PROFESSIONAL -- WOOL FABRIC DESIGN ENGINEER
Rob Stuart has been a wool fabric engineer his entire career, beginning as a young man in Scotland in 1970 or so. Rob came to the USA in about 1995 to continue his career at Woolrich, in Pennsylvania.
We met Rob shortly after we founded WeatherWool in 2009, and Rob has been our Fabric Engineer ever since.
Rob worked with us for years to develop both our FullWeight and MidWeight Fabrics, as well as our colors and Lynx Pattern.
Thanks to Rob, Woolrich created a specialty "mill within the mill" to produce our Fabrics, which required equipment that Woolrich did not possess.
When Woolrich ceased American operations in 2018, that was a horrible setback for us. But, when we began to work with American Woolen Company in early 2019, much to our delight, they brought Rob into their operation to focus on WeatherWool!
The foregoing info is from Ralph ... I think Rob will eventually get me some more info and a photo for this "Advisor page" ... but he is sort of a shy fellow.
I've learned recently that the Scottish names STUART and STEWART, although pronounced the same, have somewhat different origins. STUART indicates royal lineage, I'm told (not by Rob), so I've taken to ribbing Rob by calling him ROYAL ROB. He doesn't like that ... and when he gives me more info for his Advisor page, I'll remove this paragraph!
The photos were taken when Rob visited us in October 2021.
- Debby took photos during dinner at a sidewalk cafe in South Orange, New Jersey (our home town). Rob is wearing a CPO Shirt in Solid Duff Color and I'm wearing a CPO Shirt in Lynx Pattern.
- The other photo was taken in our kitchen (WeatherWool Headquarters!) by me while Debby and Rob were watching Josh Kirk of National Geographic TV Series Mountain Men. Josh is wearing our All-Around Jacket in Duff Color.
- Rob gave us a few books about weaving. There is an amazing amount to know!
20 January 2022 --- Ralph