Pure American

Bottom line: American Textile Manufacture is down about 97% since the 1960s. There is little capacity and support. But we are determined!

People ask frequently: "What do you mean by pure-American?"

• Our wool is grown by "American Sheep eating American Grass" (the US Army once told me that is a requirement) on American Ranches
• The wool is processed completely in the USA
• All design and tailoring work happens in the USA
• All components of our garments (thread, zippers, buttons, fasteners, cord, snaps, tabs, backing, labels) are American
• Our Partners Page has specifics on the American Companies we work with

We don't mean our pure-American approach as a knock on anyone or anyplace. We simply decided, way back in the 2009 drawing-board days, that we would go completely USA. I REALLY don't want WeatherWool to be a "fine-print" company ... We don't makes claims and then stretch the meaning of a phrase.  And WOW, when it comes to "Made in America" claims, there are companies that do a lot of stretching and dancing and embracing of technicalities.

We are not pure-American out of antipathy toward other countries or peoples. Over the years, for pleasure and for the financial work that I used to do, we have traveled to other countries, met great people and had great times. And been really touched that so many people have very strongly positive feelings toward the USA and toward Americans. Thanks to all, and the same back to you! 

One other reason for our pure-American approach is that we hope to earn contracts with the US Military, which stresses American sourcing.

As a small, specialized company, we need to be very close to all phases of production, and I don't think we could make our garments anywhere else even if we wanted to. All of our tailoring and knitting actually happens within about 15 miles of our home.

Another question we get: "Are there exceptions to your pure-American approach?" We don't think so, but here are the closest possibilities:

• Our website is built on the Shopify platform. Shopify is probably the largest provider of ecommerce sites for companies like ours, that don't want to hire full-time web professionals. Shopify is a Canadian company (with a great story), but they are our web platform, not our product. And actually, Shopify maintains most of its physical infrastructure in USA
• We sometimes ship in plastic bags that are not made in the USA, and we are trying to eliminate the non-US bags
• There are friends and customers and Advisors of WeatherWool in many countries, and we are happy to receive their ideas about our products
• Some of the people who have tested WeatherWool, sent us photos or videos are not Americans

Thanks for your attention! --- Ralph

 

15 December 2021 --- Ralph