Our History

North Carolina has a long and proud history of Textile Manufacturing. This history began in the mid 1800's and by the mid 1900's North Carolina had become known as the King of US Textile Manufacturing. This economic boom continued until the mid 1980's, when many companies had started exporting jobs overseas to cut costs. The industry was changing and many of the workers did not have the training to continue working.

So in the late 1980's, a group from the hosiery industry asked Catawba Valley Community College to develop a training center for hosiery industry workers. The center was established by Dan St Louis in 1990 as the Hosiery Technology Center (HTC). Once established, however, the HTC soon found that there were other needs to be addressed. So in September of 2000, the HTC opened a Standards and Testing Laboratory.

In 2009, the Hosiery Technology Center changed its name to what it's known as today, Manufacturing Solutions Center. And in 2012, the Manufacturing Solutions Center moved into a new building in beautiful Conover Station.

Over the past 25 years, Manufacturing Solutions Center has become an essential part of manufacturing. The Manufacturing Solutions Center is a facility where innovative concepts can be brought to life. It's where products and prototypes are tested; manufacturing processes are fine-tuned and accurate cost and product studies are performed. All of these services are available to manufacturers to help them stay at the forefront of their industry.

In March 2023, The Manufacturing Solutions Center opens its second building in Conover, North Carolina. The 75,000 square feet houses our PPE/Textile Resource Lab, Fabric Formation Lab which is the Santoni Innovation & Best Practices Cut and Sew Line, along with our Non-textile Prototyping and Structural Furniture Lab. It is also home for our graduated business incubators.