Dan River Inc., which was purchased by India-based Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Ltd. (GHCL), in January 2006, has planned to plant staff strength by 500 workers. This is due to closure of a plant in its headquarters city in Danville. The company said, they have informed their employees about their decision on 13 January 2006. A day earlier, Dan River said they would eliminate an unspecified number of white-collar jobs by May 2006. Mr. Calvin Barnhardt spokesman, Dan River said, “GHCL did not initiate the cutbacks. Both were planned before 02 January 2006, when GHCL bought 90 per cent of Dan River stock for US $17.5 million and assumed debt of more than US $70 million. Following the latest cuts, Dan River will have 500 to 600 workers in Danville. Currently, Dan River employs 1,660 workers, with about 1,100 of them in Danville. No layoffs were planned for Dan River's plant in Campbell County. The company has been outsourcing more
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| work to overseas manufacturers, who can produce at lower costs. Dan River is one of many U.S. textile manufacturers that have suffered as the domestic industry has unraveled. Since 2001, the US has lost more than 350,000 textile and apparel jobs due to the low-cost competition overseas. To make matters worse, the running out of global quotas this year led to a surge in Chinese imports. Local officials had expected the layoffs. Mr. Billy Mc Nichols, an employee of 44 years said, “I just feel sorry for my friends that haven't been around here long enough to retire”. Dan River began producing its first yarn and fabric in Danville in 1883 and grew to become one of Virginia's largest employers, with more than 10,000 workers in the 1970s. But more recently, the ailing company was forced to close factories and eliminate jobs across the South. It filed for bankruptcy protection in March 2004, emerging in February. At that time, it had 3,100 employees — 2,500 to 3,000 of them in Danville. 
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