North Carolinas Textile Legacy

By: Jacob Moran

The formal definition from Merriam-Webster dictionary of textiles is a type of

cloth or woven fabric. That includes woven, knitted and nonwoven. Textiles are an
essential commodity in modern society. They are everything from shirts to towels ,
bedspreads to mops. Textiles have had a significant effect on the southern economy
and history of North Carolina. Being in the south with cotton plantations, mild climate,
and rivers in abundance, North Carolina has a strong tradition of textile mills . Textiles
have been a part of the history of North Carolina even before the the first textile mill .
The industry has recently gone through a decline, due to various economic events .
However there is new hope for the textile industry in North Carolina , thanks to
changing technology and global economic changes , textile plants are coming back to
America.
1.
North Carolina has seen its fair number of days spent in the textile mill . For
centuries prior to 1815 rural families had been weaving and knitting to produce for their

families. They would produce an estimated $3 million a year in domestic textiles

("Textiles & Apparel."). In 1810 North Carolina was producing more textiles by hand
then Massachusetts emerging textile factory systems ("NC Business History Textiles."). The first textile mill in North Carolina was located in Lincoln County east of
McDaniels spring. Started by Michael Schenck, originally from Pennsylvania , in 1815 it
was the first successful mill south of the Potomac. Textile mills began to spread across
the piedmont. By During the Civil War, North Carolina was the primary textile producer
for the Confederate Army. North Carolina was responsible to make the coats, slacks,
and blankets for a majority of the soldiers. The textile industry steadily grew with rural
men and women and their children taking jobs at the mills . In 1900 there was 177
cotton mills and 40 wool mills spread over the state . By 1940 40% of all jobs in North
Carolina were in textiles.

The region received an influx of new textile mills during the Great Depression .
While mills up north were struggling and closing down southern mills were hanging
tough. The reason North Carolina lasted was factories focusing on commodities that
were essential. Northern mills unable to find a market niche relocated down south
2.
closer to the cotton source, cutting costs . Another factor that further established North
Carolina as a major textile state was the creation of Burlington Industries , created by
Spencer Love in 1923, basing the company on a new material, Rayon . Burlington

Industries let North Carolina overtake Massachusetts as leading textile-producing state

in value of product. Before long Burlington became the hosiery center of the south, 54
hosiery mills in Alamance County alone. In 1970 Burlington Industries became the
largest textile-manufacturing corporation in the world ("Textiles & Apparel.").
Unfortunately the global economy was changing and the tactics of corporations were
changing too.

The industry has suffered several setbacks that steadily created the demise of a
prosperous industry. The first setback happened when child labor laws were introduced
on a national scale. Children labor held a majority of jobs in the textile industry . The
1900 census shows that North Carolina mills employed more children between the
ages of 10 and 15 than any other mills in the United States (Reimer).Their diminutive
size made them ideal to work the mill, reaching into jammed machines . Being around
the machines was dangerous, countless injuries and casualties happened every day.
They also worked for very low wages, as low as .25 cents a day. In 1906 there was
3.
only one child labor law. That same year the North Carolina Child Labor Committee was
organized, following the humanitarian reform movement that was occurring at the same
time. The Committee was able to pass various laws shortening the allowed total
of working hours in a week and raised the legal employment age to 13.

Another setback was the union strikes of 1934. Union strikes were a common

place in the south. Not 5 years before (1929), there was another textile strike, that
unfortunately turned violent. With most workers working 55-60 hours 6 days a week
and earning less than $10 a week in terrible conditions, unrest was constant. A new
source of stress between the factory owners and works was the new theory of
scientific management penned by Frederick Winslow Taylor. The theory was to
observe workers and revise the way they did their jobs, making more efficient workers
and workplace. In practice the factory management abused the theory to cut costs.
They laid off hundreds of workers, placing more of a workload on less workers, and
introduced new machines that was foreign and complicated to the remaining workers.
Starting in Gastonia with United Textile Workers (UTW) planning and carrying out a
walk-out. On Sept. 3 mill workers in Gastonia held the citys first Labor Day Parade
through the center of town, gathering an estimated total of 10,000 workers. In the
following week's thousand of works spread across the south to help organize workers
and protest mills all across the south. It would be for not however, mill owners used to
the occasional strike were prepared and brought in extra security measures in the form
4.
of state and local law enforcement agencies and in some extreme cases the national
guard. There would be other strikes but never on such a large scale.

