This is a premium 100% Mountain Merino® wool blanket designed by students in our 2024 SHEAR (Student Hands-on Education And Research) program.  Read on to learn more about how this blanket supports this amazing one-of-a-kind opportunity for students.  

Program Background

Since 1960 Wyoming and other US states have decreased yearly wool production by 90%.  By the early 2000's the last remaining University wool programs were shutting down.  Textile manufacturing has been on a decades long decline and in 2023 alone nine (9) more of the large scale textile manufacturing facilities in the USA closed including 2 major wool specific facilities. 

We are losing our supply of wool, we are losing our manufacturing capabilities, and we are losing our knowledge and skill sets in the US wool industry.   When Mountain Meadow Wool started in 2007 we were told our idea for a vertically integrated wool processing facility would never work and to a large degree the nay-sayers where right.  But.... they forgot some big IF's...

• IF... we start innovating
• IF... we prioritize job creation and sustaining ranching rather than profits
• IF... we go back to America's roots of hard work, long hours, and low pay to build our businesses from the ground up

THEN.... we can begin rebuilding the US wool industry.

For the past decade Mountain Meadow Wool has been working with Universities and Colleges throughout the US to build and strengthen wool programs.  We process many beautiful products for partner institutions using wool their students and staff raise.  In 2024 we took this a step farther and added a formal internship program where we can immerse students into the wool textile and agriculture industry by offering an interactive learning experience.  Students spend 12 weeks gaining first-hand knowledge of wool processing from greasy fleece to finished garments.

What the proceeds go towards:

40% of the blanket cost covers the cost of research, development and processing of raw wool into the finished blanket

20% of the blanket cost goes to funding the student intern experience, housing, summer stipend, and wool outreach

40% of the blanket cost supports wool research and education with our partner colleges and universities (examples include: funding educational tours and programs, funding new equipment for research and training, funding the innovation and release of new wool products).  Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to receive regular updates on all the projects this supports.