Commerce pick a textile success

He built elastic company in Asheboro

The state's new top official for economic development built an Asheboro elastics company into a global success story with ties to Central America and India. The company is a rarity in North Carolina: a textile manufacturer that has grown virtually every year.

Despite the accomplishments, J. Keith Crisco often describes Asheboro Elastics Corp. this way:

"All we do is hold your underwear up," he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2003 about his company, which sells elastic to Fruit of the Loom and other customers. Crisco echoed the joke Monday when Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue, a Democrat, introduced him as the secretary of commerce.

"This man understands the future," Perdue said. "He understands 'global.' "

The choice was well-received by those who know Crisco.

"His leadership style starts with the basics and common sense, and that's what we're missing," said state Rep. Harold Brubaker, a Randolph County Republican and former House speaker. "My hat's off to the governor. She really picked one of the best and brightest that not only North Carolina has to offer, but the nation. He's just that good."

Hard times, hard job

Crisco's job will be promoting the state's economy at a time of recession.

"I do not envy him right now in these times," said his son, John Crisco, an executive at Asheboro Elastics. "They got a good one, as far as he won't quit until he gets it done. He'll bird-dog it."

Crisco, 65, was raised on a cattle farm in Stanly County but always saw himself as a businessman, said his son. When Crisco was accepted into the MBA program at Harvard University, his parents had never heard of the Ivy League school.

After Harvard, Crisco took a job with Burlington Industries, and in the 1970s he moved to Asheboro to head the elastics division of an underwear company. In 1986, he and some partners formed Asheboro Elastics. The company's revenues -- currently $32 million -- have grown every year except 2001.

It produces elastic for clothing and "narrow fabrics" for home furnishings and medical and industrial uses. The plant employs 150, and the company has a plant in El Salvador and distribution facilities in South and Central America. It has ties to India.

"He understands the connectedness of the economy today," said Bonnie Renfro, president of the Randolph County Economic Development Corp.

Once a week, the company brings in a nurse practitioner to counsel employees, and it has saved money because employees are healthier, John Crisco said.

Crisco, who has long given time and money to Democratic causes, is on the Asheboro City Council. The city created a wellness program employees modeled on his. Crisco has pushed the city to market the N.C. Zoo, a state entity based in Asheboro.

"He has ... asked us to do things differently here," said City Manager John Ogburn.