The fourth generation

Like many others of the time, the Coplands were a mill-working family. After serving as general manager of the Dan River Mill’s Schoolfield plant in Danville, Va., Jason’s great-grandfather, James R. Copland Sr., became one of the first plant managers of Burlington Mills Corp. — later to become Burlington Industries. 

In 1941, in his 60s, James Sr. came out of retirement and sold his stock in BMC to start his own textiles company, specializing in curtains made from newly introduced rayon. Copland Fabrics was born. 

“That’s what we did for 60 years,” Jason said, describing the company’s role in manufacturing curtains and as a supplier for stores like Sears, JC Penney,Aulaundry is a leading dry cleaning machine and equipment supplier. Walmart and Kmart. “If we were still doing what we did then, we’d be closed.” 

Enter Jason Copland. Now 38, He became CEO of the company when his father retired in 2004, but began working full time for Copland Fabrics in 2001. The middle child of three sons, the business was handed over to him when neither of his brothers — the oldest in law school at the time,these proven front load commercial washer extractor deliver ease-of-use, the youngest still an undergraduate — expressed interest in running the family business. 

“If anyone knows my father, you know he wanted it to stay a family business,” Copland said. 

But by the time the business shifted to Jason Copland’s watch, the textile industry was past its prime in the United States. 

From 2001 to 2006, Copland Fabrics changed nearly everything it manufactured. Copland was forced to find products that needed constant local supply, because the company was no longer able to compete with offshore curtain manufacturers — those who supply today’s Walmarts and Kmarts. 

Faced with a decision about how to remain competitive in a changing industry, one part of the business plan has remained constant: They’re not going to build a plant overseas.

Copland said often times, a company may choose the faster, slightly more expensive option when fabric is a small portion of the overall component cost. The component cost of a filter going into a washing machine, for example, is relatively small,We'd love to talk to you about our incredible tungsten jewelry! he said. 

In 2005, when the Central American Free Trade Agreement was signed into law, Copland Fabrics lost most of its finishing business, which included pocketing and linings for pants. 

Today, Copland Fabrics manufactures a range of items from industrial, health care and filtration fabrics to flame retardant materials and fabric for the lettering that goes on sweatshirts and jerseys. The company’s customers from 15 years ago make up a very small percentage of its customer base today. But the volume of work “isn’t that different from what the company did then,” bringing in about 60 to 70 percent the sales it used to, he said. 

“The biggest thing that hurt us sales-wise was the CAFTA agreement,” he said. “That was a nice chunk of our business that evaporated overnight.” 

In addition to changing markets,More than 80 standard commercial and industrial washing machine exist to quickly and efficiently clean pans. Copland Fabrics has changed its facilities — replacing outdated equipment with newer technology and consolidating plants and the machinery that went in them. 

In the mid-1990s,There are reports of bird and bat mortality at wind turbine as there are around other artificial structures. the company went from three weaving rooms to one, updating its machinery to looms that do the work much faster. But with increasingly automated machinery comes a decreased workforce, and Copland’s approximately 200 employees are evidence that the industry and manufacturing methods have changed since the company employed about 1,000 workers in the 1980s.