⚠ Disclaimer: This section may contain incomplete, out of date, or inaccurate entries. It is AI-maintained on a best-effort basis. Do not rely on it as a sole source — verify claims independently using the source materials listed in individual entries.
Overview
This section tracks textile manufacturing through the lens of U.S. reindustrialization: which companies grow, spin, weave, dye, print, and sew fabric in the United States, which machines and chemicals they depend on, and which startups are changing the process. Non-U.S. companies are covered where they define a product category’s supply chain — quilting fabric is the first example, because almost all of it is made overseas. Textile mills in the U.S. employed 78,300 people in August 2026 versus 503,300 in January 1990 (federal data cited by Forbes), so the starting point for most questions here is what is left and what is being rebuilt.
Key Themes
- Raw fiber leaves; value is added elsewhere. The United States is projected to grow 13.6 million bales of cotton in 2026/27, export 12.3 million, and mill 1.6 million.
- Quilting cotton is an Asia-made category with opaque sourcing. The only brand-origin survey found (2017) points to Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, and India, with one U.S.-grown line; no major brand names its mills.
- Machine building is European and Japanese. Looms and spinning systems come from Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and Japan; U.S. strength is in ginning and some dyeing equipment, and Continental Eagle announced in 2009 a move of gin-machinery production to India and ended U.S. production in 2012.
- Dyes are concentrated. Archroma (Switzerland) and DyStar (Singapore, Longsheng-owned) are the large dye houses named in sources; no large U.S.-headquartered textile-dye maker surfaced.
- Reshoring is real but downstream and early. Yarn, finishing, cut-and-sew, and software investments (Reshoring Textiles, Hamrick Mills partners, Anatar, Unspun) lead; new cotton-weaving capacity has not been documented.
Subtopics
- Quilting Fabrics — what makes quilting cotton high quality, brand origins, cotton supply and buyers
- Textile Machinery — gins, spinning, looms, dyeing and finishing, printing; who builds them and where
- Advanced Fibers — carbon fiber, aramid, UHMWPE and ceramic fibers made in the U.S.: uses, inputs, machinery, companies
- U.S. Textile Innovators and Reshoring — Anatar, Unspun, Natural Fiber Welding, Reshoring Textiles, Hamrick Mills, Cherrywood
Companies
Startups & Development Partners
| Company | HQ | Stage | Mission |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anatar | Atlanta, GA, USA | Pre-seed | Defense-oriented soft goods, automated U.S. cut-and-sew, and traceability software. |
| Unspun | California, USA | Series B ($32M, 2024); >$50M total | 3D weaving of garments directly from yarn; planning U.S. production hubs. |
| Natural Fiber Welding | Peoria, IL, USA | Series B ($85M, 2022) | Plant-based, plastic-free materials and textiles (MIRUM, CLARUS). |
| Reshoring Textiles | USA (Stoneville, NC per release) | Private holding company | Acquires and modernizes U.S. mills; bought Sans Technical Fibers in October 2026. |
| Cherrywood Fabrics | Baxter/Brainerd, MN, USA | Private | Hand-dyed 100% cotton for quilting and fiber art. |
| Circ | Danville, VA, USA | Private | Polycotton recycling; first commercial plant planned in France. |
| Colorifix | Norwich, UK | Series B-III | Biological dyeing that replaces industrial dye chemistry (non-U.S.). |
| Spoonflower | Durham, NC, USA | Subsidiary of Shutterfly (2021) | Digital inkjet printing of custom fabric. |
Public Companies
| Ticker | Company | Mission |
|---|---|---|
| RIEN.SW | Rieter (entry) | Spinning systems and components (Winterthur, Switzerland); US subsidiary in Spartanburg, SC. |
| KRNT | Kornit Digital (entry) | Digital textile and garment printing (Rosh HaAyin, Israel); Americas office in Englewood, NJ. |
