Textiles have been around for about 100,000 years, give or take a few. But, here in America the textile industry is on the decline. Where there used to be around 30,000 mills, there are only 13,000 left in the country. Wanna guess where they mostly went? But, tonight's episode takes us to American Woolen Company in Stafford Springs, Connecticut, one of only four woolen mills in America. The wool comes from sheep raised in Montana. In the mill the fibrous wool is broken up in several processes, which is then rolled out into individual strands that are then twisted to add strength and placed on a roller as thread that can be woven together to create any number of products. With a company that has been around for nearly 200 years using finicky machinery older than the employees who are at retirement age there are plenty of problems during the day.
—molnarmd