When the textile mill goes, so does a way of life

In textile towns across the Southeast, thousands of workers are starting over again, sometimes painfully, at ages when they thought they'd be planning retirement.

Textiles and garments "can be (made elsewhere and) brought in on a boat cheaper than we can make it here," says Neil Hagwood, who managed a textile plant in neighboring Elkin before it closed last year.

"I understand that free trade opens the door for some American businesses," says Hagwood, who majored in economics at the University of North Carolina. But, "That's hard to explain to a 50-year-old employee who's been running a loom or sewing blankets for 32 years."