THINK BIG, ACT SMALL: Advanced manufacturing goes hand-in-hand with N.C. history as entrepreneurs revitalize the sector.

• Author: Blake, Kathy
• Position: FOCUS ON: MANUFACTURING

Jordan Schindler was a University of Washington student in Seattle when his dermatologist said the dirt and oil on Schindler's pillowcase were causing his skin issues.

The doc suggested washing the pillowcase every two or three days. But laundry is not a college kid's priority, so Schindler opted to treat his blemishes by feeding ideas to his mind, rather than detergent to a machine. "I thought, what if instead of taking a pill or using a cream, you could simply get dressed in the morning? What if people needing medication could benefit from a garment or fabric?"

The West Coast, he says, had "really cool technology, but little understanding of the textile industry." So to nudge his invention toward reality, he switched geographies. "We came to the East Coast and found the Manufacturing Solutions Center in Conover [a branch of Catawba Valley Community College] and immediately knew they could help. The ability to have this expertise is something we couldn't get anywhere else," Schindler says. "We've been here almost three years now."

Schindler, 27, is founder and CEO of Textile-Based Delivery Inc., also known as Texdel, a company that makes breathable, body-activated fabric called Nufabrx for shirts, yoga pants, socks and arm sleeves. The fabric releases a compound derived from peppers called capsaicin. His company uses two hosiery mills in Asheboro to manufacture products and has raised more than $4 million from investors. Schindler expects to have sales of $1.5 million to $2 million this year and says more manufacturing expansion is planned.

"We have a manufacturing line where we treat the yarn and put pain relief in the yarn, and it's woven into the garment," Schindler says. Products can be laundered about 30 times before the effect is diminished.

Schindler's business exemplifies what community leaders and educators push regarding North Carolina manufacturing: Industries are thriving, community colleges are on board with workforce training, and this isn't your great-grandpa's textile mill.

The Manufacturing Solutions Center helps entrepreneurs with product development, testing, marketing, training and engineering, and introduces them to large-scale manufacturers. Computers, flash-drive data and complex automation are standard in machinery used in textile development.

Texdel has seven full-time employees and received a grant last year from Advanced Functional Fabrics of America, a nonprofit based at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for a partnership with the Department of Defense to develop applications for the military. The company also is working with the health care industry for items such as medicated socks for the elderly, and with Kentwool of Greenville, S.C., on performance socks for golfers. "Medical is a huge market, and in military applications, think about soldiers hiking every day with 50-pound backpacks. If you could put pain relief into socks, it would help," Schindler says.

North Carolina has many major, innovative manufacturing entities including a growing aerospace and defense sector made up of about 40,000 engineers and 1,000 aviation-related companies, according to the NC Aerospace industry group. But smaller outlets are also combining innovation with...