NCSU & NC Department partnership for online resource

14 Dec '07

4 min read

"This Web site provides North Carolina's textile industry with valuable information and the ability to connect with each other," said Jim Fain, N.C. secretary of commerce. "Our Textiles Industry Sector Team works closely with NC State, the industry and others in the public and private sector to enhance global competitiveness." The commerce department's textiles team is composed of representatives from industry, universities, community colleges, trade associations, industry service providers and state and federal agencies.

"Today's textile industry is very much an international business," said Blanton Godfrey, dean of NC State's College of Textiles. "With this Web site, 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."

The College of Textiles was asked to identify and quantify the state's textile industry and to create an information "warehouse," with an overall goal of enhancing the industry's global competitiveness, said Dr. Nancy Cassill, professor of textile and apparel technology and management at NC State. Doctoral student Stacey Frederick led the project and Web site development.

Frederick, 24, grew up in Swannanoa, N.C., which she describes as having been a "traditional textile mill town." She chose to attend NC State's College of Textiles to help the industry that has supported her hometown and many others in North Carolina that have experienced financial and job losses as the industry has evolved.

"This has been a very exciting project for me," says Frederick, who has served an internship with the N.C. Department of Commerce and worked with other N.C. textile companies. "I understand the textiles 'way of life,' and North Carolina has so much potential to succeed. I want to help North Carolina companies see the textile industry in a different and more comprehensive light, and to provide them with access to information that will help them grow by connecting them to other people, places and ideas."

North Carolina State University

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