North Carolina State University (NCSU), in partnership with the North Carolina Department of
Commerce (NC DOC), has launched N.C. Textile Connect, located at
www.nctextileconnect.com, with the aim of fostering business
opportunities for the state’s textile and textile-related companies.
N.C. Textile Connect features a database of more than 1,500 companies ranging from designers
and raw material suppliers through to marketers of finished products. Visitors to the website may
find information related to all aspects of the North Carolina textile supply chain. Other
information offered includes demographics, statistics and events.
According to “State of the Union of the Textile Industry in North Carolina,” a report funded
by the NC DOC and conducted by NCSU in 2006, the state leads the nation in the number of textile
production employees and ranks fourth in the number of apparel production employees, with more than
130,000 total employees and sales totaling more than $35 billion in that year.
“Today’s textile industry is very much an international business,” said Blanton Godfrey, dean
of the NCSU College of Textiles. “With this website, a company in a major textile-producing country
such as China or Japan looking for a business partner in North Carolina can find information about
our companies quickly and easily. At the same time, it allows North Carolina companies to interact
in new ways. We believe this will provide a strong boost to the industry.”
NCSU College of Textiles doctoral student Stacey Frederick oversaw the work of gathering
information and compiling the database, as well as the website development.
January/February 2008
