Non-profit partly reopens ex-Cone denim plant
A Greensboro, North Carolina-based non-profit organisation named White Oak Legacy Foundation (WOLF) has revived the two remaining looms left inside an ex-Cone Denim facility named White Oak in the city once colloquially known as “Jeansboro”.
The denim plant originally opened in 1905, but then closed in 2017 due to low demand.
“This place raised me because my mother worked here,” a former Cone weaver named Debbie Lindsey told local media. “I cannot remember how long she was here. This place raised my son.”
Ms Lindsey, who herself worked at White Oak for over 30 years, is one of a handful of laid-off workers whom WOLF persuaded to operate the two remaining looms (the others were all sold off) again once they were back up and running.
“Receiving the call that they were actually going to start two looms up, I sat on the couch and cried,” Ms Lindsey, thrilled to be making local denim once more, described. “We are making cloth back inside the White Oak facility.”
Image: Spectrum News 1 North Carolina.
