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Wool for Warmth – Tom's of Maine in the Underwear Business

December 01, 2009 - KENNEBUNK -- It was sheep breeding time at Ramblers Way Farm off Route 35, and Isaac the ram appeared to be in his element.

Surrounded by a dozen ewes, the curly-horned beast gobbled up the grain hand-fed to him by Dave Norman, the farm's manager. Isaac is one of the farm's flock of 60 Rambouillet sheep, carefully coddled to produce organic wool that will eventually become Ramblers Way woolen underwear.

Even the idea of woolen underwear may make your skin itch, but this fabric doesn't scratch. It's the latest brainchild of Tom and Kate Chappell, of Tom's of Maine fame. The couple's new venture is producing super-fine worsted wool garments that are as soft as cotton or silk, but with wool's wicking and insulating properties.

It is the only woolen underwear totally produced in America.

Available online since Oct. 7, the underwear is being marketed to baby boomers.

"Because the older you get, the colder you get," said Tom Chappell with a roar of laughter.

In 1970, the Chappells founded Kennebunk-based Tom's of Maine, which makes natural personal care products. In 2006, they sold an 86 percent share of it to Colgate-Palmolive for $100 million.

After the sale, Tom Chappell discovered that he had a lot more energy left and he wasn't ready to retire. He said a life built around golf and travel seemed just too decadent. He wanted to continue helping the area's economy and trying to make the world a better place.

The idea of woolen underwear came to them later that year, during a hiking vacation in Wales, where the Chappells scaled hills dotted with sheep and stayed at farmhouses at night.

One of the farmhouse owners, also a hiker, rued the lack of comfortable lightweight woolen underwear. That conversation clicked with Kate Chappell, an artist, who had spent the vacation shivering.

Both grew up in families that were in the textile business – his family in woolens in Madison and Pittsfield, Mass., and hers in silk in Connecticut. The industry largely disappeared from the United States in the second half of the last century.

The Chappells discovered that what remains of the textile industry is third- and fourth-generation companies. "They are run with pride and invest heavily in technology," said Tom Chappell.

The couple studied breeds of sheep and settled on the Rambouillet, a French cousin of the Spanish Merino. They bought two farms off Route 103, in Kennebunk's Alewive section, with a combined 150 acres that have been protected from development.

LOTS OF EFFORT TO FIND FINEST WOOL

The farms will house their flocks, which they hope to build up to about 500 sheep, enough to produce as much as 4,000 pounds of wool a year but not nearly enough for their business.

The Chappells searched for major sheep farmers to produce most of their wool.

Nick Armentrout, the Chappells' son-in-law, is in charge of the new company's wool supply. He said that finding farms that could produce the finest wool required a lot of legwork.

The superfine wool they needed doesn't grow on just any Rambouillet sheep. The local climate and the sheep's diet and handling all influence the quality of the wool.

Armentrout finally found what he needed in Montana, Nevada and Texas. He is buying 100,000 to 200,000 pounds of the wool each year.

The Chappells went looking for a scoring and carding mill. There is only one left in the country, Chargeurs Wool USA, in Jamestown, S.C. The only spinner with the right equipment to produce the fine yarn was Kentwool in Greenville, S.C.

They found their knitters at Alamac American Knits in Lumberton, N.C., and their cutters and sewers at Griffin Manufacturing Co. in Fall River, Mass.

The underwear, which includes men and women's tops and bottoms, sells for $47 to $90 on the company's Web site, www.ramblersway.com.

Some of the tops can pass as regular shirts. Designer Jane Laug is now working on a line of outer garments.

The Chappells say Ramblers Way isn't just a business for them, but also a way to put their ideas about the environment into practice.

BUSINESS SEEKS SMALL CARBON FOOTPRINT

The textile industry is now spread out across the globe, with products shipped to several distant locations for processing before the final product arrives on American shelves. By keeping the production entirely inside the United States, Ramblers Way is leaving a much smaller carbon footprint than other garment manufacturers, say the Chappells.

Their sheep farm is powered entirely by geothermal and solar energy. The wool is washed in a chlorine-free patented process. The minimal packaging is made from recycled materials. The trucks and tractors run on biofuels. The barn now being raised at the farm is secondhand, moved from Kennebunkport.

The Chappells have invested $1 million in the business and expect $750,000 to $1 million in sales in their first year. They are advertising online and in several international newspapers, such as the Financial Times.

Tom Chappell is keeping a sharp eye on sales. He surprised a friend at church who proudly announced that he had bought a Ramblers Way garment.

"I told him, 'I know. You bought your wife a camisole,' " said Chappell with another roar of laughter.

But the business is far from a sure bet, which many people along the way kept reminding Tom Chappell. He said he chose to ignore the people who saw his new venture as impossible or far too risky.

"Fear is nothing but darkness," he said. "You just have to find your night vision, and then you find the way."

By BETH QUIMBY, Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald, November 29, 2009


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Regions: Sebago, Sanford


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