Preserving Hosiery Manufacturing in NC

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Preserving Hosiery Manufacturing in NC

• Presented by Paul Fogleman Executive Director
• Carolina Hosiery Association
• For The National Governors Association
• June 6-7, 2002
• Atlanta, Georgia

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Hosiery Is Big Business in NC

• 60 of all US hosiery production comes from NC.
• Over 35,000 People are employed in Hosiery.
• Over 4 Billion in sales.
• Brand names such as Nike, Adidas, Rebok, Liz
  Claiborne, Hanes, GAP, Lands End are made in NC.

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Changes in Hosiery

• More changes to the hosiery industry in the past
  5 years than the previous 50!
• Why?

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The Hosiery Technology Center

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The Situation in 1994-95
HTC
Industry

• The HTC had 3 full time employees located in
  Hickory and Asheboro.
• Had done a good job of meeting technician and
  operator needs for first 5 years.
• No University involvement in HTC.
• Training only at HTC.

• Products more difficult to make
• Dyeing and finishing was now critical
• Wastewater regulations getting tougher.
• Many more immigrant workers in workforce.
• Need for RD and Testing for Hosiery.
• Retailer demanding much quicker deliveries,
  better quality at lower cost.

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Industry In Transition

• Industry consolidation
• Workforce training required for new technologies.
• Trends
• Labor costs were growing
• New technologies were needed
• Market was shifting ( greige and vertical mills)
• Government partnerships were growing
• Retailer demands were changing chargebacks,
  returns, etc

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The Plan Preserving Hosiery Manufacturing in
NC

• Funded by NCACTS (NC Dept of Commerce)
• Created by CEOs representing 25 hosiery
  manufacturers of all sizes.
• Facilitated by the Carolina Hosiery Association
• The goal of this document was to define what the
  industry needed to stay competitive and grow
  beyond the year 2005.
• Included goals, objectives and budgets.

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Trip to Italy March 1996

• Study Networking Among Italian Manufacturers
• Gain A Better Understanding of Technologies
  Coming From Italian Machinery Suppliers.
• Learn About Government Initiatives To Help
  Italian Manufacturers Expand Their Markets.

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Key Elements to Success

• Industry developed the plan so they had
  Ownership and buy in. Everyone worked on it
  together.
• Presented to Governor and State Legislature by
  CHA. They saw that it was well thought out. This
  was done in lobbying efforts by NCACTS,CHA, and
  industry going to Raleigh repeatedly. It gave a
  consistent message.
• The Governor gave the directive to over 25 state
  agencies and universities to see where they fit
  into the plan. It was hard to ignore the document
  as it was the industry saying what they needed to
  survive.
• HTC was given a boost in funding due to this
  plan.

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Objectives and Results of The Plan
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Develop Relationship with NC State University for
support in RD.

• 3 year consortium of manufacturers, suppliers,
  retailers, NCSU, HTC led to the successful
  rollout of standard test methods for testing
  hosiery. These methods are currently on the web
  and have been universally accepted by the
  industry.
• Led to the 6 year partnership with NCMEP for
  benchmarking of the hosiery industry along with
  lean manufacturing and supply chain
  implementation in plant.

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Utilize Trade Associations to Facilitate
Manufacturing and Marketing Networks

• Formed Carolina Legwear Limited in 1996 which was
  a marketing network of small manufacturers to go
  after niche markets. If eventually failed but we
  learned a lot about what to do and not do.
  Concept is being revisited with 5 mills currently
  forming with a different structure. We feel that
  the concept was right, just a little ahead of
  its time.

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Utilize Community Colleges to Bring English As A
Second Language into Workplace Courses

• Through a grant from NIST and help from the NC
  Community College System we produced a CD Basic
  English for Hosiery. This documents the various
  hosiery jobs and translates hosiery terms into
  Vietnamese, Spanish and Hmong.
• Has had over 200 copies distributed to
  manufacturers, community colleges and suppliers
  for their use.

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Utilize Department of Labor, Commerce and Other
Government Agencies To Deliver Services

• Wastewater Analyzer Software
• Industry Jobs Profiled For Job Content and Skills
  Development Needs.
• Wastewater Testing Lab Developed and State
  Certified For Use By Any Manufacturer Needing
  These Services.
• E Commerce, Government Procurement and Exporting
  Seminars Held For The Industry. Many Mills Have
  Reported Increased Sales From These Activities.

