THE POWER OF KNOWLEDGE

If you think your company could use more expertise in the area of textiles or apparel, you might want to take a look at the offerings of ATEXINC, Corporation. Since 1988, Patty Brown, president of ATEXINC (the Apparel and Textile Education Xchange) has been developing educational tools used primarily by college and university students to learn more about textiles and apparel. Today, her company sells over 250 different products to customers in higher education, business, and industry. Customers include many of the top textile and fashion design and merchandising programs in the country, as well as industry users such as Associated Merchandising Corporation (Target® Stores) and Consumer Testing Labs (serving Wal-Mart), and government users such as the U.S. Customs Service.

ATEXINC president Patty Brown exhibiting at the recent
ITAA show in Portland, OR.

As a former college instructor, it all started when Brown decided to share some of the materials she had developed for her own students with professors at other institutions. Brown says, "We found a market hungry for current, industry-oriented teaching tools. And as we added products, we built a niche for ourselves by offering "one-stop-shopping" to textile and apparel educators." Customers initially purchased products via mail order catalog and eventually via the internet, giving ATEXINC a worldwide audience.

The first product of the company was a set of color slides to accompany Brown"s college-level textbook, READY-TO- WEAR APPAREL ANALYSIS. This book, now in its third edition with co-author Janett Rice, helps merchandising students better understand different levels of cost and quality in the manufacture of apparel products and other soft goods. Brown found Doug Kanies at the Union Special® Technical Training Center to be a valuable contributor to the chapters on stitches and seams. This connection led to ATEXINC marketing the "Industrial Stitch Sampler" made by Union Special and used in its "Stitchology" classes. This stitch sampler now helps hundreds of students each year at dozens of universities nationwide learn the most commonly used industrial stitch types, thanks to the partnership of Union Special with ATEXINC to distribute the stitch samplers.

Products available from ATEXINC include: (L-R) READY-TO-WEAR APPAREL ANALYSIS, the Industrial Stitch Sampler,
The Textile Kit, and Textile Professor.

ATEXINC is a supplier to the Clothing, Textiles and Fashion Merchandising Program at Missouri State University. Here Dr. Debra McDowell lectures a Textile Science class using The Textile Kit.

Brown reports, "Our product line today includes a variety of products produced in-house as well as a long list of video, DVD, book, and software titles obtained through partnerships with other companies and sold through the ATEXINC catalog and website." Anything having to do with the fashion business is fair game, covering the areas of textiles, design, historic costume, the fashion industry, wholesaling, retailing, visual merchandising, marketing and promotion, manufacturing and quality, clothing selection, and the social, psychological, and cultural aspects of clothing.

The top-selling product at ATEXINC is The Textile Kit", a swatch set containing over 170 different fabrics and used by students studying textiles. The Textile Kit" is utilized by thousands of students annually at a variety of post- secondary institutions. The hands-on experience makes the study of textiles much more meaningful and interesting.

The newest product at ATEXINC is Textile Professor" by Dr. Anugrah Shaw at the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore. This software CD contains over 1000 digital images of fibers, yarns, fabrics, dyes, prints, and finishes, and provides PowerPoint" presentations and tutorials on basic textiles. Brown says, "Student response to Textile Professor" has been overwhelmingly positive! This product gives them a colorful, magnified look at the fascinating world of textiles, raising the bar for how much the average student can learn and understand about textiles in a single semester." The CD will appeal to anyone with an interest in textiles.

MSU fashion major students Jennifer Evans and Mercedes Harris conduct a burn test on a textile sample from The Textile Kit.  

One goal of ATEXINC, Brown says, "is to bridge the gap between industry and education." To do that requires feedback and interaction with both sides, so the company regularly exhibits at ITAA (International Textile & Apparel Association) conferences. She can be seen with Paul Brown, Ph.D., ATEXINC vice-president and co-owner (and husband), in the company booth at annual ITAA events.

Always looking to add new products to the ATEXINC offerings, Brown says, "If any of your readers have developed educational materials that could benefit others, please let us know. Partnerships with companies like Union Special add quality to what we make available to our customers. Knowledge is power and sharing it makes our whole industry stronger."