Blowout: Mount Vernon Mills President Bill Rogers Gives White Oak’s Looms a New Life

Mount Vernon has acquired the illustrious White Oak Draper X3 looms and is ready to resurrect American selvedge for good.

James Smith

For the past decade or so, there has been one white whale (or rather a pod of white whales) among raw denim fanatics. Their course has been followed with great interest since they left their home in North Carolina to move to Louisiana, and now they have relocated again to Georgia.

I am, of course, referring to the Draper X-3 shuttle looms, the forebearers of American selvedge denim from the late great Cone Mills White Oak plant in Greensboro. I got to speak with Bill Rogers, the president of their new home at Mount Vernon Mills, where the looms are operational once again, and expected to ship their first rolls of American selvedge denim in just a matter of weeks.

We discussed the history of American denim milling, why it’s still important to make fabric in the USA, and why Mount Vernon has what it takes to keep these looms running well into the future.

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