The Wool Wire | August 28, 2025
Surfing the tariffs with Pendleton, saying goodbye to Hudson and West, welcoming wool denim at Wool&, and celebrating a stunning collection of vintage wool skirts
News snippets from the wool world
Hello, my wool friends,
We missed a Wool Wire last week, as my house was briefly converted into a film studio for the taping of my swatch masterclass for season 10 of Knit Stars. It turns out Brad, the cameraman, was so moved by my impassioned pleas for wool that he secretly pulled out his phone and ordered a pair of wool boxers while I was talking. I call that a win for wool! (For the record, he went here.)
Tariff Talk
This week, our inboxes and social media feeds have been full of notices from companies in other countries announcing shipping pauses because of the tariffs. As of this writing, more than 20 countries have suspended postal service to the United States while everyone grapples with unclear and rapidly evolving guidelines.
The elimination of the $800 "de minimis" exemption might help slow Shein and Temu from flooding the U.S. market with low-value packages that haven't been subject to duties, import taxes, or inspections. But its sudden elimination, two years before originally scheduled, is catching everyone else off guard.
How Pendleton is weathering the storm
Pendleton Woolen Mills' Executive Vice President, Bob Christnacht, recently laid it all on the table in a very telling interview with Oregon Business.
He talks about the nature of Pendleton's business today, where the company is headed, and what he doesn't see returning to the United States any time soon.
There’s a great history of sewing craftsmanship in this country, and there’s a group of folks here who like to sew. But I don’t think there’s a group of folks here who like to sew for eight hours a day, five days a week.
(To be fair, he said they are still keeping an eye on potential domestic manufacturing partners.)
With Pendleton's legacy built on wool, his perspective here was also interesting.
We import a lot of wool from Australia and New Zealand besides the wool we buy here in America. We’re seeing the tariff on that, as well, although wool prices right now are down, which kind of offsets the tariff impacts. But that’ll change shortly, because there’s a limited number of sheep out there in the world. And there’s a limited number of people who want to raise sheep. It’s really not a growth industry for the growers.
Ultimately they've managed to shuffle things quickly enough to absorb the initial blow of the tariffs, but costs will increase in early 2026.
There was no warning at all. This has been very challenging for us to navigate. There’s a major difference between what I think is going to happen on Monday versus what happens on Wednesday. And at least from our standpoint, we see last-minute decisions happening that don’t allow us to plan accordingly like we like to.
It's a very insightful interview.
Garrett Andrews
May all our blue jeans become ewe jeans
Speaking of Pendleton, I recently got to chat with Mac Bishop, whose family has been directly linked to Pendleton for six generations. But Mac chose to go his own way. He founded the menswear company Wool & Prince in 2013 and the women's clothing company, Wool&, in 2018.
When he told me they were exploring denim, I could barely contain my excitement.
At the end of last week, the much-anticipated denim collection officially launched. I was lucky enough to get my hands on both pieces, and I'll give a full rundown to the Foundation Flock during Friday's Flock Talk.
The collection has been so well received, the jacket appears to be sold out—but you can sign up to be notified when the next batch is in.
What is wool denim exactly? In the case of the Wool& collection, it's a blend of 59% cotton, 39% wool, and 2% elastane that's been expertly spun and woven into a fabric looks and feels like a lightweight denim.
However, lurking deep inside the fabric are all of wool's superpowers, including the cold-weather thermoregulation that cotton lacks. Wool denim has been on my wishlist for more than a decade. I'm pleased to see more companies go in this direction.
American yarn takes another hit
It's been a tough year for lovers of domestically produced yarn here in the United States. In April, I told you how Brooklyn Tweed was exiting the yarn business. And this week, Hudson and West announced that they will cease operations at the end of the year.
Founded in 2019, the company offers a small line of artisan yarns made from domestically sourced Merino and Corriedale, spun and dyed in the United States. They're restocking this week, so if you've been wanting to sample some beautiful yarn and give co-owners Meghan and Sloane a fitting sendoff, now's your chance.
Who doesn't love a good grandmother story?
Finally, we have some archival woolly gorgeousness from a grandma's closet in Minnesota. The Brooklyn, NY, artist Mae Colburn knew that her grandmother loved wool skirts. But it wasn't until her grandmother's passing that the family realized quite how much. They found 632 vintage wool skirts in her collection.
Lucky for us, they knew what to do with them.
Leah Faye Cooper
Colburn archived the entire collection online, and you absolutely must give it a scroll. It made me want to start sewing my own skirts again.
On that note, I'll let you go.
Thanks, as always, for your readership and your support.
Until next time,
Clara
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