An old adage has it that failure is the first step to progress.

Ideally, we learn from each failure, take those lessons and go on to the next venture with our lessons in tow.

Such seems to be the case with the Vidalia Denim CEO Dan Feibus’ project that did not pan out as he had hoped in Bunkie, Louisiana.

Feibus tried to locate a cotton spinning operation, Gulf Coast Spinning, in the Bunkie Industrial Park five or so years ago, and a partnership he had in that endeavor with Cleco Power fell apart, ending up in litigation that is ongoing today.

“It taught me a lot about humility,” Feibus said of the experience.

Likewise, Miss-Lou economic development officials have a lot of experience, some wins, some losses, when it comes to economic development prospects.

It appears both parties fully used past experiences to guide them in developing Project Blue, which was the code name for the courting process of Feibus’ latest endeavor, Vidalia Denim.

Building from that experience, Feibus and Miss-Lou leaders secured funding with U.S. Department of Agriculture- and U.S. Small Business Administration-backed loans for Vidalia Denim to purchase the former Fruit of the Loom facility from the Town of Vidalia for $12 million.

Miss-Lou economic development leaders sold the building outright, with a promise to return $8 million of the purchase price to Vidalia Denim to be used to upgrade the 900,000 square-foot-facility, if the company maintains certain conditions stipulated by the agreement.

Leaders say the town is not out anything if the venture fails.

“We got our money first on the project, and we aren’t going to be left in a quagmire,” said Chandler Russ, Natchez Inc. executive director.

Any economic development prospect is a gamble with risks. Regardless of all the best-laid plans, things can still go awry, depending in market situations and other unforeseen factors that could come into play.

That’s where experience can pay off and past success and failures can sway the gamble to a potential success.

If Vidalia Denim can make it work, the community will have 300 much-needed jobs.

Many people point to the problems in Bunkie and raise a skeptical eye toward Vidalia Denim, but those same people also hope the payoff from that failure will be our success in the Miss-Lou.

It’s a shame the Gulf Coast Spinning operation did not work out for Bunkie. That community had banked on the 300 jobs that operation would have brought to the area had it been a success.

Talking to folks in Bunkie, you get a sense of how big a disappointment the failure was for them and the town’s industrial park still sits empty today.

“We were counting on this in Bunkie,” said Bunkie Record editor Garland Forman, who covered the prospect as it developed and fell apart in Bunkie. “We bought the farm, hook line and sinker.”

Hopefully, their loss will be our gain, and despite it all, Forman hopes so, too.

“I hope it happens, there,” Forman said, “but I’m skeptical.”

Count me in the hoping it works out column, too. I’m hoping the past experience in Bunkie pays off in success for the Miss-Lou and Vidalia Denim this time around. If not, we’ll just have to take the experience and learn from it.

Scott Hawkins is editor of The Natchez Democrat. Reach him at 601-445-3540 or scott.hawkins@natchezdemocrat.com.