Filing Chapter 22

There are plenty of thriving companies that at one time or another filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

There are not many still around that filed for Chapter 11 more than once.

Dan River joined this select crew of “Chapter 22” filers on Sunday, April 20.

In July 1882, a cotton textile factory was founded on the banks of the Dan River near the Virginia/North Carolina state line, producing yarn and fabric. Through cycles of boom and contraction, the company made it through 122 years until it went into bankruptcy in 2004, and emerged in somewhat better shape a year later – but still saddled with $90 million in debt. Now it has again entered that courtroom thicket of tugging and shoving over secured and unsecured claims.

You’d have to expect the world to change around you over the course of a century. At the present moment, banks are not exactly falling over themselves to offer financial support on timely terms to companies that serve a shaken retail landscape.

A manufacturer built on cotton in the aftermath of the American Civil War, Dan River had a lot to offer home textiles, apparel and retail industries that expanded decade after decade. It’s astonishing to consider the billions upon billions of dollars worth of products that the company shipped to market over the course of 126 years. And it’s a bit of a shame to think that this time, more likely than not, the mill has ceased to turn for good.