“American Denim: The Supposed Final Days and Resurgence of a Manufacturing Icon” aims to preserve the legacy of Greensboro, N.C.-based White Oak, its employees, and a unique time in the history of American textiles. Photographed by Matt Sharkey, the 224-page hardback from Schiffer Publishing tells the final chapter of the plant’s story through 200 color photos curated into three parts: White Oak’s final days of operation, its closure, and its revival making selvedge denim again under the care of the White Oak Legacy Foundation and Proximity Manufacturing Company.
A part of Cone Denim, the White Oak plant ended its 112-year run of continuous production in Greensboro in December 2017. International Textile Group Inc., the then-parent company of Cone, said that despite efforts to manage changes in the market, the demand for White Oak selvedge had significantly decreased as customers had transitioned more of their fabric sourcing outside the U.S. ITG said the plant’s large size provided more capacity than was needed resulting in a significantly higher manufacturing cost that could not be supported.
Opened in 1905 by brothers Moses and Ceasar Cone, White Oak in Greensboro, N.C. became the largest denim mill in the world occupying more than a million square feet. By 1910, it was supplying a third of the world’s denim demand. Between 1915 and 1970, the lion’s share of denim produced for Levi Strauss & Co. was made there. It’s selvedge denim made on Draper X-3 looms became blue gold.
An image from “American Denim.”
Courtesy
Part of White Oak’s legacy is the deal Cone struck with Levi’s in 1915, which gave the brand exclusive rights to its XX 501 selvedge fabric produced at White Oak. “There are many brands that have significance — Wrangler, Lee, Blue Bell — in the denim space. But I think there’s been a huge hat tip to Levi’s for over 100 years for being the original, at least in the commercial eyes of the world for denim globally,” Sharkey said.
For denim brands emerging in the ’90s and 2000s, using White Oak denim became a way to tap into the legacy of the U.S. textile industry and align themselves with Levi’s storied origins. Incorporating White Oak selvedge signaled a dedication to craftsmanship, authenticity and heritage. For consumers, wearing it wasn’t just about quality — it was a subtle badge of clout. While Levi’s remained the number-one customer of White Oak selvedge until its closure, the plant produced large volumes for small brands like Tellason and Raleigh Denim.
Whereas other manufacturers of the same size and in the same categories have focused more on production and less on marketing and media, Sharkey said White Oak was keenly aware of its significance.
“To White Oak’s credit, they did a good job of telling their story and connecting their cloth to cultural moments in music and art,” Sharkey said. “They allowed the spotlight and told this great American textile town story where every house around that factory was owned by Cone, and everybody who lived there worked there. It is an incredible story that ran for a very long time and is the legacy of multigenerational families that work there as well. I think a big part of their storytelling, and their ability to capture that story, is to let others tell it and share it.”
An image from “American Denim.”
Courtesy
Sharkey revisited the empty and vacated facility in February 2018 and again in 2022 to document how Evan Morrison continues White Oak’s tradition of producing selvedge denim on old Draper X-3 looms. The co-owner of Hudson’s Hill, a Greensboro-based American general store, helped formalize the establishment of White Oak Legacy Foundation in 2020. The following year, he built the production arm of the nonprofit organization, which has since spun off, and begun weaving narrow shuttle denim on Draper X-3 looms at the White Oak plant under the name Proximity Manufacturing Co. The name is a nod to Proximity Cotton Mills, the first denim mill founded by the Cone brothers in 1895.
Sharkey’s first visit to White Oak was in 2016 when he directed a commercial for Portland, Ore.-based Chrome Industries. The performance apparel and accessory brand was using the mill’s Dyneema fabrics. That fall, he opened Bleacher Critic, a retail store in Petaluma, Calif., with a strong focus on “Made in USA” brands like Tellason Denim, the selvedge denim brand that produces jeans in San Francisco. “We knew that we weren’t going to be 100 percent ‘Made in USA’ because the price threshold for that would not reach our customer. But we wanted to be a store in our community and help people on price per wear and all those things,” he said.
Through his “Made in USA” network, Sharkey caught wind in the summer of 2017 that there was a strong possibility that then-owner Platinum Equity was planning to close White Oak. Sharkey got in touch with the people he had worked with on that shoot in early 2016 and told them, “I’ve heard through the grapevine that you guys are going to close White Oak. This place is such an important part of both global and American textile history, and I’d like to come and photograph the factory while it’s still operating.”
An image from “American Denim.”
ITG followed up in the fall, requiring photographers to send in proposals for submission. The company planned to choose one local photographer and one nonlocal photographer to photograph the plant’s final days. Sharkey was selected as the nonlocal. During the second week of December 2017, he was escorted around the White Oak property to photograph the facility and some employees.
Sharkey recalls being struck by the unexpectedly uplifting atmosphere at White Oak during that time — something he found difficult to fully comprehend. “I would have expected the employees to be so much more crushed knowing that a week after I was taking photos, the looms would be silent and the electricity would be turned off,” he said. “Everybody I talked to was still very jovial about their experiences there, and happy to share their story.”
Sharkey recalls meeting with Frank, a weaver at White Oak for 61 years and his ambivalence about the day. “He had on his jumpsuit just like any other day at work.…Punching in, punching out,” Sharkey said. “Maybe the workers were just trying to go about their work week and process the closure later. Everyone was kind, thoughtful and respectful, but there was a part of me also wanting to soak it up because knew the gravity of the moment.”
Sharkey edited 900-plus images to 200 images for the book. He chose to use a film camera, embracing an analogue process that mirrors the traditional craftsmanship of Draper X-3 looms. Sharkey said the book serves not only as a photo essay on White Oak’s role in building the U.S. denim industry, but also as a reminder of the urgency to maintain the country’s denim expertise and know-how.
“Right now, we still have a population that can respond, and there are enough people that are still relatively young enough to teach younger generations,” he said. “If companies get behind this ‘Made in USA’ movement, there’s still like some easy resources to tap, whereas if they wait another 30 or 40 years, a lot of this institutional knowledge is gone, and it would have to be entirely rethought, if not entirely robotic by then.”
This article was published in SJ Denim’s “Made in America” issue. Click here to read more.
