Two former NC State football players, DaJuan Morgan and Jamelle Eugene, had been working on a product—designed to be replacements for annoying full-handed gloves and one-use athletics tape—for a couple of years now, but the result of their initial manufacturing process was not what they were looking for. So they partnered with the College of Textiles’ senior design program—the capstone project for textile engineering and textile technology majors, under the direction of Russell Gorga and Jess Jur—to find new solutions.
The team of students included College of Textiles seniors Shannon Tart, Desirae Scruggs and Jamie McLean. They worked with ZTE’s knitting lab manager Brian Davis to use a knitting machine to create a seamless tube made of multiple performance materials, considering some 96 different yarn patterns (with 20 different prototypes) along the way. And with some additional work on silicone grip materials, developed a product that Eugene and Morgan hope to take to market soon.
ZTE’s manufacturing labs work with entrepreneurs and established companies every day to produce samples and prototypes of yarns, knit and woven fabrics, and dyeing and finishing.
The College of Textiles (COT) at NC State University is particularly strong when it comes to extension efforts. Faculty, staff and students excel at working one-on-one with companies in the textile industry and government groups. Earlier this year Emiel DenHartog and Debbie Mostek were honored for their respective outreach efforts on behalf of the Textile Protection and Comfort Center(T-PACC) and Zeis Textiles Extension (ZTE).
Debbie Mostek is an exceptional leader within ZTE. She was awarded an Outstanding Extension Service Award. On top of managing all financial affairs for the department, she leads the ZTE Textile Fundamental eLearning program, and serves as the primary contact for new customers requesting custom Professional Education courses. Mostek is also responsible for all equipment acquisitions which allow the ZTE labs to remain up to date and ready for service projects, industry training, and academic instruction.
Zeis Textiles Extension for Economic Development, known familiarly as Zeis Textiles Extension or ZTE, provides training and certification in textiles and Lean Six Sigma, and serves the textile industry’s prototyping and pilot production needs in its five laboratories – spun yarn, knitting, weaving, dyeing and finishing, and physical testing.
