The U.S. Congress appropriated $13 million to support the National Textile Center (NTC). The funding is for research designed to make the U.S. textile industry more
competitive globally and is included in the Fiscal Year 2006 Science, State, Justice, Commerce Appropriations Act. This is the highest level of funding the NTC has ever received, and it represents a 30% increase over Fiscal Year 2005.

Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), chairman of the Commerce, Justice, and
Science Appropriations Subcommittee, noted that Congress considers increased
funding for textile research a priority. “The National Textile Center …
trains textile industry engineers and scientists, and conducts
state-of-the-art research projects. These activities are essential for the
U.S. textile industry to maintain its global competitiveness.”

Funds are provided to the NTC through a U.S. Department of Commerce grant.

In the past four years, the grant had remained at $10 million annually. With
its additional allocation of $3 million for FY2006, the NTC will be able to
fund approximately 15 to 20 new fiber/textile research projects as well as
continuing 46 current projects. Many of these projects are related to homeland
security, biotechnology, electronics, and other key technologies. A portion of
the grant will also be used to fund fiber/textile educational programs, such
as internships and fellowships.

“We understand this substantial increase in our allocation to reflect
Congressional confidence in the research and education activities we are
carrying out in support of our industry,” said NTC Executive Director Dr.
Martin “Marty” Jacobs. “It also is a sign of Congressional support for the
continuing viability of the U.S. fiber-textile industry. We are extremely
grateful for this support and will continue to do all we can to justify it.”

The NTC is a research consortium of eight U.S. universities: Auburn,
Clemson, Cornell, Georgia Tech, Philadelphia, North Carolina State, University
of California Davis and University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Research
programs support the entire fiber-textile sector, from fibers through
retailing.

Since its founding in 1990, the NTC has produced more than $300 million in
new economic development, six start-up companies, 11 industry-funded
technology transfer programs, and over 70 patents and applications, copyrights
and notices of invention. It has completed over 150 research projects,
educated more than 1600 students, and generated in excess of
2,000 publications and presentations.