Textile Manufacturing
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Industry Overview
The US textile industry includes about 10,000 companies with combined annual sales of $65 billion. Large companies include Burlington Industries and Unifi. The industry has become concentrated: the 50 largest companies hold more than 60 percent of the market. About 100 companies have annual sales over $100 million.
Competitive Landscape
Demand is driven by the domestic apparel industry and consumer demand for home furnishings like carpets, furniture, and curtains. The profitability of individual companies depends on efficient operations. Large companies have economies of scale in production for high-production items. Small companies can compete successfully by producing specialized textiles. The industry has become more automated but is still labor-intensive: average annual revenue per employee is under $170,000.
Products, Operations & Technology
Major products are yarns and threads, fabrics, carpets, and curtains. The industry produces yarns and threads out of natural (wool and cotton) and synthetic (plastics) materials, uses yarns and threads to produce fabrics that are woven or knit, finishes fabrics by dyeing or coating them, and makes fabrics into simple finished consumer products like rugs, carpets, curtains, linens, and textile bags. Fabrics account for about 40 percent of industry revenue, carpets 20 percent, yarns and threads 20 percent.
Textiles are made in factories (still called mills because they were among the earliest industrial users of water power) using highly specialized, automated machinery, mainly yarn spinning machines, knitting machines, and various looms. The combination of a large number of possible yarns and a large number of knitting and weaving techniques produces a gigantic number of possible textiles in a wide array of colors. Larger textile firms tend to be vertically integrated, often converting raw material into yarn, then using the yarn to produce fabric, which they also dye and finish. Small companies tend to concentrate on niches, and usually aren't involved in all phases of production. Many firms manufacture "greige goods": raw fabric that is dyed and processed by customers.
Textile manufacturers buy raw material for production from various sources. Cellulosic, or natural, fibers, such as cotton, silk, or wool are typically purchased from commodity brokers and farm cooperatives. Synthetic fibers, such as olefin, polyester, acrylic, or nylon, are usually bought from chemical manufacturers like DuPont. Nylon, polyester, and silk are called filaments. Companies manufacture yarns to have various characteristics depending on the intended end-use. A loom runs filaments or yarn threads in various patterns called weaves. The type of thread used and the type of weave pattern applied to it determine the type of fabric produced. Weaves are categorized according to the manufacturing method used, such as plain or satin. The major categories of fabrics are broadloom and knit.
The technology used in textile production is well-known. Most machines are computer controlled. Fabrics are designed using special software programs that can send designs directly to production equipment.