Duke attire is homegrown

Rachel Weeks, CEO of School House, a collegiate apparel company in downtown Durham, wishes there could be "Made in Durham" labels for her company's products.

That's because School House, which moved its manufacturing from Sri Lanka to North Carolina earlier this year, has contracted with Mitt's Nitts, the last known apparel manufacturer in Durham, to make items for its fall 2012 line.

"To have people see in the Duke bookstore that it's made in Durham - wouldn't that be great?" Weeks said.

Durham had a sizable textile industry in the 19th and early 20th centuries. However, the textile factories closed as companies moved their manufacturing overseas. By the 1980s, most had shuttered.

Mitt's Nitts, founded in 1981, has survived on contracts with the U.S. military to cut and sew sweaters.

The company also sells to law-enforcement departments.

The contract with School House came about serendipitously. School House Chief Operating Officer Susan Williams found the company online at SEAMS, an industry association. Mitt's Nitts, 1014 S. Hoover Road, was just five minutes away from School House's offices at 407 N. Mangum St.

A contract was signed in June for the company to make sweaters, mittens, scarves and other items for School House.

Tyler Bennett, co-owner of Mitt's Nitts, said the new contract should boost the company's volume by 5 to 10 percent, but will not result in any new hirings.

But it's welcome news just the same. Because of U.S. military cutbacks during the recession, Bennett said, production has fallen by about half, forcing job cuts. Mitt's Nitts now employs about 30 people.

"We've tried to hold onto as many as we could to survive," Bennett said. "School House came along and kept two or three more people for now."

School House's contract will help keep the factory running during the spring and summer, when production of sweaters for the military is at a lull.

School House was started in 2008. The company originally contracted with a factory in Sri Lanka to manufacture its clothing, and emphasized paying workers a living wage - three times the industry average there.

Weeks began to look at the expenses incurred with manufacturing abroad in 2010. After deliberating about the shipping costs and the time lag between design and production, she decided to move manufacturing back to the United States.

Mitt's Nitts is the latest addition to School House's contractors along with some half dozen North Carolina companies, including Mortex Apparel in Wendell, Contempora Fabric in Lumberton and Castle Shirt Co. in Kernersville.

Weeks projects School House's sales will continue to increase. The company originally sold to just four university campus bookstores: Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill, Harvard University and Yale University. This year, it is in 100 campus bookstores, and is creating unique designs for each.

Blanton Godfrey, dean of N.C. State University's College of Textiles, said School House is in a sweet spot for growth.

"They're in a very good trend because the social market is huge," Godfrey said. "More and more people are looking at where things are manufactured and how, and college students are at the front of that."

Weeks projects revenue will hit the $1 million sales mark in 2011, and climb to $1.8 million in 2012. The company is trying to complete a $300,000 round of financing from private investors.

"We have never had any problem with top-line growth," Weeks said. "There is a need for more tailored merchandise in college apparel, and for apparel that captures the essence of these campus communities."