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Updates To The Plan

• Has been updated 4 times since the original
  Preserving Hosiery Manufacturing In North
  Carolina plan.
• Concentrated on marketing initiatives for the
  industry.
• Still relied on industry partnerships with
  government and education.

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The Updates Brought

• Legsource.com An E-commerce site for the US
  hosiery industry to communicate needs, over/under
  capacities, employment and technical needs etc.
• Goal is to generate more business for the US
  hosiery industry.
• Easy way for retailers and consumers to find US
  manufacturers.
• Averages over 4000 hits/day from 300 unique
  users.
• Mills are receiving real business. One mill had a
  sales increase of over 250,000 due to Legsource.

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What we are currently doing

• Broadcast emails examples
• Consumer pages
• Click on the link below to view new products
  from Kayser-Roth on Legsource  http//www.legsourc
  e.com/consumers/kr_womanhose_prod.htm
• Supplier rollouts
•    Click on the link below to view an important
  announcement on Legsource from DuPont Textiles
  and Interiors http//www.legsource.com/dupont/dupo
  nt.htm
• Procurement examples
• Manufacturer
• Supplier

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Web Site Development

• Developed by people with hosiery industry
  experience.
• Most are 50.00 each.
• Register sites with search engines.
• Most sites receive new business or new contacts
  immediately after launch.
• Purpose of Legsource and web site development
  
  For hosiery manufacturers
  to take advantage of the internet to generate new
  business.

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Plan Updates Brought (Continued)

• Lean Manufacturing Training to over 26
  manufacturers and 20 suppliers.
• Supply Chain Training Scheduled for January. It
  will be customized for hosiery.
• Led to the development of a full testing lab
  facility at the HTC doing quality and RD testing
  for manufacturers and retailers.
• Prototyping of new products
• not necessarily related to hosiery.

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Sock Testing Consortium

• Joint Project of
• NCSU College of Textiles
• The Hosiery Technology Center
• Hosiery Manufacturers ( 40 Companies)
• Hosiery Suppliers ( 25 Companies)
• Retailers - (7 Major Retailers)
• Testing Labs ( 3 Testing Labs)
• 3 Different Textile Associations AATCC, THA, CHA

Goal was to find repeatable testing methods for
testing socks for fit, durablity, and
colorfastness.
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Results of Working Together

• Methodology for measurement was developed and
  machines created to measure sock fit accurately
  and repeatably.
• Reduced variation by 40 in the fit area and 30
  in the durability area.
• Put on the web at www.legsource.com
• The entire industry has adopted these new
  methods,especially retailers.

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Testing - Impact to the Industry

• A Hosiery Testing Lab was created at the Hosiery
  Tech Center with the capabilities to test all
  hosiery products at at very competitive rates.
  Have 3 full time people performing hosiery
  testing.
• Many mills have launched new product lines based
  on the tests run by HTC Testing Lab. Over 40
  different hosiery mills have used the HTC since
  Nov 2001.
• Saved on yarn claims over 400,000 where the
  yarn company and manufacturer would have been
  charged with a large chargeback.
• Better durability methods led to the recovery of
  an extremely large product line from a major
  retailer for a hosiery manufacturer.
• The HTC is now performing all sock testing for
  Kmart. JC Penny and Wal Mart testing labs have
  adopted these methods.

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Partnerships for Additional Services

• Manufacturing Extension Partnerships of both NC
  and SC for Lean Manufacturing Implementation.
• NC and US Department of Commerce for Exporting
  Help and Research of Overseas Markets.
• NC Department of Labor for OSHA Help.
• NC State University College of Textiles for help
  in Testing Protocols.
• NC General Assembly
• Carolina Hosiery Association for Strategic
  Planning and Government Lobbying Efforts.

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National Initiatives

• Working with US Dept of Commerce to bring
  resources to the hosiery industry for export help
  and marketing of US goods abroad.
• Working on a grant to expand our services to help
  hosiery manufacturers nationwide.
• Pursuing the opportunity of being included in
  the nationwide sizing study being performed this
  summer by TC2 and NC State University.
• Keep the industry visible on trade and regulatory
  issues.

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Reasons Why HTC Works

• The HTC has a 12 year history of success in
  working with the hosiery industry since 1990.
• Industry involvement in the HTC. The HTC grew
  from the industry and services changes as the
  industry needs changes.
• Partnerships developed by the HTC and use of
  these partnerships to deliver meaningful bottom
  line services.
• We are a resource, let us know how we can help!

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The End
A complete transcript of this presentation is
available at www.legsource.com/nga