Wilson College of Textiles

The Wilson College of Textiles was established to support North Carolina’s budding textile industry. Through the rise of synthetic fibers, globalization and automation, we’ve evolved and adapted and positioned ourselves, our students and our alumni to reach their full potential.

Enabling the success of our students translates to establishing a critical pipeline of future leaders, researchers and innovators in the textiles, apparel and related industries.

Our award-winning faculty excel at innovative teaching and conduct life-changing research. We’re leading the pack on smart and high performance textiles, advanced analytics, consumer behavior and more. Our College has supported the formation of interdisciplinary teams to address society’s textile-related grand challenges, from how we protect our armed forces and first responders and advance technologies for sustainable fashion, to how we filter the air we breathe and water we drink. Our College faculty have established groundbreaking interdisciplinary centers and institutes: The Nonwovens Institute and the Textile Protection and Comfort Center. They have led the formation of the emerging Forensic Sciences Institute. The Zeis Textiles Extension department is meeting a high-demand for professional training and fabrication and testing services by offering programs for entrepreneurs and start-up companies as well as multinational corporations.

We continue to serve the state of North Carolina guided by our mission, vision and our core values. The Wilson College of Textiles has been a driving force of economic development in our state. In the past two years, companies from around the world have begun or expanded operations in rural North Carolina, bringing hundreds of new jobs and investing more than $100 million — largely due to access to superior textiles education, research and development, as well as proximity to the best textiles workforce in the nation, our Wilson College of Textiles graduates.

The Wilson College of Textiles offers unparalleled hands-on, science-based textile education through two departments, Textile and Apparel, Technology and Management and Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science. Students receive one-on-one mentoring from award-winning faculty and conduct both undergraduate and graduate research in more than 200,000 square feet of state-of-the-art teaching, research, manufacturing and collaborative spaces. Students gain valuable work experience through summer internships, embark on international experiences across 30 countries and six continents, and leverage academic and experiential real world learning experiences via our industry partnerships and a 9,000-person strong alumni network.