DAN RIVER, INC.
2291 Memorial Drive.
Danville, Va. 24543
Tel: (804) 799-7000
Fax: by department
URL:  none

It all began in 1882 in Danville, Virginia, a small town nestled on the hills above the Dan River.  A group of six men, including a doctor, merchants and builders, banded together to organize a cotton mill. At the time, the town was still recovering from the Civil War and the main industry was tobacco.

The originators of the company knew nothing about cotton manufacturing but were granted a charter for the company they called The Riverside Cotton Mill. It produced its first yarn and fabric in April, 1883.  In 1909, the company expanded for the first time by merging with the Dan River Power and Manufacturing Company to form the Riverside and Dan River Cotton Mills, Inc.  In 1946, this name was changed to Dan River Mills, Inc., and in 1970, the name was abbreviated to Dan River Inc.

Dan River's most recent expansion is its acquisition in 1997 of the three plants which comprised The New Cherokee Corporation.  By combining operations, DRI will be the leading producer of light weight yarn-dyed woven fabrics in the Western Hemisphere. The company also produces quality home fashions products.  Today, Dan River Inc. has approximately 5,600 employees with manufacturing facilities in four states, Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee.

While Dan River began manufacturing 28" denim fabric in 1900, today the company is manufacturing a few light-weight chambray fabrics, but no 100% denim fabrics.  In late 1987, the company phased out its heavyweight denim fabric business and has produced very little since that time.  Currently, its product mix is divided fairly evenly between home fashions and apparel, with most growth in home fashions products. One gray manufacturing facility in Danville is for apparel use, and its purchase of New Cherokee is exclusively apparel fabrics.

Dan River has long been a major producer of woven fancy yarn-dyed fabric and piece-dyed fabrics of cotton, man-made fibers and blends. These fabrics are sold to apparel manufacturers for dress shirts, uniforms and sportswear, to the upholstery trade and to retail stores for home sewing and decorator craft uses.  Shirt customers include JC Penney/Capital Mercury, Arrow, Brooks Brothers, Manhattan, L. L. Bean/Oxford Industries, Van Heusen and Sero; sportswear customers include Liz Claiborne, Levi Dockers, Guess?, No Fear, The Gap and Blue Bell.

One of its fastest growing businesses is home fashions products-marketed under such names as Dan River, Dan River's dr, and Bed-in-a-Bag as well as under licensed names such as Alexander Julian, D. Porthault, Liberty of London and Nautica-and top quality upholstery fabrics. It serves major customers in children's fashions and home sewing fabrics, and its Alabama plant produces polypropylene yarn for use in furniture, automotive upholstery and rugs.