A two-step method for obtaining poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) from poly(acrylonitrile) (PAN) was investigated in order to find a feasibility of imparting thermo-responsive property onto textile fiber materials. PAN was converted to poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) by hydrolysis at a first-step, and then PAA was converted to PNIPAAm at a second step via an amidation reaction of PAA with isopropylamine (IPA) in DMF medium using 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC) and N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) as catalysts. High content of carboxylic groups at the first step was obtained by the successive alkaline and acid hydrolysis of PAN. The degree of conversion of PAA to PNIPAAm at the second step was dependent on the amount of catalysts EDC and NHS. PNIPAAm converted from PAA through amidation reaction showed a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) behavior when the conversion was higher than about 53%.