By Rachel Witte

When a key spinning mill in Pennsylvania unexpectedly shut its doors, the future of NY Textile Lab’s midscale cooperative yarn run was suddenly in jeopardy. For Laura Sansone, the founder of New York Textile Lab, the closure wasn’t just a logistical setback—it threatened a time-sensitive, regionally rooted fiber project that had been years in the making. With freshly shorn wool in need of processing and a fall production timeline looming, she found herself in urgent need of a new mill partner.

Enter American Woolen.

Located in Connecticut, American Woolen stepped forward with a willingness to collaborate and a shared commitment to American-grown fiber. What began as a practical solution to an infrastructure gap has since evolved into an example of how flexible, values-aligned partnerships can strengthen the domestic supply chain for Climate Beneficial™ wool. In a system where processing bottlenecks often block the scalability of regenerative fiber, this collaboration offers a powerful case study in what it takes to keep regional fiber economies alive and growing.

A Carbon Farming Cooperative in Need of a Mill

NY Textile Lab coordinates a cooperative model called the Carbon Farm Network that enables small brands to pool resources and meet the minimum order quantities (MOQs) needed for processing regional fiber. Sansone and the other member brands collectively process 1,000 to 1,500 pounds of wool per year—a scale that sits in the challenging middle ground between mini mills and industrial operations. Their yarn is made from a blend of New York State-grown wool and alpaca, sourced exclusively from farms participating in a regional carbon farming program. Though not all farms are fully Climate Beneficial Verified (CBV) yet, many are in the process of implementing practices that sequester carbon, improve biodiversity, and enhance soil health.

Laura Sansone sorting bags of wool. Next stop - scouring!

"We're internalizing the cost of extracting from the environment. We're only working with the farms that are participating in this carbon farming program here in New York State,” Laura explains. “So when we say this yarn is Climate Beneficial, that claim is grounded in real relationships and real investments."

The yarn run follows the agrarian calendar, kicking off each spring with shearing and moving swiftly into scouring, spinning, and manufacturing to meet fall production windows. When their longtime spinning partner closed, the cooperative faced the very real risk of not being able to process their fiber in time.

An Industrial Mill with an Eye Toward Local Collaboration

Jacob Long, CEO of American Woolen, had known Laura Sansone for years. When he got the call, he quickly agreed to help. Though his mill typically operates at a different end of the spectrum—producing high-end woven fabrics for luxury brands—he saw both a challenge and an opportunity.

"The best thing to do is to not send the wool offshore and import wool, textiles, apparel, and accessories,” Jacob says. “Unfortunately, most manufacturers do. So, what we're trying to do at American Woolen is be a protagonist in building out this more regional ecosystem. If consumers are wearing wool, it'd be great if that wool comes out of America."

For Jacob, the collaboration also represents a chance to elevate what he calls the "craft economy" of American wool into something more durable and scalable. "How do we move American wool from being considered a ‘craft’ up to hitting the quality standards that today’s global luxury consumer demands?"

"I know for a fact, American wool can be fine,” Jacob continues. “We’ve seen fine American wool. It’s just not always being processed properly. So the softness is not about the sheep. It’s about what’s being done with it."

American Woolen carding machine — a step in the woolen spinning process.

American Woolen isn’t a craft spinner, but they worked closely with Laura to adapt their process for a coarser fiber blend and smaller batch sizes. The fiber, a mix of Romney wool and natural-colored alpaca, was broken into multiple lots to preserve the integrity of each animal’s coat. The mill also conducted detailed twist analyses to match the structure of previously spun yarn and ensure consistency in the finished product.

"They really took the time to analyze the yarn structure," Laura notes. "It was a different experience from other mills. It felt like a true collaboration, not just a transaction."

Bridging the Midscale Infrastructure Gap

One of the biggest challenges facing regenerative fiber systems is infrastructure—specifically, the lack of processing facilities equipped to handle midscale production. Climate Beneficial wool is increasingly available, but without mills that can handle it at scale, it often gets stuck in limbo.

"This is a decadal investment," Jacob emphasizes. "We need long-term capital to rebuild regional textile ecosystems—not just one-off grants or piecemeal support." He argues that the U.S. private capital market has largely abandoned domestic textile manufacturing, favoring short-term gains over infrastructure investment. "We're not just missing mills," he says. "We're missing belief in the possibility of an American textile industry.”

"The biggest issue right now is financing,” Jacob says. “In America, there is very, very little long-term capital available for the textile and apparel industry. But these should be decade- long investments, because we're really trying to build out a whole ecosystem, It is a real struggle to get the American private capital sources to look at our industry and not laugh and tell you that horse bolted decades ago.”

Alpacas on pasture on Faraway Farm in one of the farms in Laura’s Carbon Farm Network

Yet this collaboration suggests that midscale solutions are possible—especially when partners are willing to share risk and prioritize shared values. For NY Textile Lab, that means staying true to their soil-to-soil philosophy, maintaining bioregional sourcing, and investing in long-term carbon sequestration. For American Woolen, it means meeting those goals without compromising on quality or industrial standards.

Why Regional Supply Chains Matter

For both Laura and Jacob, geography is more than convenience—it's central to their vision. Wool in this project was sourced entirely from New York State and spun just across the border in Connecticut. In contrast to globalized supply chains that prioritize volume and cost, this partnership emphasizes proximity, seasonality, and transparency.

If we're really talking about stewarding the environment, shipping our fiber all over the place doesn't make sense. So we want things to remain as closely connected into the network as possible,” Laura says.

That proximity also builds trust. Laura regularly visits the farms she sources from and hosts carbon farm tours for designers in her network. Jacob notes that brands have an opportunity to shift away from choosing from endless textile options to working within the creative constraints of local materials and the color palette those materials create naturally.

Jacob handling wool in the woolen spinning process

"Designers should be thinking about what makes their region unique. There's just so much raw material and a lot of these designers are so used to being inundated with every option under the sun,” Jacob explains. “In my mind, it takes a lot of design talent to understand where you are, who you are, what you want to be, and how you work with the mills to do that. We want those types of designers.”

Toward a Regenerative Textile Future

As the Climate Beneficial Verification program continues to grow, collaborations like this one offer a compelling path forward. They show that regional supply chains aren’t just possible—they’re powerful. They create jobs, foster innovation, reduce environmental impact, and connect consumers with the true story of their clothes.

"Climate Beneficial verification isn’t just a label," Laura says. "It’s a system. It builds relationships between brands and growers, mills and designers, consumers and land. And those relationships are what make change stick.”

American Woolen and NY Textile Lab may operate at different scales, but their collaboration illustrates the kind of mutual investment that makes regenerative fiber systems viable. It’s not just about sourcing better wool. It’s about redesigning the entire journey from soil to sweater—and keeping that journey close to home.