Two Draper X3 looms are still chattering in Greensboro, N.C.
Since 2021, Proximity Manufacturing Co. has produced limited runs of selvedge denim made on a pair of White Oak’s historic looms inside what was once the plant’s archive room.
Proximity is the for-profit textile manufacturing subsidiary of the White Oak Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit organization with the mission to preserve the city’s history and heritage of denim and jean manufacturing. Established in 2020, two years after White Oak shut down, the foundation serves as a steward of history and an educational resource for denim professionals.
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White Oak and textile manufacturing will always be the heartbeat of Greensboro, said Evan Morrison, the operations manager of Proximity Mfg. and cofounder of Hudson’s Hill, a Greensboro-based general store that specializes in carrying “Made in USA” products. “I started my entire retail business on the idea that we would be selling other ‘Made in USA’ brands and products, but also making our own using fabric that we could drive over and pick up just on the other side of town. It threw a kink in the pipes when they closed the mill,” he said.
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Morrison connected with the new owner of the White Oak property, who agreed to set aside two of the plant’s 46 looms. The rest were acquired by Vidalia Mills in 2019. Morrison, with the support of a neighbor who was the former head of product development at Cone, got the looms up and running in 2021.
Using warp yarn from Mount Vernon Mills in Trion, Ga., Proximity has produced thousands of yards of fabric. Fabrics span 12 oz. to 12.75 oz. for left-hand twills, right-hand twills, broken twills and herringbones. Special projects have included the first bio-based indigo denim on a selvedge loom in the U.S. as well as the first denim woven with U.S.-grown degummed hemp.
“We’ve shipped pallets of denim, which is kind of surreal because there’s only two of us,” Morrison said. “We’re shipping it to brands that are turning it into thousands of garments and that’s a cool feeling.”
First Standard NYC, Opie Way Footwear and Runabout Goods have used Proximity’s fabric for special products. At $30 a yard, the fabric is not for mass consumption. However, Proximity doesn’t follow a traditional capitalist business model. Instead, Morrison said the true value of what Proximity does lies less in the weaving itself and far more in the educational impact the company can make.
The business plays an important role in WOLF’s Denim 101 courses held biannually. More than 200 students have attended the two-day deep dives into denim manufacturing, including senior employees at major U.S. denim brands who have never visited a denim mill. “There’s so much to unpack,” Morrison said.
He should know. In his role at Proximity, Morrison serves as the weaver, loom repairman, payroll manager, shipping person and quality control inspector. “It might be insane to wear all the hats, but it is extremely valuable for our city’s sake, because it keeps our tradition of making denim going for a third consecutive century,” he said. “We’re kind of the caretakers of this knowledge. You can’t take it with you, but you can hold onto it for a little longer.”
This article was published in SJ Denim’s “Made in America” issue. Click here to read more.