eTextileCommunications.com

A just-right location in the North Carolina mountains provided the boost California-born cycling apparel maker Kitsbow with the momentum it needed to change its business model and bring its supply chain onshore.

And, as has been the case with many apparel and textile companies during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kitsbow broadened its product line in the early spring to produce masks for the public and healthcare workers.

Cycling enthusiast David Billstrom, an investor in and CEO of Kitsbow, discovered he had found the “Goldilocks” location in Old Fort, N.C., when he began recruiting new staff for the fledgling, but well-known firm. The move east last year has proven to be a timely impetus for growth.

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STA Northern & Southern Division Virtual Fall Meeting

Poli sci professor 'mines Ps’ and takes ‘Qs’ on election

At last week’s Southern Textile Association (STA) Northern & Southern Division Virtual Fall Meeting, Dr. Susan Roberts, an esteemed and often-cited political science professor at Davidson College, assessed the recent U.S. elections.

During an informative presentation and highly engaging Q&A, she offered a rundown of the eight “Ps” that should be examined after this election cycle: Polarization, Pandemic, Population, President Trump, Patchwork quilt (of disparate state voting laws), Polling, Party and Projections.

Andrew Burleson of Burleson Farms

Solid State T-shirt

Eric Henry (L) of TS Designs and Andrew Burleson of Burleson Farms speak during virtual press conference.

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FROM DIRT TO SHIRT

TS Designs’ 10,000 Pounds of Cotton Project aims to bolster farmers, domestic apparel supply chain

Since founding TS Designs as a student at N.C. State University in 1977, Eric Henry has become one of the U.S. textile and apparel industry’s top “evangelists” for a domestic, transparent, equitable regional supply chain.

When the business was decimated after the implementation of NAFTA in 1993, Henry was introduced to the triple-bottom-line business model of people, planet and profits, and adapting that mindset enabled the company to readjust its focus and thrive for decades, he said. Through the years, Henry and his team have tweaked this purpose and undertaken such projects as Cotton of the Carolinas, a traceable brand journey from “dirt to shirt,” as Henry often says, that is within a 600-mile radius of the company’s headquarters in Burlington, N.C.

Now, Henry and TS Designs, a T-shirt printer and dyer, have launched a bold project with many of the foundational principles of the three Ps in mind. Henry, his team and partners announced during a virtual press conference this week the creation of the 10,000 Pounds of Cotton Project on their site, Solid State Clothing. The goal is to pay North Carolina farmers at above-market rate prices for cotton as “an experiment to see how flipping the power in the cotton supply chain can change the way farmers operate,” he said.

Natasha Spackey of the Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA) and Eric Spackey (top right), CEO of Bluewater Defense, participate in the Technology Panel as SPESA President Michael McDonald looks on.

Roger Tutterow, Ph.D., professor of Economics at Kennesaw State University (KSU), where he also holds the Henssler Financial Endowed Chair and serves as director of the Econometric Center gives economic update.

SPESA Chairwoman Nina McCormack of DAP America kicks off meeting.

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SPESA marks 30th anniversary at Virtual Executive Conference

Nearly 150 attendees registered for SPESA’s first-ever Virtual Executive Conference, which took place October 29-30 and was held in lieu of its in-person event scheduled to occur in Boston.

Over the course of two days, attendees heard from speakers discussing a wide range of topics, from economics to politics to technology to sourcing. SPESA embraced its original meeting theme, “Past, Present & Future of the Sewn Products Industry,” and highlighted how and why our future now looks very different than was expected. During the event, attendees celebrated SPESA’s 30th anniversary with a virtual happy hour.

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WARHORSE

Industry difference maker Chesnutt going ‘whole hog’ into retirement

In April 2014, I broached the ‘R’ word with septuagenarian Jim Chesnutt in his National Spinning Co. office in Washington, N.C. “Do you have any plans to retire?” I asked this veteran warhorse of the U.S. textile industry and the company’s then-chairman and CEO.

“Who knows how long ol’ Jim might be around,” he said. “I’m approaching 73 but I have fun every day. I had an agreement with our former chairman that I would be around until I had five days in a row that I didn’t want to come to work. Or if my health got to a point where I couldn’t give the company a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay. Or the first morning that I couldn’t find the office – then I’d probably go home and stay.”

Well, six years later, that day has come. Sitting in his SUV in the parking lot of a famous Eastern North Carolina barbecue joint in Greenville, N.C., recently, ol’ Chesnutt went, well, whole hog into explaining his reasons for deciding to hang up his hat, before reflecting on his long and storied career in the industry.