Cone Denim Lays Off 150 Employees
Cone Denim is paring down its workforce again at its only remaining denim plant in the United States.
The layoffs at the White Oak plant in Greensboro, N.C., should take place by Dec. 3, officials said in a statement.
Two years ago, the 102-year-old plant had 1,100 people working there. But foreign competition has made it tougher for Cone Denim, based in Greensboro and a division of International Textile Group, to compete in the United States. After the layoffs, there will be 550 workers at the mill.
Company executives said the downsizing of the workforce is due to U.S. manufacturers increasingly opting to use fabrics made in China and other foreign countries.
To compete globally, Cone Denim operates a joint-venture denim plant in Mexico and is constructing a denim mill in Nicaragua. It has operations in Turkey and India. Jointventure plants are also being constructed in Vietnam and China.
White Oak will continue to focus on high-end denim used in premium blue jeans.
In September, John Bakane, Cone Denim’s president who has been with the company and its predecessor since 1975, announced he would retire at the end of the year.
Cone Denim was created in 2004 after New York businessman and billionaire Wilbur Ross bought Cone Mills and Burlington Industries out of bankruptcy to form ITG. —Deborah Belgum
