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November 25, 2024

CT is home to one of U.S.’ last remaining wool textile mills; American Woolen’s CEO wants to build a garment industry cluster in Hartford

HBJ PHOTOS | STEVE LASCHEVER American Woolen owner Jacob Long inside his Stafford Springs wool textile mill.
By Harriet Jones
American Woolen Co. at a glance
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“The fiber pool in America is bigger than you think,” says Jacob Long, gesturing to the enormous wool bales filling one of American Woolen Co.’s Stafford Springs mill buildings.

In fact, he tells his tour group, the U.S. has 5 million sheep generating 22 million pounds of wool fiber each year. And the resources don’t stop at sheep — there are bales of alpaca wool from Pennsylvania here, and other fibers from further west.

“We had the largest bison producer here last week,” Long says during a mid-November tour, while handing around a ball of dark brown wool that originated in Idaho. “Bison is the softest fiber you’ve ever seen.”

Long ushered around guests from the MetroHartford Alliance and AdvanceCT, on an hour-long tour of his three mill buildings scattered around the small northeast Connecticut town. He showcased the spinning operation where yarn is created from those bales, the looms that create a variety of fabrics, and the fulling, finishing, packing and shipping areas.

Long’s American Woolen Co. is one of just four surviving wool textile mills in the United States. It makes fine worsted cloth for suitings and sport coats, as well as heavier woolen textiles for outerwear, blankets and home furnishings.

HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER
The original Warren mill building, which now houses American Woolen was founded in 1853.

Long said he provides tours on a regular basis, but not just to showcase his company’s capabilities. He’s also looking for buy-in on a grand vision to restore New England’s textile industry.

And he thinks Connecticut offers fertile ground to make it happen.

“I think we’ve kind of gotten used to this idea that everything is global. And yet, not so long ago, textiles and apparel and footwear were regional,” said Long. “It’s not about nostalgia. It’s about people taking pride in tradition. A textile should represent climate and culture.”

Strategy shift

A former financier who had spent many years in Europe, Long bought the historic Warren Stafford mill in 2014 from its Italian owners, Loro Piana, who had shuttered production just months before.

Some of the buildings date back to the 1840s.

“I bought the mill for a very good price,” Long said. Back then, he calculated that he could compete on price with European luxury fabric production, but says he underestimated the difficulty of persuading clients to turn away from overseas suppliers.

“It’s been a 10-year struggle,” he says.

He has scored some notable successes in the last five years by becoming a supplier to the U.S. military, winning several contracts to provide woolen textiles for uniform embellishments and worsted textiles for service dress uniforms.

The latest $20 million contract, signed in November, is by far the largest and positions American Woolen as a viable second source supplier to the government.

American Woolen is also a fabric supplier to other prime contractors that make bridge coats, peacoats and blankets for the military.

Alongside that, Long has been busy building a commercial customer base that now includes fashion brand Ralph Lauren and outerwear specialists Stormy Kromer.

An eight-month closure during the pandemic brought the company to the brink financially. But it also provided Long time to consider a business strategy pivot that he’s now selling with a passion.

“Working with brands to achieve their aims as opposed to making the stock and trying to sell from our inventory,” is the way he describes it. “Between pre-COVID to today, I would say 90% of our clients are different.”

That means the mill, which currently employs 49 workers, is creating short runs of pre-sold fabric to specifications from designers and garment companies, and prioritizing companies that market their goods as entirely made in America.

HBJ PHOTO | STEVE LASCHEVER
A carding machine at American Woolen opens up wool fiber clumps for further processing.

Long says in 2018, a majority of the company’s wool textiles were sent to China to be turned into garments before being imported back to the U.S. for sale.

Now, he says, “not a single yard is shipped out of America.”

That includes fabric that was created for the blazers worn by the U.S. Olympic team in the last two summer games. The garments themselves were sewn by a small manufacturer in Queens, New York.

Long is now working with Ralph Lauren on a full wool winter ensemble for the team for the 2026 winter games to be held in Cortina, Italy.

He’s also working with outerwear manufacturers on high-value garments for the hunting community in various shades of buffalo plaid and even a camouflage weave.

Long did not disclose financial details, but he says the new strategy has brought revenues to above pre-pandemic levels, and the company is now “very close” to profitability. But to take his vision to the next level, he needs help.

Breaking 'old habits'

The thing he wants to bring to life is a full New England luxury textile apparel ecosystem.

“Today’s apparel brands are so used to this full product supply chain sourcing, when they go to Italy, when they go to China, when they go to Vietnam,” he said.

That means having not just a mill that can make the textile, but a related ecosystem of cut-and-sew manufacturers that can turn out a line of garments to a designer or retail house’s order.

Long believes nearby Hartford could offer opportunity for a garment trade resurgence. And hence the recent tour. He’s selling anyone who will listen on the concept of a new industry cluster in Connecticut.

“He’s selling the New England story, and that’s what’s really cool about it,” said David Griggs, CEO of the MetroHartford Alliance after the tour. “It’s a fabulous story that just elevates our region that much more. It seems like there’s a significant opportunity here.”

Gene Goddard, the Alliance’s chief business investment officer, agrees.

“The vision that he has to build out the industry is amazing,” he said. “We need to break our old habits, think about things differently and how we’re going to rebuild or strengthen our economy and our marketplace.”

As a potential shortcut to building out what’s currently a non-existent industry in Connecticut, Long has his eye on Manhattan’s garment district, which, over decades of gentrification, is now finding it hard to justify using valuable real estate for clothing production.

“The garment district is struggling,” Long said. “And the idea for us would be to offer a hospitable location in Hartford that could basically take it in.”

He envisages New York firms being persuaded to move production and employment to Hartford, while maintaining design and marketing offices in Manhattan. He sees Connecticut’s capital as a place where workers could afford to live, and where garment makers might find sewing skills among immigrant communities.

“I want to shine the light on this industry,” said Long. “We want it to be embraced.”

American Woolen Co.

Industry: Textile mill and design lab

Top Executive: Jacob Long, Owner

HQ: 8 Furnace Ave., Stafford Springs

Employees: 49

Website: americanwoolen.com

Contact: 860-684-2766

 

 

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