The most recent set back has been the new fad of outsourcing. For the last 30
years companies have been closing down factories in the U.S. sending them out of the
country. Out to countries notorious for having weak unenforced labor laws, child labor,
and low wages. Countries in Asia like Thailand, the Philippines, and China. Along with
Latin American and South American countries like Colombia, Brazil, Mexico and Chile.

Sweatshops in abundance, corporate CEOs outsource to cut costs of labor and

materials. However changes in the global economy are bringing back the textile
industry back to America.

The textile industry is on the rise once again for the south. American companies
are bringing factories back due changes in the global economic changes and the trend
of Buying American, where big name retailers such as Walmart, pledging to buy $50
billion over a decade in American-made products (Stateline). Ironically countries are
now look to settle new factories in America to cut costs. Recently companies from
Brazil, Canada, China, Dubai, Great Britain, India, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico and
Switzerland, as well as companies in the U.S., announced plans for textile plants in
North Carolina, along with plants in Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee
and Virginia.
5.

The previously mentioned outsource countries have in recent years overgone

steady economic changes. Wages have been steadily increasing thanks to new laws
and unions. Chinas hourly wages have been steadily rising 12% every year since 2001
(JIAXING). Even Thailand, one of the most controversial outsourcing countries, passed
a nation wide law in 2013 raising the minimum wage to 300 baht ($10) a day, with a six
month jail sentence and/or a 100,000 baht fine for not complying with the new law
(Alexander). The outsource counties are still behind most developed countries, but the

rising wages and other costs associated with outsourcing have greatly diminished the
appeal of outsourcing.

The other costs include shipping costs. The problem with moving the factory
overseas is getting the finished product back to America . The cost of fuel for cargo
planes and ships have been exponentially rising . The cost of fuel represent as much as
50-60% of total ship operating costs (Record Fuel) . The more fuel costs the greater the
cost to import the products back into America. Simply having textile plants in the
continental United States would save a considerable amount.

In addition to the external reasons, North Carolina and the other southern states
6.

are competing for the new jobs the textile plants will bring. Generous grants and tax
breaks are being offered by the southern states (Stateline) . The southern states eager
to welcome new factories and jobs to boost their economies are in constant negotiation
with foreign companies looking for new on site U.S. distribution . These new plants will
primary focus on new nonwoven textiles. Nonwoven textiles include diapers, mops,
and filters for cars. Nonwoven textiles are manufactured by chemically fusing the fibers
by heat or solvent. This process is highly automated. Requiring less but more skilled
and tech savvy employees.

Nine textile firms have announced plans in 2013 to build or expand plants in
North Carolina creating 993 jobs and investing $381 million into the economy
(Stateline.). North Carolina has created a nice climate for new factories by lowering
corporate income tax rates. The corporate income tax will drop from 6.9% to 6% in
2014 to 5% in 2016 (Stateline). To continue this resurgence of the textile industry,
North Carolina promises to continue to lower tax rate in revenue increases (Stateline.).

North Carolina has had a rich history of textiles spanning back centuries. From
an early stage it proved to be an resilient industry. It gave employment to countless rural
families and provided with an untold number of pants. Who knows what the future holds
7.
for the textile industry. Whatever it may be North Carolina will have a place in it.

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28 Oct. 2015.

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South." USA Today. Gannett, 05 Feb. 2014. Web. 13 Oct. 2015.

"Textiles & Apparel." North Carolina in the Global Economy. Duke, 2009. Web. 12 Oct.
2015.