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SEAMS The Voice of the U.S. Sewn Products Industry for more than 50 years

SEAMS is dedicated to promoting a business climate that will enhance and support the retention of sound economic growth throughout the entire United States. The association is constantly working to develop solutions to many of the challenges facing the sewn products industry. Participation as a member of SEAMS guarantees that the voice of the sewn products industry will be heard and responded to.

🇺🇸 SEAMS members help create a proud legacy of American textile manufacturing!Hamrick Mills, Springs Digital, Carolina C...
10/11/2026

🇺🇸 SEAMS members help create a proud legacy of American textile manufacturing!

Hamrick Mills, Springs Digital, Carolina Creative Products and Tryon Finishing have announced a strategic partnership to create a more streamlined, fully domestic textile supply chain.

The collaboration brings together woven fabric manufacturing, digital and rotary printing, fabric finishing and cut-and-sew production across facilities in the Carolinas.

By combining their capabilities, the companies aim to help brands reduce lead times, improve quality control, increase supply chain transparency and expand their Made-in-USA sourcing options.

Read more: https://tinyurl.com/dnevcrx5

We couldn’t be prouder to recognize one of our own.Sean Burke of Henderson Machinery, Inc. was honored with the Sarah Fr...
09/30/2026

We couldn’t be prouder to recognize one of our own.

Sean Burke of Henderson Machinery, Inc. was honored with the Sarah Friedman Award during our Fall Networking Conference in New Orleans, recognizing his years of service, leadership and dedication to SEAMS and the U.S. sewn products industry.

Named in honor of longtime SEAMS Executive Director Sarah Friedman, the award celebrates individuals who embody the same spirit of commitment and service that has helped make our association and industry stronger.

Congratulations, Sean, and thank you for all you have done — and continue to do — for SEAMS!

Read more from eTextileCommunications.com: https://tinyurl.com/yk8ycmfu

09/30/2026

From AI to reshoring, SEAMS lets the good ideas roll in New Orleans

From AI and reshoring to workforce development, domestic sourcing and the future of U.S. manufacturing, SEAMS’ Fall Networking Conference brought plenty of good ideas — and great connections — to New Orleans.

The conference brought together leaders from across the sewn products supply chain for candid conversations about strengthening domestic manufacturing. Speakers and panels explored practical applications of AI, reshoring opportunities, cut-and-sew challenges, sourcing closer to home and FutureTEX, the new national initiative aimed at modernizing America’s textile manufacturing base.

Read review on eTextileCommunications.com: https://tinyurl.com/3k2hpkr7

What might the next generation of U.S. apparel manufacturing look like when designers, engineers, operators and technici...
09/20/2026

What might the next generation of U.S. apparel manufacturing look like when designers, engineers, operators and technicians work side by side — with AI helping connect it all?

Aidan Meany, founder and CEO of Found Surface, offered a glimpse during the SEAMS Fall Networking Conference in New Orleans.

Based in Cleveland, Found Surface is a domestic apparel manufacturer specializing in digital knitting, private-label manufacturing and product development, working with brands and designers to take products from concept and sampling through full-scale U.S. production.

Meany shared how Found Surface is combining manufacturing know-how, software development and AI to rethink how apparel can be designed, produced and delivered in the United States.

“We’re not just a bunch of crazy AI guys,” Meany told attendees. “We make stuff.”

That distinction was central to his presentation. Found Surface is using AI not as a substitute for manufacturing expertise, but as a tool to give its team greater control over its systems and reduce the back-and-forth that can slow the path from an idea to a finished product.

Meany described a 17-person team working across flat knitting, sewing, washing and drying, supply chain and software. The company serves established markets including medical products, compression products, protective equipment and technical textiles while pursuing a larger vision for highly customized apparel.

A big part of that vision is what Meany calls dynamic production — using digital tools and highly flexible flat knitting technology to efficiently produce a high volume of lower-unit orders.

Found Surface's Knitting Studio, for example, allows brands and designers to create products using the company's available styles, silhouettes and in-stock colors. Meany views flat knitting almost as a form of additive manufacturing, creating opportunities for customized products without relying on the traditional model of decorating premanufactured blanks.

The longer-term opportunity goes beyond the factory itself. Meany envisions manufacturers' ERP systems and capabilities communicating across the domestic supply chain, allowing partners to identify capacity, source materials and respond to opportunities with far less friction.

“This level of collaboration between supply chain partners is huge,” he said.

Found Surface also is exploring direct-to-consumer fulfillment for its brand customers — allowing products to move from digital design through manufacturing and shipping without brands necessarily having to stock finished inventory.

For Meany, technology ultimately serves a very human objective: empowering people to turn ideas into physical products while building a more flexible, responsive and fundamentally sustainable future for American apparel manufacturing.

