Montana farmers and ranchers raise numerous high quality products.
http://www.ktvq.com/story/36827361/montana-ag-american-wool-makes-perfect-socks
2 minute 29 second YouTube video on the Nester Process
For sock maker Nester Hosiery in Mount Airy, North Carolina, the perfect pair of socks always starts with the main ingredient: Wool.
“There’s that phenomenon that happens with one person putting wool on their feet,” CEO Kelly Nester said. “When they do that, they go, ‘Gosh, what have I been missing?'”
According to Nester, wool is the sock ingredient that manages moisture and comfort while keeping the sock together and durable.
Nester Hosiery produces about 12,000 dozen pair of socks each week, or about 288,000 individual socks including their Farm to Feet line, which uses 100 percent American wool.
“It’s still a very young brand but that brand is principled on transparency in supply and it’s much more than the origin, it’s more of telling the story of manufacturing,” Nester said. “The companies involved from the American sheep industry rancher where they have grown the wool all the way through.”
Being a family-owned and operated business, the Nester family and employees treasure the relationship with America’s wool producers.
“It’s been one of the real treasures of the last five years of my career is getting to communicate with the sheep rancher,” Nester said. “The hard work that goes into farming is something that our whole company is familiar with and getting to communicate with some of those great personalities has been a lot of fun.”
America’s wool producers can take great pride in knowing that companies like Nester Hosiery depend on American wool so people everywhere can enjoy a perfect pair of socks.
This is another great example of why wool is one of the world’s most diverse natural fibers and how Montana woolgrowers are an important part of the fiber’s success story.