What are we doing here? Excellent question. Short version: With the resurgence of the U.S. textile industry, I recognized a niche that needs filling – that is, telling the stories of the companies, news and, most importantly, the PEOPLE who make this industry tick.

 

You’re good people. Smart people. Survivors. You persevered through the tough times by being resilient, innovative and collaborative and by believing in this great industry.

 

And your good stories need telling. How did you get here? How are you differentiating yourself? What are you doing now that you weren’t doing 10 years ago? Where are you heading?

 

None of you reached this point alone. Which is another big reason to launch this website. A key part of eTC’s mission is to create a sense of community, where anyone involved in the industry can come to not only get information and news but to network, offer feedback and share ideas. You’ll see there are numerous places on the site to do just that.

 

As you well know, we need all the “togetherness” we can get.

 

So, as you can see, this site won’t be nearly as effective as a one-way communication vehicle as in the old days of print media. This new media realm offers terrific opportunities for multi-directional communication. In other words, on this site, we communicate with you, you communicate with us and you communicate with each other. Consider it networking "out loud."

 

As such, we encourage you to become more than a casual observer. We want active participation from many of you. And, as a result, we’ll all be the better for it.

 

Additionally, a huge goal is to create a repository of sorts – a one-stop site to find all the news, information and issues that matter to you. I’ll be attending your events, meeting with you and interacting with you through various other means – all for the purpose of finding out what’s important to you and sharing your stories. And I’ll be scanning the web frequently every day to find and disseminate those items you may miss.

 

And in the digital platform, you can bet I’ll be using every tool at my disposal to publicize you. Consider this more of a multimedia site than a website, where a combination of text, audio, still images, video and interactive content forms will all help spread your news.

 

And social media tools – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Vine, Instagram and other cool photo apps – will certainly play a big part in not only keeping you in the loop, but also those outside of our textile dominion.

 

Although we’re U.S. based and American companies will drive our coverage, you’re fully aware this is a global industry. With the web, of course, everything is global these days. So we have no barriers on our reporting or readership. What’s happening in China or Switzerland may very well be interesting to you and impactful to your business. In fact, we think textile folks in other countries also will want to keep abreast of what’s happening here and beyond, from our perspective.

 

We hope you find this site interesting, engaging and purposeful. I believe in this industry. I believe in U.S. manufacturing. I believe in you.

 

As an entrepreneur, my goal is to be fair, open and honest. The Golden Rule, well, rules here.

 

As the editor of Southern Textile News (1998-2009) – where I gained a solid footing in this industry and forged some of my closest friendships – I enjoyed covering your companies and events. And I’ve missed that. I certainly look forward to seeing you and telling your stories again.

 

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank all of you who have encouraged me to launch this site. At the risk of omission, I won’t venture to name you all. But you know who you are. So thank you all for your words of support, your advocacy and, especially to our advertisers and sponsors, for taking a leap of faith with me at startup. I truly believe we’re onto something good.

 

I view all of you as ambassadors, so I hope you’ll help spread the word about eTextileCommunications.com and become that “active participate” I’m seeking. Please sign up for and forward our weekly e-newsletter and this web address. Tell your colleagues about us. Send us your story ideas. Participate in forums. Add photos to our Facebook page. And, well, show your support and raise your company’s awareness through advertising.

 

Oh, and why “eTC?” Many of you may know I love wordplay, and, after running through dozens of potential names, that one stuck. Why? Because people have written off this industry many times in the last 20+ years – yet, here you are, still alive, still kicking, still plugging away, still making the best textiles in the world, etc., etc., etc.

 

Make that eTC, eTC, eTC …