Textile Insight

F ew American textiles are more iconic than denim; and for more than a century, Greensboro's Cone Mills was the "mecca" for denim manufacturing. Moses and Ceasar Cone established Cone Export & Commission in 1891, and started Proximity Manufacturing Company in 1895 with the 200-loom Proximity Mills. The White Oak mill, known for its selvage (or selvedge) denim woven on narrow Draper X3 looms, opened in 1905 and closed early in 2018. e White Oak Legacy Foundation (WOLF), a non-profit dedicated to preserving the history and promoting the future of denim innovation, was established by a core of denim enthusiasts late in 2017. e foundation has since secured two of the Draper looms in the original White Oak building, and in 2021, WOLF established Proximity Manufacturing Company as a for- profit subsidiary to make selvage denim. A veteran of denim development with Cone Mills, Artistic Mills, and Denimatrix, founding board member Ralph arpe commented, "I was totally distraught when I found out White Oak was closing. I started to figure out how we could get those narrow looms running again." Armed with a sense of White Oak's history and its impending demolition, Tharpe outlined twelve goals for a legacy foundation. With the help of Bob Stec, WOLF's chairman and executive director, the goals were incorporated into four pillars: Education, Manufacturing, Historic Preservation, and Innovation. e goal of education is addressed through WOLF's 2-day class known as Denim 101. It's a journey through all things denim, from the sourcing, processing, and spinning of cotton into yarn, through the indigo dyeing, the weaving of denim fabric, and the finishing of denim garments. Preserving Denim's History Director of operations for WOLF's Proximity Manufacturing Company, Evan Morrison, shared his collection of historic denim garments with the class, explaining that denim originated as a cotton workwear fabric for jeans, overalls, coveralls, and work jackets. Strength and durability were denim's most important hallmarks, while the irregularities of indigo dyeing, and subsequent fading and color abrasion, were less important to laborers. "Before the 1970's denim was primarily workwear, and most people would not have been caught dead in it unless worn as workwear," pointed out Bud Strickland, a presenter and denim innovator with experience at West Point-Pepperell, Cone Mills and Mount Vernon Mills. Ring-spun cotton was the key to denim manufacturing, explained Suzette McHugh, an independent textile training consultant at WOLF. Cotton's natural crimp created strong yarns, enhanced by the twist imparted from ring-spinning. Open-end spinning with increased speeds was invented in 1963. e fibers were air- entangled, with no defined twist and few surface characteristics. "Shuttle looms are very forgiving," explained Strickland. "Today's looms run at high speeds, requiring yarns with few defects." To meet fashion's demand for vintage denim aesthetics during the 1960s – 1970s, Swiss-based spinner Amsler Tex AG invented multi-count, A Passion for the Blues There's More to Know about Denim than You Can Imagine. By Debra Cobb TECHNOLOGY / DENIM 101 16 • Textile Insight ~ November/December 2022 textileinsight.com Photo: White Oak Denim Indigo rope dyeing

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