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Few are those working in the textile and apparel industry who don't know something about Cotton Incorporated. Like many of the consumers who buy your products, you are sure to have seen “The Fabric of Our Lives”® television commercials. And you are also familiar the ubiquitous Seal of Cotton® that has long been an important symbol of quality for both retailers and shoppers. Perhaps you have even consulted one of Cotton's many technical experts about improving a processing or manufacturing technique.
What you might not realize is the tremendous scope of Cotton's activities. With a mandate to increase the consumption and profitability of cotton, Cotton Incorporated offers the textile and apparel trade a myriad of services. This means that anyone manufacturing and selling cotton products has an important ally in Cotton Incorporated.
If you are looking for information, Cotton provides economic trends and forecasts, and compiles market research on consumer attitudes and behavior on sales of virtually all apparel and home furnishings categories. From New York City, Cotton fashion forecasters track and report on color, style, finishes, and fabric trends for both apparel and home furnishings.
From a technical standpoint, the Cotton staff is regularly engaged in research and development, encompassing every aspect of production from yarn spinning to finishing. Through on-site visits and over the phone, technical support professionals help mills solve all kinds of production problems, day in and day out. Most every major piece of machinery used in cotton processing and fabric production is either on site at Cotton Incorporated's Cary, NC, facility, or accessed regularly by Cotton's researchers from outside suppliers. The equipment is in constant use helping to define optimum manufacturing procedures and systems for Cotton's many clients.
Often, Cotton's experts work directly with specific manufacturers on a new process, system or product that must be kept in confidence to protect property rights. But when not so constrained, Cotton Incorporated readily shares new technologies. In other words, if it concerns the marketing or manufacturing of cotton products, Cotton Incorporated's role is to provide help.
The recent opening of the 125,053-square-foot Cotton Incorporated World Headquarters in Cary, NC, has helped further energize and synergize these activities. This dynamic new facility offers the latest research and development innovations in cotton agriculture, fiber and textile science. “By putting research and marketing expertise under one roof, it allows us to be both proactive and responsive to the current and future needs of the industry,” J. Berrye Worsham, President and CEO of Cotton Incorporated, explains. He's emphatic about getting the word out on how important the new headquarters is to the textile trade. “Now that everything is in one place, visitors will say to me, ‘I never realized that you were involved in so many areas. We always thought of you running commercials. We had no idea the research area was so big, and this important.' It's really essential for us to convey that Cotton Incorporated is involved in both research and marketing and that they both work together.”
With a youthful verve that belies his years of experience in economics, consumer research and administration, Worsham articulates the value of the dedicated people who work at Cotton Incorporated. “It is the enthusiasm of the staff here that makes this operation so outstanding,” he explains. “These are people who are genuinely interested in what they are doing, whether they are in the lab or in the marketing offices. We have to convey that enthusiasm.”
That is one important reason for launching this series of articles. Certainly, Cotton Incorporated wants the industry to know about all the services it offers. In addition, the Inside Out series will strive to present the latest developments in research, technology and innovation that can help improve your business. With all that goes on at Cotton Incorporated World Headquarters, it is difficult even for those of you who have worked with them to know about every aspect of the operation. Inside Out will not only offer insight into what Cotton Incorporated does, but how it relates to what is happening in the industry, as well as at your mill.
In addition, it's about relating the vitality that has helped make Cotton Incorporated a positive force in the industry. This, of course, is all about people. While members of the Cotton Incorporated staff derive a great deal of pride from what they do, they know that true accomplishment comes with practical application. That's why so much time is spent visiting yarn and fabric manufacturers, and dyeing-and-finishing operations.
Communication is also essential. The constant stream of reports and publications available to the industry is very important, as is the few minutes on the phone with a trouble-shooting plant manager. For Cotton Incorporated, it's all part of the job. And, remarkably, Cotton provides most of these services free of charge.
Cotton's overall mission, to increase the profitability and consumption of cotton, seems simple on the surface, but it involves a multi-disciplined approach that requires big investments in resources. Inside Out will be more than informative; it will make it easier for you to take full advantage of all Cotton Incorporated offers to the cotton textile and apparel industries.
Cotton Incorporated welcomes your questions and input concerning these columns, because like its many other activities and initiatives, Inside Outside is meant to be useful to the industry.
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