History

In the early 17th century of colonial America, textiles were primarily manufactured in New England homes. Flax and wool were the major fibers used; however, cotton, grown primarily on Southern plantations, became increasingly important. Through the 18th century, factories were established that processed textiles with manual labor. By the 19th century, the first mill in America to use power looms began operations in Lowell, Mass. It was the first time that all textile manufacturing operations were being done under the same roof.

The 20th century has seen the development of the first manmade fibers (rayon was first produced in 1910). Although natural fibers (wool, cotton, silk and linen) are still used extensively today, they are more expensive and are often mixed with manmade fibers such as polyester, the most widely used synthetic fiber. In addition, segments of the textile industry have become highly automated and computerized.

The textile industry is characterized by product specialization. Most mills only engage in one process or raw material. For example, a mill may be engaged in either broadloom weaving of cotton or broadloom weaving of wool. Similarly, many mills specialize in either spinning or weaving operations, although larger integrated mills may combine the two operations. These large mills normally do not conduct their own dyeing and finishing operations. Weaving, spinning, and knitting mills usually send out their fabrics to one of the approximately 500 dyeing and finishing plants in the United States.

Table 1 provides examples of the variety of textile products and end uses.

Table 1

Textile Sector Industrial Classification

The majority of textile manufacturing operations have historically been classified under the 1987 Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system codes 2200 and 2300. Table 2 provides a detailed description of industry classifications within SIC 2200.

Table 2

In 1997, the U.S. Department of Commerce switched from the 1987 Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Both NAICS and SIC categorize establishments by the principal activity in which they are engaged.

NAICS, developed in cooperation with Canada and Mexico, classifies North America's economic activities at 2-, 3-, 4-, and 5-digit levels of detail, and the U.S. version of NAICS further defines industries to a sixth digit. The Economic Census takes advantage of this hierarchy to publish data at successive levels of detail. Taken from U.S. Census Bureau Guide to the 1997 Economic Census.

Within the NAIC system, textile related operations are covered in the codes 313, 314, and 315. These codes include operations previously included in both 2200 and 2300 as well as a few additional selected SIC codes.

Textiles - Economics and Demographics

The textile industry has historically been one of the largest, most diverse, and most dynamic segments in the U.S. manufacturing sector. Based on the 1997 Economic Census, SIC code 2200 represented 6,155 establishments with in excess of $82 billion in value of shipments and 550,000 employees, while SIC code 2300 represented 23,411 establishments with in excess of $81 billion in value of shipments and 800,000 employees.

View economic data for 1992 and 1997 economic census data within SIC 2200 and 2300 in the 1997 Economic Census: Comparative Statistics for United States 1987 SIC Basis: Manufacturing or as NAIC codes 313, 314, and 315 in the 1997 Economic Census: Bridge Between NAICS and SIC Menu of NAICS Sectors.

While the textile industry has operations impacting all 50 states, 75 percent of all U.S. textiles and apparel is produced in eight southeastern states. A breakdown of employment for the major textile producing states is provided in Table 3.

Table 3

Table 4 shows the major states for employment and Table 5 shows the percentage of facilities for a particular employment range within the SIC 2200 (data in both Table 4 and 5 is based on 1992-1995 economic census data).

Table 4

Table 5