Wool Production

What to do with wool. I have done so many stories on the production of wool, that is, stories on sheep but I recently came upon, I guess you would say the processing end in the form of a conversation with Charles Lox who owns C&C Sutlery out in Emmett. Between the sheep he raises along with the bulk wool that he buys from New York, Charles and his wife Ellen have developed quite the little industry in manufacturing Civil War period clothing for those enthusiasts who like to re-enact the war. The couple is now looking for other markets to expand their wool clothing business: “We were making wool clothing for 25 years and we decided we wanted to make modern wool clothing so basically we designed a jacket. We used some of the patterns that the Civil War Colts were made out of like this one here with a three-piece back, lined it or unlined it depending on what the customer wanted, we called it Spirit Horse Enterprise Ranchwear. We made a lot of vests using a certain design with and without callers.” Ellen concentrates on sales and marketing for the company. “Over the weekend we had 17 orders that came in Saturday and Sunday. One order was from Washington DC for some theatrical group, we had another one today for the Milwaukee Repertory theater, so not only do we have products online but we get calls from all over the country.