Good morning, I am Eric Henry, President of TS Designs based in Burlington, NC.

Since NAFTA we have lost over 100,000 textile and apparel jobs in North Carolina.

At TS Designs we want to be a different company, a company based on a triple bottom line of People, Planet and Profit. We print t-shirts, 90% of them are domestically made and 60% are made in North Carolina.

North Carolina is the 4th largest grower of cotton in the US and we export 50% of that cotton, so last year we launched a new brand, Cotton of the Carolinas. The Cotton of the Carolinas shirt is grown, made, and sold entirely in North Carolina. Our t-shirts impacts 700 jobs in North Carolina at 6 different companies. We go from dirt to shirt in 750 miles when an average t-shirt can travel 17,000 miles!

It is the only apparel line that is completely transparent for the consumer all the way to the farmer. When you get one of our shirts you can connect directly to Ronnie Burleson, the cotton farmer, and the other 5 companies that are involved in making this t-shirt.

Our t-shirts do cost more, but hopefully one thing that we have learned from this record unemployment in a jobless recovery is that there is more than just low price.

For more information about Cotton of the Carolinas, go to the website. cottonofthecarolinas.com

In an effort to help our customers differentiate Cotton of the Carolinas products from conventional shirts, we have created marketing materials for retailers selling CotC shirts. If you sell or distribute Cotton of the Carolinas shirts, please click on the links to download these materials and use them as you see fit.

This is a 8.5×11 sheet that profiles Ronnie, our cotton farmer.

This is a 1/3 page pamphlet that shows people how to track their shirt that can be cut into 3 pamphlets per page.

The Harvest ‘09 Tour was a great success! Thanks to everyone who came out to see Ronnie’s farm and hear about our plan to bring consumers back to the farmer of their clothing and everyone in-between.

Check out this video by the NC farm bureau to see a bit of footage of the tour; we have our own video on its way!

We have created a clearer distinction and better cohesion between our three products. We are now providing our customers with three different, but equal routes to sustainability, depending on what they value most. Organic, local, or recycled–you choose which path to take.

We have created a clearer distinction and better cohesion between our three products. We are now providing our customers with three different, but equal routes to sustainability, depending on what they value most. Organic, local, or recycled–you choose which path to take.

Wes Morgan of Rolling Hills Gin was kind enough to send us some early photos of the Cotton of the Carolinas Harvest ‘09 up-and-coming crop. The photos were taken at Ronnie Burleson’s (Wes’ uncle) farm over in Richfield, NC.

According to Wes, so far this year’s crop is right on track. Now we just need a hot damp summer, which in North Carolina is a pretty good bet!