Incumbents (Advanced Fibers)
| Ticker | Company | Relevance |
|---|---|---|
| HXL | Hexcel | Stamford, CT; HexTow carbon fiber from Salt Lake City, UT; Decatur, AL line under construction. |
| SOLS | Solstice Advanced Materials | Spectra UHMWPE fiber; >$220M Colonial Heights, VA expansion. |
| AVNT | Avient (Dyneema) | Avon Lake, OH; Dyneema plants incl. Greenville, NC. |
| — | Zoltek (Toray) | St. Louis, MO; large-tow carbon fiber; Toray-owned. |
| — | Teijin Carbon America | Greenwood, SC; production paused from mid-January 2026. |
| — | Kevlar | Spruance, VA and Cooper River, SC; sold by DuPont to Arclin 1 April 2026. |
| — | Harper International | NY; oxidation ovens and carbonization furnaces. |
| — | GE Aerospace SiC fiber | Huntsville, AL SiC fiber and CMC tape project. |
Incumbents
| Ticker | Company | Relevance |
|---|---|---|
| — | Hamrick Mills | Gaffney, SC vertical woven-fabric mill (since 1900); partner in a June 2026 domestic fabric chain. See Hamrick Mills. |
| — | Picanol (entry) | Ieper, Belgium; air-jet and rapier looms. |
| — | Itema | Colzate, Bergamo, Italy; weaving machinery (rapier, projectile). |
| — | Toyota Industries | Kariya, Japan; air-jet and water-jet looms; taken private by Toyota Fudosan, delisted June 2026. |
| — | Lummus Corporation (entry) | Savannah, GA; cotton-ginning machinery. |
| — | Gaston County Dyeing Machine Co. | Stanley, NC; jet dyeing machines and foam finishing. |
| — | Archroma | Pratteln, Switzerland; dyes and textile chemicals; SK Capital portfolio company. |
| — | DyStar 🇨🇳 | Singapore; dyes; majority-owned via Senda International Capital (Longsheng Group). |
| — | Robert Kaufman (Kona) | Largest-named solid-color quilting line; country of manufacture undisclosed. |
Supply Chain
| Layer | Key Inputs / Outputs | Known Companies | Geographic Concentration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fiber growing | Upland and long-staple cotton | Farms in China (33.5M bales), India (24.0M), Brazil (18.25M), United States (13.6M) | USDA 2026/27 projection; four countries dominate production |
| Ginning | Gin stands, lint cleaners, bales | Lummus (Savannah, GA); Continental Eagle (U.S. production ended 2012) | U.S. ginning equipment is domestic; see Textile Machinery Makers |
| Spinning | Yarn | Rieter machines; U.S. yarn makers incl. Sans Technical Fibers (nylon, polyester) | Mill use: China 42.0M bales, India 26.5M, Pakistan 10.2M, Vietnam 8.2M, Bangladesh 7.6M, Türkiye 6.8M; United States 1.6M |
| Weaving | Greige (unfinished) cloth | Picanol, Itema, Toyota Industries looms; Hamrick Mills (U.S. weaver) | 96% of 2023 shuttleless looms shipped to Asia & Oceania |
| Wet processing | Prepared, dyed, finished cloth | Archroma, DyStar (dyes); Gaston County (machines); Tryon Finishing (NC); Cherrywood (hand-dyed) | Dye supply concentrated in Switzerland and Singapore/China |
| Printing | Printed quilting cloth | Rotary screen (SPGPrints, Zimmer); digital (Kornit, Spoonflower) | About 97:3 traditional-to-digital (Zimmer data) |
| Brand / converting | Collections, solids lines | Robert Kaufman, Moda, Art Gallery, Free Spirit, Clothworks, Kokka | Mills reportedly in Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, India (2017) |
| Advanced fibers | Acrylonitrile → PAN → carbon fiber; UHMWPE; SiC | See Advanced Fibers | Aerospace-led; Japanese-owned plants in SC; ORNL pilot line in TN |
| Distribution / buyers | Quilt shops, online | Local quilt shops (64% of supply purchases); online | U.S.: 9–11 million quilters, about $4.5B industry revenue (2025) |
⚑ Shared supplier note: Dye houses and loom makers serve all brands in the category; brand-to-mill links are undisclosed, so shared-mill overlaps cannot be flagged from public data.
Supply Chain — Last Reviewed: 2026-10-21
See Cotton Supply and Fabric Buyers for the underlying figures.