CMI is liquidating its woven and elasticized fabrics operations. Guilford Mills jettisoned all apparel plants and emerged last fall as an automotive upholstery maker owned by its senior lenders. Citigroup Venture Capital now owns 47 percent of Galey & Lord, a leading maker of corduroy, denim and other fabrics, which continues to operate under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Skeptics say textile and apparel makers may stagger on until the start of 2005, when international trade agreements are scheduled to eliminate all import quotas, opening the way for even more inexpensive imports. Many say they expect China to swallow the domestic industry whole.
But David Weil, an economist and researcher with the Center for Textile and Apparel Research at Harvard, rejects that conclusion. "So many people are acting like everything that has not yet gone to China will the minute the quota protection comes off," he said. "We continue to find this an implausible reading of what is going on."
The future is more nuanced, Weil said: Some segments will depart the US on one-way tickets. Many will rely on a mix of domestic and international sources. And some innovations will play out their initial stages on American soil.
Part of Burlington's appeal, for example, is its 51 percent stake in Nano-Tex, a company in Emeryville, California, that has developed a fabric finish that repels water and stains. Burlington sells the process to, among others, Eddie Bauer, Lands' End, Levi Strauss, the Gap and Simmons, which applies the finish to children's bedding.
Burlington expects to take Nano-Tex public before long, said Renee DeLack Hultin, who is in charge of business development at Nano-Tex.
Other so-called smart fabrics are heading for the market. Among them, according to the trade journal Textile News, are car seats to wake up drowsy drivers, bed sheets that monitor health, and cold-weather vests with emergency beacon triggers that activate if the wearer is suffering from exposure.
Engineered fibers are widely used in products like tires, fiber-optic cable and human artery reinforcements. Only a third of textile products made in the US are for clothing. "The stealth bomber is a textile product," said Godfrey of North Carolina State. "It's made out of carbon fiber."
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