Abstract

Abstract:

When Cone Mills’ White Oak denim plant shut its doors in 2017, blue jeans enthusiasts went into mourning. Much of the outcry centered around the fact that the Greensboro, North Carolina mill had been the last one in the United States producing selvage denim. Two years later, the vintage looms used at White Oak resurfaced at Vidalia Mills in Louisiana to great fanfare. Blue jeans sewn with this fabric command prices in the $200-$400 range. This essay uses a personal and familial lens to explore the relationship between nostalgia for the pre-NAFTA southern textile industry, high-priced “heirloom” denim, and the material reality of the workers who operate the storied Draper X3 looms.

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