WASHINGTON — March 27, 2025 — National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) Chairman Charles Heilig delivered the trade association’s State of the Industry overview at NCTO’s 21st Annual Meeting on March 27.
Heilig’s speech outlined:
- The U.S. textile industry’s major challenges and achievements accomplished last year;
- U.S. textile supply chain, economic, trade data; and
- NCTO’s 2024 and 2025 policy priorities for domestic textile manufacturers.
“Our industry’s resilience and innovation is unparalleled and strong, despite economic and trade headwinds that have impacted our sector and our customers,” Heilig noted in the speech.
“The breadth of challenges we face every day is astonishing — economic downturns, predatory trade practices, such as the use of forced labor in supply chains, ill-conceived trade policies, inadequate customs enforcement of trade fraud, post-pandemic inventory related issues, freight and logistics challenges, and race-to-the-bottom business models that — all combined — are suppressing growth and investment, leading to a persistent and severe downturn in business,” he adds. “Despite the economic downturn and unfair trade practices impacting the industry in 2024, our metrics remained stable or registered only slight declines, with the exception of employment in the cotton and wool sectors. This again underscores the industry’s ability to adapt during challenging times and remain viable even while registering painful losses.”
A link to his full remarks as prepared for delivery are included here along with a link to a data infographic prepared by NCTO illustrating the current economic status of the U.S. textile industry.
Heilig is president of American manufacturer of yarn and cotton consumer products Parkdale Mills, based in Gastonia, N.C.
NCTO’s annual meeting was held March 24-27 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C.
NCTO is a Washington-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers.
- U.S. employment in the textile supply chain was 471,046 in 2024.
- The value of shipments for U.S. textiles and apparel was $63.9 billion in 2024.
- U.S. exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were $28.0 billion in 2024.
- Capital expenditures for textiles and apparel production totaled $2.98 billion in 2022, the last year for which data is available.
Posted March 27, 2025
Source: National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO)
