FAIRY TALE: A VETERAN TEXTILE MANAGER BUILDS A THRIVING MANUFACTURER WITH ASSISTANCE FROM AN INDUSTRY GIANT.

• Author: Mildenberg, David
• Position: FIRST TAKE

Much of the story of North Carolina's textile industry is embodied in Jim Bryan, who's lived through its ups and downs during a 41-year career. Right now is an "up" at his 50-year-old Fairystone Fabrics Inc., which is enjoying the current resurgence of U.S. textiles. The Glen Raven-based company's specialty is making fabric that adheres to the roofs of dozens of car models made by big Japanese and U.S. automakers. Strong auto sales, along with demand for a fabric used in Velcro-type fasteners, sparked a 20% increase in revenue last year. This year, the company is on pace for a 10% revenue gain. Anticipating further growth, Fairystone has invested more than $1 million in new machinery in the last few months.

Such success follows a tumultuous career. Bored after college with a police job in a tiny Massachusetts resort town, Bryan, now 64, joined a family friend's company in Connecticut, where he learned how to wind yarn sold to small knitting companies. He parlayed the experience into a job at textiles giant Burlington Industries Inc. He had nine different sales and manufacturing posts at the Greensboro-based company over 20 years. One of his jobs involved managing 175 people in a division of a plant that covered 1 million square feet.

Like so many in his generation of industry middle managers, Bryan left his job in the early 1990s amid the downsizing at his employer and many of its peers. Textile and apparel manufacturing was migrating to Asia and Mexico, upending many careers across the state. Many public companies such as Burlington were either acquired by private investors or shuttered. Textile fabric finishers now employ 5,700 in North Carolina, down from a peak of47,000 in 1990.

A couple of years after Bryan left Burlington, Alamance County mill owner Tom Bobo asked him to lead Fairystone, which Bobo's father, Harold, opened in 1968. Tom Bobo's two children didn't want to run the business, providing an opening for the industry veteran. The company, which converts yarn into unfinished fabric, relied on apparel companies for 90% of its revenue when Bryan arrived in 1996.

Apparel fabric now makes up about 5% of revenue as Bryan has added customers in new markets, especially automotive. After a decade as president, he bought the business in 2011. His goal is to add two new customers every year, a target he's met four of the last five years. "I'm trying to get in Elon Musk's pocket," he jokes, referring to the Tesla CEO.

Bryan says his...