Exhibit 31(a)

                                     CERTIFICATION

I,  Robert G.  Culp,  III,  Chairman  of the Board and Chief  Executive  Officer
(principal executive officer) of Culp, Inc., certify that:

     1. I have reviewed this Annual Report on Form 10-K of Culp, Inc.;

     2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement
     of a material fact or omit to state a material  fact  necessary to make the
     statements made, in light of the circumstances  under which such statements
     were made,  not  misleading  with  respect  to the  period  covered by this
     report;

     3. Based on my knowledge,  the financial  statements,  and other  financial
     information  included  in  this  report,  fairly  present  in all  material
     respects the financial  condition,  results of operations and cash flows of
     the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

     4. The registrant's  other certifying  officer(s) and I are responsible for
     establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined
     in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant and have:

          (a) Designed such disclosure  controls and procedures,  or caused such
          disclosure   controls  and   procedures  to  be  designed   under  our
          supervision,  to ensure  that  material  information  relating  to the
          registrant,  including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to
          us by others within those entities,  particularly during the period in
          which this report is being prepared;

          (b)  Evaluated  the  effectiveness  of  the  registrant's   disclosure
          controls and procedures  and presented in this report our  conclusions
          about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures,  as
          of the  end of the  period  covered  by  this  report  based  on  such
          evaluation; and

          (c) Disclosed in this report any change in the  registrant's  internal
          control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant's
          most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's  fourth fiscal quarter in
          the case of an annual  report)  that has  materially  affected,  or is
          reasonably  likely to materially  affect,  the  registrant's  internal
          control over financial reporting; and

     5. The registrant's other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed, based
     on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting,
     to the  registrant's  auditors and the audit committee of the  registrant's
     board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

          (a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design
          or operation of internal  control over financial  reporting  which are
          reasonably  likely to  adversely  affect the  registrant's  ability to
          record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

          (b) Any fraud,  whether or not material,  that involves  management or
          other  employees  who  have a  significant  role  in the  registrant's
          internal control over financial reporting.


Date:  July 16, 2004          By:   /s/ Robert G. Culp, III
                                        Robert G. Culp, III
                                        Chairman of the Board and Chief
                                        Executive Officer (principal executive
                                        officer)