Long Live Jeansboro!
“Long Live Jeansboro!” The rallying cry of Evan Morrison rings through the halls of the Cone Mills White Oak plant, a cry that would have been stifled by the sound of hundreds of workers, dozens of looms, and thousands of yards of fabric not so long ago.
Jeansboro, North Carolina (or Greensboro - to those with denim not on the mind), is the former denim capital of the world and a legend to those in the textile industry. Jeansboro’s fame is primarily thanks to Moses and Ceasar Cone, brothers and founders of Cone Mills, and specific to Jeansboro, their White Oak plant, a denim mill that would become the largest denim mill in the world as of 1937. Cone Export and Commission Company was founded by the Cone brothers in 1891 with the opening of their first mill in 1895, Proximity Cotton Mills. Their White Oak Cotton Mill began producing denim in 1905, with roughly a third of the world’s denim supply coming out of the Jeansboro based mill by 1910. For over 100 years, White Oak was providing a bulk of the world’s denim, including an over 100-year partnership with Levis Strauss and Co. However, in 2018, the lives of over 100 Jeansboro workers changed forever as the White Oak plant ended operations.
I had the pleasure to make my way down to Jeansboro for Denim 101, a two-day intensive about all things denim, hosted by the White Oak Legacy Foundation (W.O.L.F.). W.O.L.F. is an organization with a mission “to preserve the history and heritage of denim and jean manufacturing in Greensboro, NC.” (W.O.L.F. Mission — White Oak Legacy Foundation). Denim 101 provided a wealth of information on denim including a presentation on the Evolution of Denim by the aforementioned Evan Morrison of Proximity Manufacturing Company, presentations on cotton (Mary Ankeny, Cotton, Inc.), yarn spinning (Daren Barnes and Allen Little, Cone Denim), indigo dying (Ricardo Dossantos, Karl Mayer), and denim weaving (Daren and Allen, Cone Denim). As well as future looking discussions regarding denim finishing (Pepa Silla, Jeanologia), responsible chemistry for denim washing (Hasan Shahariar, Fibre52), sustainable denim strategies (Samatha Shintay, Hohenstein), the future of technology incorporated denim (Topher Anderson, Textile.org) and designers’ visions of the future of denim (Will Ortiz, Kontoor). The program also included an evening social with a presentation on the Wrangler archives (Will Ortiz, Kontoor) and several tours of local businesses such as Hill Spinning and Proximity Manufacturing Company.
By now, you have probably noticed two names that keep recurring: Evan Morrison and Proximity Manufacturing Company - this is not a coincidence. Evan Morrison truly embodies denim, American manufacturing, and more specifically - Jeansboro. A co-owner of Hudson’s Hill (The Last Great American General Store), a founding member of W.O.L.F., and one of the leading voices in the revival of Jeansboro from what was for a moment, just Greensboro. What about Proximity Manufacturing Company? “White Oak Legacy Foundation, Inc. established Proximity Manufacturing Company in 2021 as a for-profit subsidiary that will operate as a textile manufacturing arm of the non-profit organization. Operations are based at the former White Oak Plant, first opened in 1905 in NE Greensboro. Denim Manufacturing adds breadth to educational programming, offers skilled workforce development and employment opportunities, and allows WOLF to become a pillar in the community through historical preservation of the very cloth that wove our city together and built a 125+ year legacy for Greensboro.“ (Proximity Manufacturing Company — White Oak Legacy Foundation).
Evan worked with the owner of the defunct White Oak plant and obtained a lease for a portion of the plant - securing a key area in the plant which still had the iconic maple wood floors which allowed the looms to bounce and move in a way truly unique to the White Oak plant, producing a denim texture unique to the plant, and to Jeansboro. Evan then reached out to Cone Denim, looking to get ahold of the last two Draper looms at the White Oak plant - looms known for producing iconic American selvedge denim. Evan and Cone Denim struck a deal which gifted the looms to W.O.L.F. with the promise that Evan and W.O.L.F. would get them up and running, bringing denim back to Jeansboro. Evan and the team had a large task ahead of them, getting the dormant, disheveled looms ready to produce iconic and traditional Jeansboro denim. Evan, one of the greatest minds in denim, was up for the task. Evan and his team got the looms back in working order, and had their inaugural cloth production, lovingly described as follows:
“Our warp yarns for this inaugural production were made from ringspun, US-grown cotton yarns, dyed in Canyon Blue, MVM’s name to reference a 9%, 9-dip shade of blue. It is very reminiscent of department store-branded western denim from the 1950’s in weight and shade. For filling, we have used several different 100% cotton ringspun yarns, all around the weight of a 10s. Woven in a 3x1 (4-harness) construction with a steep right-hand twill, the inaugural denim weighs in at just over 12 ounces per square yard, the perfect year-round weight. Our cloth is unsanforized, meaning it is not mechanically pre-shrunk using chemicals and a water-intensive process, reducing its overall environmental impact. It is loomstate, in the truest sense of the word, meaning we weave it, doff it, a way of saying remove it from the loom, and take it to inspect on a measuregraph machine. We inspect every inch of the material, front and back, and mark all major flaws and errors to help out in the cutting room. The denim is then wrapped in protective packaging, loaded onto pallets, and shipped to partnered brands.” (Proximity Manufacturing Company — White Oak Legacy Foundation).
Importantly, the Proximity Manufacturing Company is not only bringing denim back to Jeansboro, but jobs back to the White Oak plant. Proximity Manufacturing Company has brought White Oak veterans back to work. White Oak icons such as Debbie Lindsey, a third generation White Oak employee with over thirty years of first hand experience at White Oak. Evan works side by side with amazing people like Debbie every day to breathe life back into the White Oak plant and the city he loves.
Of course, there is so much more to Evan, W.O.L.F., the Proximity Manufacturing Company, and Jeansboro, all of which we cannot cover here. So, I encourage you to make your way down to Jenasboro and shake the indigo dyed hands of the people who are keeping iconic American denim alive. Thank you, Evan, W.O.L.F., and the Proximity Manufacturing Company, and LONG LIVE JEANSBORO!