A delegation of Chinese textile standards officials — including Fang Xijiang, director of the
Standardization Institute of the China Textile Academy, and his colleagues studying US and Western
standards used in textile and apparel manufacturing — recently visited the Rock Hill, S.C.-based
North American headquarters and technology center of SDL Atlas – a provider of textile testing
equipment, supplies, consumables and services.
“During the SDL Atlas visit, the emphasis was on reviewing our broad line of standard
consumable fabrics used in textile testing and our wide range of special services we routinely
provide to our textile clients,” said Robert Lattie, SDL Atlas director, product management, and
chair of the ANSI accredited TAG to TC38 for Textiles. According to Lattie, China is becoming an
important market for SDL Atlas, but current textile manufacturing standards differ greatly between
China and the United States.
Other facilities included on the tour included Cary, N.C.-based Cotton Incorporated;
Sanford, N.C.-based Frontier Spinning Mills Inc.; North Carolina State University’s College of
Textiles, Raleigh, N.C.; the Research Triangle Park, N.C.-based American Association of Textile
Chemists and Colorists Research Committee sessions on standards; ASTM International’s headquarters
in West Conshohocken, Pa.; and the US Consumer Product Safety Commission in Bethesda, Md.
June 17, 2009