By Rachel Phillips
Most people don’t put much thought into where yarn is produced, but Mary Jeanne Packer of Battenkill Fibers Carding and Spinning Mill hopes to change that.
The mill, which operates out of Greenwich, processes wool and other fibers from farmers across nearly 500 miles, and serves as a supplier to yarn retailers across the country.
Packer had aspirations of owning a yarn mill ever since she’d visited Green Mountain Spinnery in Putney, Vt., in 1982, but wasn’t able to make it a reality until 2009. A resident of Vermont, she is also the partner of the Vermont-based GWC Inc. consulting firm, through which she discovered Washington County.
Upon realizing the enormous potential for a yarn mill in the upper Hudson valley, she decided to capitalize on the large fiber industry of the region.
According to Packer, most commercial-scale milling operations in the U.S. have gone out of business. Now, most textiles are milled in China or India, from wool farmed in New Zealand. Battenkill Fibers has offered consumers an alternative option sourced much closer to home.
The demand for Battenkill Fibers’ products has been proven by the success the mill has seen since it first started. Recently, it signed a multi-year contract with Quince and Co., a major yarn distributor, as a supplier. Also in the last year, the mill has expanded to enable a broader range of custom dyeing services in order to better meet demand.
“More and more people want to know that their stuff is ethically sourced and locally processed,” said Packer.