D is for Denim

Greensboro has a great history with textiles and denim. The Cone Brothers were instrumental in bringing the textile industry to Greensboro. Above, you see the Cone White Oak Plant, on 16th Street. Many of the plants are closed or repurposed; however, The White Oak Plant is still in business, making fabric the old fashioned way. At 109 years old, it is America's oldest working denim mill. Surrounding the the White Oak Plant are the neighborhood mill villages that used to be filled with people who lived close enough to work at the mill every day. While the textile industry in Greensboro is far from what is used to be, we have locals, like Evan Morrison, who are committed to ensuring that we support our textile industry and keep our denim industry alive. As Morrison points out, "American" means a great work ethic, especially a blue collar work ethic. And nothing says American clothing like denim. Morrison sells American made denim at his booth in Design Archives on South Elm Street. Included in his inventory is denim from the White Oak facility. Read more about our local denim expert and his start-up business, here.

Is you grew up in Greensboro and are at least in your mid-20's, which is the case of Morrison, likely, you remember your family's stories of the textile industry. One of our favorite quotes comes from Levi's Jonathan Kirby, "Some mills make fabric, Cone makes history." If you treasure this history, read the Bloomberg Businessweek article here. Well worth the three minutes it will take you to read it!

Today is ABC Wednesday. See A-C of our "Alphabet Soup" round, here.

Comments

[Lea]

Back in the late 60s, all the 70s, and early 80s I worked for Blue Bell (Wrangler Jeans) in Mississippi. Lots of memories there from the piece goods department to shipping the finished product.
Lea

[Roger Green]

Love the history. Ah, the Cone brothers, which I briefly misread!

[Leslie]

Denim - my favourite fabric!

Leslie
abcw team

[Gattina]

That's interesting !
Gattina
ABC Wednesday

[Jane T. Mitchell]

Francophile that I am, I must note that the name comes from a fabric from Nîmes, France > de Nîmes.