional “smart” textiles?

 

The American textile industry proved its mettle after its precipitous decline by figuring out ways to survive and now finds itself in the midst of mini-revival. That didn’t happen by accident. Companies poured millions into research and development, invested in the latest equipment and technologies, found high-tech niches and figured out how to emerge from an ugly chapter in its history.

 

To read a headline suggesting otherwise atop a column with phrases that mislead the public is disheartening. Reader takeaways to the piece do damage to the image we’re trying to reform.

 

So our work continues. I urge you to keep fighting the good fight. Become ambassadors for our industry. Advocate, evangelize and shout from the mountaintop, in a manner resembling something out of Horton Hears A Who! – “We are here. We are here. We are HERE!” Let people know the industry has made tremendous strides over the many years cleaning up its workplaces, improving its environmental efforts, getting on the cutting edge of technological advancement and treating its employees fairly and with above-average wages and benefits. And, to boot, we can compete – quite successfully – in a global economy.

 

Keep working to change the hearts and minds of anyone who may think U.S. textiles are “pretty much gone.”

 

Far from it.