The Impact Of Use Of Intellect On American Textile

The history of American textiles can be traced right from the development of spinning jenny by James Hargreaves, wherein eight hand spinners were conveniently replaced by one operation. It was then that Samuel Slater assembled all such processes, and set up the first textile mill in the United States, in the year 1793, and hence came to be known as the father of the Industrial Revolution of America.

Moving forward, USA always ensured that it never looked back, and tried its level best to become, if not completely self-sufficient, at least competitive enough to reap the benefits of the textile sector.

Over the time, the textile industry of the United States, became an imperative employer especially with respect to the manufacturing sector. The industry employs close to 232,000 workers, constituting almost 2 percent of the country’s workforce. While the strength of the country’s textile sector lies in the manufacturing of cotton and man-made fibres, it also partakes the manufacturing of various other yarns and fabrics. As a globally competitive country, the US undertakes manufacturing of raw textiles, finished apparels and home furnishings, amongst other finished products.

The workers within the technologically advanced industry are considerably skilled, and the companies are constantly evolving through the process of retooling, introducing better, more efficient work processes as well as by investing in extremely niche markets, thereby controlling costs. The industry has also benefitted from investments amounting to a whopping $1.6 billion as capital expenditures in the year 2013. In the same year, US also made public, its plans to open up new as well as expand the existing textile plants in states like North and South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, as well as Georgia.

In fact, even in the year 2012, the industry generated a staggering $54 billion in shipments alone. The southern states have been enjoying a boom in the business thanks to various schemes like tax breaks, and infrastructural support such as sea and airports, reliable utilities, and a trained workforce.

US ranks fourth in terms of the global export value, owing to the incredible increase of 45% just between the short span of 2009 and 2014 to a whopping $18.3 billion. In addition US ensures that more than one-thirds of its exports are forwarded to the nations partner countries, under the free trade agreement. The US is now manufacturing almost everything, right from the yarn to the woven and non-woven, and is in fact selling the cotton yarn, at rates lower than the Chinese!

With the kind of intelligence and intellect put to the betterment of the textile industry, along with the much required capital support, it is only a matter of time before the nation beats its competitors on its way up to becoming a leader in the world of textiles.