Muna Chauhan Sewing operator Culp, Inc., High Point, N.C.
When did you start in the textile industry?
2018
What is your background?
I was born in Chirang, Bhutan.
What types of products does your company specifically produce and what types of end products are they used in?
Culp makes mattress and upholstery fabrics to sell to mattress companies and furniture companies. I work at the Culp's cut-and-sew factory in High Point, N.C. I sew mattress covers for major companies.
What does your job mean to you, your family and your community?
It's good for my family because I earn money and fulfill my children's wants and needs.
What is your role in producing PPE products or inputs for these products for your company?
I sewed masks for hospital workers and health workers.
How does it feel to have your company step up to address the PPE shortage during the pandemic?
It's good. The masks helped save people's lives from coronavirus and the masks keep people from getting coronavirus.
Why is it important for textiles to be made/cut and sewn and/or finished in America?
Many people need things made in America because it helps the country make money. If America has money, they can live life easily and pay their bills.
Culp lnc.'s efforts
By repurposing some of their cut-and-sew operations, the company pivoted production in late March to produce PPE. Between its facilities in the U.S., Haiti, and Asia, Culp, Inc. manufactured over 1 million face masks for supply to FEMA as well as for consumers, businesses, schools and healthcare workers and tens of thousands of bed covers for hospitals, nursing homes, emergency shelters, and other residential facilities.
"The initiative to reprioritize some of our operations to produce PPE was to support our nation during the crisis while also keeping as many workers as possible employed," said Iv Culp, president and CEO. "Culp associates were honored by the opportunity to pitch in and support our frontline workers, our healthcare operators, our communities and our country during that unprecedented time."
