National Spinning Co., Inc. has announced its President and Chief Executive Officer Jim Chesnutt has been unanimously elected Chairman of the Board by the company’s board of directors.
For 15 years, Chesnutt has been at the helm of National Spinning, as massive changes to the textile industry as a whole demanded a different approach to doing business.
“This business changed and we had to change with it,” Chesnutt said. “We did have to figure out how to do different things, how to align the facilities to support the business we were doing. Along the way, we made some strategic decisions to get out of some businesses and into others that made more sense for us.”
As a result, Chesnutt said, the company is as financially healthy as it’s ever been, allowing for more investment in research and development.
“We’ve got a lot in the pipeline,” Chesnutt said. “We continue to develop a string a products on the yarn side that we think will bring in big dividends.”
Big business for National Spinning remains in textile yarn, but they’ve branched out, diversifying their products. The Beulahville, Whiteville and Burlington plants make yarns for many applications: hosiery yarns for high-tech hiking and running socks, nonwoven products like institutional bedding and insulation, yarns for Air Force flight jackets and heat-resistant yarns for gear worn by oil rig workers.
“We wanted to diversify so we wouldn’t have total dependence on the textile industry,” Chesnutt explained.
To that end, Hampton Arts, the line out of the Washington facility, now produces rubber stamps and stamping accessories, as well as paper crafting and scrapbook products, sold to large chain stores like Michaels and Walmart. Chesnutt said the diversification was a fiscally sound decision.
“Hampton Art is growing and growing fast,” he added.
While his role as chairman of National Spinning’s board won’t change much about his day-to-day duties, Chesnutt said it’s just one more way to take a leadership role in providing for all National Spinning stakeholders.