It was another compelling example at the SEAMS Fall Networking Conference of how a new generation of manufacturers is combining textile expertise with emerging technology to rethink what can be made in America — and how.

What happens when you stop asking what AI can do and start asking it to solve the manufacturing problems you already kno...
09/20/2026

What happens when you stop asking what AI can do and start asking it to solve the manufacturing problems you already know you have?

Mitch Cahn, president of Unionwear, brought that question to the SEAMS Fall Networking Conference in New Orleans Thursday with his presentation, “Capacity Surfing with AI: Solving the Problems You Already Know You Have.”

Cahn shared real-world examples of how Unionwear is putting AI to work across its Newark, N.J., operation — cleaning up years of scattered data, consolidating 1,711 time studies, capturing tribal knowledge, researching machine parts and manuals, improving scheduling and tackling dozens of potential AI projects. His message was practical: start with the problems in your business, not the technology.

One of the most compelling examples came from Unionwear’s high-mix bag department. Cahn described teaching AI not just machine capabilities and production times, but the realities of the factory floor — including movement, downtime, bottlenecks and human behavior. After first producing results that Cahn called “total garbage,” the model improved as Unionwear supplied the manufacturing context and tribal knowledge it was missing.

The result? For one bag program, Unionwear increased output from about 160 bags per day to roughly 220 — an approximately threefold increase in productivity. The distance traveled by each bag through production also dropped dramatically.

Cahn also showed how Unionwear is using AI for virtual sampling, embroidery costing and stitch estimation, thread-color matching, product development, work instructions and eventually e-commerce — all connected to the company's existing manufacturing and ERP processes.

His closing advice was equally grounded: assume AI is wrong, recreate your current state, break projects into discrete tasks, give AI the context it needs and get a second opinion on the results.

Day 2 of the SEAMS Fall Networking Conference in New Orleans kicked off Thursday with a powerful example of what can hap...
09/20/2026

Day 2 of the SEAMS Fall Networking Conference in New Orleans kicked off Thursday with a powerful example of what can happen when U.S. textile and apparel companies work together.

The SEAMS Member Supply Chain Panel covered “Source Domestically — It Works!” and brought together Denny Bogard, president at Fechheimer; Cheryl Eckert, vice president of Operations, Supply Chain, Purchasing, Planning at Fechheimer; Steve Hawkins, president and co-founder of America Knits; and Ron Roach, president of Contempora Fabrics. Jim Hopkins, director of Sales & Marketing at Hamrick Mills, moderated.

And this wasn’t a theoretical discussion. As Hopkins pointed out, the companies represented on stage are part of a working domestic supply chain — built around trust, transparency, collaboration and long-term relationships.

Bogard said Fechheimer approaches sourcing differently than simply looking for the lowest price. “It’s really about trust,” he said.

For a company supplying uniforms to the U.S. military, law enforcement, fire service and postal service, reliability matters. “There’s no order big enough to jeopardize our reputation,” Bogard said.

Eckert described cost, delivery and quality as the supply chain “trifecta,” but said those fundamentals have to be built on trust, partnership and transparency. “There’s nothing worse than that overpromise and underdeliver.”

Hawkins talked about how relationships have helped America Knits grow and become more efficient. Together with Contempora Fabrics, America Knits can provide a vertical domestic supply chain extending from fabric development and manufacturing through finished, decorated and packaged garments.

His philosophy on quality is displayed behind his desk: “The bitter taste of poor quality lasts long after the cheap price is forgotten.”

Roach emphasized solving customers’ problems — even when his company didn’t create them — as a way to build trust. And he made a strong case for greater collaboration throughout the U.S. industry.

“When we all get together to work as one unit … think about we’re one supply chain here in the United States.”

Hawkins echoed that point: “There’s either enough work for all of us or not enough work for any of us. So the more successful companies we have, the better our industry is.”

Hopkins summed up what the panel demonstrated: a U.S. supply chain where companies know one another, trust one another and collaborate to get the job done.

The discussion also went beyond patriotism to the business case for sourcing domestically — shorter supply chains, faster inventory turns, less capital tied up in goods, greater flexibility and the ability to respond more quickly to customers.

As Bogard put it, companies have to communicate the “true value proposition of domestic manufacturing.”

Congratulations to Sean Burke of Henderson Machinery Inc., recipient of SEAMS’ highest honor, the Sarah Friedman Award, ...
09/17/2026

Congratulations to Sean Burke of Henderson Machinery Inc., recipient of SEAMS’ highest honor, the Sarah Friedman Award, presented Tuesday during the SEAMS Fall Networking Conference in New Orleans.

The award recognizes outstanding service and dedication to SEAMS and the sewn products industry and honors the legacy of SEAMS’ former executive director Sarah Friedman, who helped transform the association from a small, regional apparel manufacturing group into the widely recognized national association for the sewn products industry.

