{"id":66128,"date":"2024-08-23T15:47:57","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T19:47:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/textiles.ncsu.edu\/?p=66128"},"modified":"2024-09-03T09:23:41","modified_gmt":"2024-09-03T13:23:41","slug":"william-barefoot-wove-his-legacy-of-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/textiles.ncsu.edu\/news\/2024\/08\/william-barefoot-wove-his-legacy-of-education\/","title":{"rendered":"William Barefoot Wove His Legacy of Education"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
\u201cIs the shirt you\u2019re wearing knit or woven?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
William Barefoot believes being able to answer this question is fundamental to the basics of textile weaving, and asked it regularly to his students at the Weaving Lab<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After 25 years of managing the Weaving Lab at Wilson College of Textiles<\/a>, Barefoot is hanging up his safety glasses for good. The Weaving Lab is a part of the Zeis Textile Extension<\/a>, which provides training and certification in textiles<\/a> and programs for improvement and innovatio<\/a>n. It serves the textile industry\u2019s prototyping and pilot production needs across its laboratories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Barefoot started off his career by following the path of several family members and working for Burlington Industries in Raeford, North Carolina. He worked in the menswear division in the weaving area and has experience in just about every job at the weave plant. After 16 years in the industry, a desire for becoming an educator and the stability of a state government job led him to apply to the Weaving Lab \u2013 which ended up becoming his home for the rest of his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Weaving Lab performs work for outside clients and is open for Textiles students to learn about the basics of weaving. It also serves as a space for students to create prototypes for capstone and design projects. Barefoot\u2019s favorite part of his job was working with the students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy heart and soul is with the students,\u201d Barefoot says. \u201cI put effort into all my outside projects as well, and I\u2019ve got a lot of good clients, but I\u2019d rather focus more on the education side. I want to make sure students understand how a woven piece of fabric is put together with warp and filling yarns and so forth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He notes that while his time in the industry focused mostly on apparel, the Wilson College introduced him to many new sides of textiles. His path to education expanded his knowledge as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFrom Industry to Education<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n