InsideOutdoor | SPRING 2022 18 The Advocates By Glenna Musante Pioneering New Trails for American Wool In the shadow of the Cascade Mountains on Oregon’s high desert, from her home on the vast Imperial Stock Ranch, Jeanne Carver is carving a new path for American wool. It doesn’t lead to a new land. But it does create a destination for gear and apparel brands searching for a transparent source of high-quality, sustainably raised American wool. In 2017, Carver and her husband Dan were the first sheep ranchers in the United States to adopt Textile Exchange’s Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) for their 32,000-acre ranch, where sheep have been present since 1871. In 2018, with brands knocking on the door for traceable, sustainably produced wool, they launched Shaniko Wool Company, a farm group organized to expand the availability of RWS-certified wool grown in the USA. In addition to providing clear guidelines for humane animal husbandry in the raising and shearing of sheep for wool production, the RWS also sets standards for land management and worker welfare. Through Shaniko Wool Company, Carver is now leading an industry expansion of the RWS in the U.S. The ranchers in Carver’s fold are the only sheep growers in the U.S. harvesting wool grown under the standard’s exacting requirements and the only ranchers approved to supply RWS wool in the U.S. and North America. The work they are doing is literally changing the domestic wool landscape in terms of enhanced land management. In turn, Shaniko Wool Company has given major brands, such as Ralph Lauren, a source of American-grown wool with a pristine, verifiable sustainability story that they can use in the marketing of their products. This includes the sweaters and wool hats worn by the U.S. Olympic teams at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
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