Burke was recognized for his longtime involvement with SEAMS, his support of the association and his commitment to strengthening the U.S. textile and sewn products supply chain.

A well-deserved honor for an industry leader who continues to give his time, energy and expertise in support of SEAMS and American manufacturing.

Other recipients of the award are Jim Hopkins and Roy Lockett of Hamrick Mills, Frank Henderson of Henderson Sewing Machine Co., Devin Steele of eTextileCommunications, Tanya Wade of the Manufacturing Solutions Center, Xochil Herrera of The Chicago Pattern Maker and Ron Roach of Contempora Fabrics.

Congratulations, Sean!

Stephen Sharp, vice president of Fiber Innovation and Facilities Development at Gaston College and chief innovation and ...
09/17/2026

Stephen Sharp, vice president of Fiber Innovation and Facilities Development at Gaston College and chief innovation and manufacturing officer for FutureTEX, gave SEAMS Fall Networking Conference attendees in New Orleans an inside look at one of the most significant new initiatives aimed at strengthening U.S. textile and apparel manufacturing.

During his presentation, “FutureTEX: Revolutionizing the American Apparel Industry,” Sharp explained how the 10-year initiative will bring together industry, government, universities, nonprofits and trade associations to accelerate innovation, modernize manufacturing and strengthen the domestic textile supply chain. FutureTEX received $36 million in first-year funding and has a ceiling of $480 million over 10 years.

FutureTEX will be based at Gaston College’s Kimbrell Campus in Belmont, N.C., and brings together core partners NC State Wilson College of Textiles, Gaston College, Drexel University, Georgia Tech, UMass Lowell and the Industrial Sewing and Innovation Center (ISAIC), along with a growing national network of industry and association partners — including SEAMS.

FutureTEX is designed to connect the entire textile manufacturing ecosystem — from fibers, yarns and fabrics through finished products — with capabilities spanning advanced materials and smart textiles, digital manufacturing and digital twins, AI and automation, pilot manufacturing, factory modernization and workforce development.

And while national security and defense are major drivers, Sharp emphasized that the technologies and capabilities developed through FutureTEX will have applications across commercial markets, including apparel, footwear, medical, automotive, aerospace, protective products, composites and geotextiles.

How can industry get involved? Sharp encouraged textile and apparel companies to engage with FutureTEX, identify manufacturing challenges and technology needs and participate in the collaborative ecosystem being built around the initiative. FutureTEX is currently inviting people to sign up for news and updates through its website.

The next opportunity to learn more will be an informational FutureTEX webinar/Town Hall on Oct. 8 from 3-5 p.m. The session will provide industry with another opportunity to learn about the initiative and how to participate.

Learn more about FutureTEX and register for the Oct. 8 session: https://reporter.ncsu.edu/index.html

AI isn’t just about doing what you already do faster. It’s about discovering what you can do that wasn’t possible before...
09/17/2026

AI isn’t just about doing what you already do faster. It’s about discovering what you can do that wasn’t possible before.

Joe Parrish, founder of upupdndn, Winston-Salem, N.C., delivered an energetic and thought-provoking keynote today at the SEAMS Fall Networking Conference in New Orleans, challenging attendees to rethink how they approach artificial intelligence.

His message: AI doesn’t have a capability problem — it has a context problem. The more AI understands about your company, its capabilities and how it operates, the more valuable it can become.

Parrish encouraged manufacturers to look beyond using AI simply for efficiency and cost savings and explore how it can help create new products, identify opportunities and make companies more valuable partners to their customers.

And one of his simplest challenges to the SEAMS audience may have been the most powerful: “Start with the assumption that it can solve your problem, and then let it prove you wrong.”

A fascinating look at how AI could reshape manufacturing, jobs and the way companies compete — and a great way to kick off today’s conference program.

New Orleans is buzzing — and so is SEAMS!SEAMS President Brent Jones of Henderson Machinery and Executive Director Will ...
09/17/2026

New Orleans is buzzing — and so is SEAMS!

SEAMS President Brent Jones of Henderson Machinery and Executive Director Will Duncan kicked off the SEAMS Fall Networking Conference this morning, welcoming a great crowd of industry leaders to the Big Easy.

The room is packed, the conversations are already flowing and we have two days ahead filled with insights, ideas and connections — from AI and the economy to domestic manufacturing, FutureTEX and the future of the U.S. sewn products industry.

There’s nothing quite like bringing the SEAMS community together. Great people. Great energy. Great way to start the conference!

Empowering the Made in America Movement — from New Orleans! 🇺🇸⚜️

Address

3650 Rogers Road #302
Wake Forest, NC
27587

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

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+18036421111

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