America Is Down to Its Last 100 Cotton Mills
After a brief pandemic-era reprieve, many of the US’s remaining textile factories that turn cotton fibers into yarn and fabric are shutting down for good.
A worker moves a module of cotton during a harvest in Lee County, South Carolina.
Photographer: Micah Green/BloombergAmong the marvels of American industry on display at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 were the original Ferris Wheel and the world’s first zipper. But for many of the exhibition’s tens of millions of visitors, it was the 200 cloth and fabric manufacturers, including more than 60 cotton-specific ones, that really stoked their nationalism.
“The American man or woman who does not feel pride” in the growth and prowess of the US textile industry “must be singularly wanting in patriotism,” read the post-fair edition of the Davison’s Textile Blue Book, an annual directory for the industry. “No one needs to be told that in these textile industries there is promise of a great future.”