In 1971, Allen Mebane, Bill Kretzer, and several other executives left their positions at Universal Textured Yarns to establish their own textile company.

The company expanded quickly, opening additional facilities in Yadkinville[3] establishing a fabric dyeing and finishing plant in Rocky Mount later that year to process its products from Yadkin.

[4] With additional growth throughout North Carolina and internationally, by the late 1980s and early 1990s, Unifi was one of the United States' largest textile companies.

The company rebounded with a return to profitability in 2010, largely aided by its embrace of a niche market for polyester yarns made from recycled plastics.

The plastic chips are processed into Unifi's proprietary REPREVE yarn at a plant in Yadkinville and then are returned to the Reidsville facility and dyed before being sold to apparel makers and other companies.