This morning in Clemson, South Carolina Ambassador Kirk met with professors and students at Clemson University. Ambassador Kirk has been traveling across the country to speak with American businesses and workers on issues that they face in the global marketplace. Ambassador Kirk realizes that small businesses in particular can help to create jobs that will put Americans back to work.
While at Clemson, he toured the University's Advanced Materials Research Center and discussed the center's efforts to develop materials to replace steel and lighten and improve mileage in vehicles, advances in medical textiles to create replaceable veins and arteries, and projects with NASA and the Department of Defense.
The laboratory at Clemson - comprising of 111,000 square feet with state-of-the-art equipment - partners with private sector companies to create breakthrough technologies. It has been recognized by The National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense and NASA.
The Clemson Apparel Research department also works with local small- and medium-sized businesses to help manufacture and market new products. Clemson Apparel Research manages a 6,000 square foot apparel plant featuring state-of-the-art equipment for design, cutting, stitching, and finishing. Students at the Clemson Apparel Research plant research manufacturing and supply chain problems, working to develop solutions for local partner businesses. Current projects include specialty dress shirts and military dress shirts for commercial companies across the country, with workers producing 900 shirts a week.
South Carolina's textile industry does business around the world. South Carolina's exports of textiles and apparel were over $400 million last year alone, and three-quarters of those exports were destined to our North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) partners.
