We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ladianne Henderson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ladianne , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

My cofounder and partner, Sheri, grew up running around on her grandfather’s farm in the Western part of North Carolina. Sometimes she’d actually get away with hotwiring her grandfather’s tractor. I grew up admiring all of the wool craftwork done by many members of my family. Not too long ago I came across a photo of my dad as a young boy. He was sitting on my grandfather’s shoulders on horseback on the wool ranch in Montana where my grandfather grew up. In 2022, I was awarded membership in the Tory Burch Fellows program, run by the Tory Burch Foundation. The incredible fellowship opportunity came at the precise moment my partner, Sheri, and I were in the midst of making a pivot in our business. We’d owned a retail yarn store where we sold our hand-dyed yarn, and were shifting into hand-dyeing wool yarn and fiber. We knew we also wanted to create a line of American-made, hand-dyed finished accessories. We reached out to Jeanne Carver, founder of Shaniko Wool Co., the supplier of the American Merino wool in our yarn, to see if she would be willing to brainstorm with us. During a zoom with Jeanne, we all arrived at the idea of hand-dyed beanies made with Shaniko Merino wool. Nearly a year later we launched WoolTribe.co.

Our launch came after years of wanting to use natural fibers and more sustainable approaches. By connecting with Jeanne, we’ve been able to develop completely American-made beanies. We know our suppliers, from farm to fashion. That has allowed us to build our business on the foundation of our values, including supply chain transparency. We want our customers to know exactly what they are buying. One of the most amazing things, though, has been using Responsible Wool Standard, and Nativa-Regen, certified wool in our products. These certifications require audits to ensure our suppliers meet standards for care of land, animals, and workers.

Since beginning our work on WoolTribe, we have had the opportunity to connect in incredibly positive ways with our supplier community. Collaboration is at the core of our relationship with our suppliers. Recently, I attended an amazing workshop at the Carolina Textile District to begin the process of adding more local suppliers to our community network. We are working on some innovations to our process that will move us closer to being able to offer closed-loop sustainable products.

Ladianne , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

The thing we’re most proud of is the fact that we have put everything we possibly can into creating completely American-made, responsibly-produced goods crafted with thoughtfully sourced materials. When we opened our yarn shop years ago, we envisioned it being stocked only with American-made yarn, but it quickly became apparent that wasn’t realistic at that time. So many yarn companies had gone offshore, and so much of what was available, although sold by American companies, wasn’t necessarily made in the United States. So, when we learned we were the first company to buy Meridian Mill House’s 100% American made, undyed, Shaniko wool yarn for use in our dyeing work, we were incredibly happy.

Now, working with Jeanne Carver, getting to know and collaborate with the folks at wool processing company, Chargeurs, and work with our cabled beanie knitting partner, Artex, has meant everything. We were thrilled to be asked by Chargeurs to send beanies to be displayed in their showroom in New York City. We also dyed a line called the Iconic Founders Collection – a group of four colorways of beanies honoring Tory Burch Foundation’s namesake, Tory Burch, and Shaniko Wool Company founder, Jeanne Carver. Wool is definitely at the center of our products right now – but we are also looking at ways to expand our use of reclaimed luxury materials, and natural fibers like cotton and linen.  For us wool isn’t just a fiber – it’s a philosophy.  It reminds us that everything is connected – that being able trace the origins of our products back to their sources is essential to our brand.  WoolTribe, for us, is a way of living, a way of looking at the world, and a way of doing the work we do.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

As part of the Tory Burch Fellows program, inductees are given a grant for use for education in various forms. I opted to use it for books on art and design, business coaching with Kareen Walsh, and tuition for the Sewn Goods 101 workshop, offered by Carolina Textile District. I also love the book Circular Design for Fashion from Ellen MacArthur Foundation for its beautiful and effective delivery of the hard facts about fashion and sustainability. The Big Leap by Gary Hendricks is another favorite book.

I’d have to say The Farewell Lecture by Dr. Yi-Fu Tuan, delivered as he was retiring from UW-Madison, is the most phenomenal essay I’ve read. It speaks to the importance of remaining a student throughout life – and demonstrating that willingness to learn and grow so that others are inspired to do the same.

But I’m equally as inspired by picture books. I love anything by Shaun Tan, especially The Lost Thing, and The Rabbits. I also love Maya Angelou’s Life Doesn’t Frighten Me, with illustrations by Jean-Michele Basquiat, and On a Beam of Light: A Story of Albert Einstein, by Jennifer Berne, illustrated by Vladimir Radunsky. I admit I collect picture books and love them for their inspiring stories and truly creative imagery.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Like many business owners, we always heard businesses had to grow continuously – more sales, more revenue, more marketshare. While it’s true that growth is a necessary element of a healthy business, we have sought to grow WoolTribe patiently, in ways that align with our core values. We know our customers want luxury, but they also want their luxury goods made responsibly. They want to know what went into the making of those goods. And they want to know that all of the companies in the supply network creating those goods are held to high standards of responsibility. We hear so much about the need for “de-growth” in the fashion industry. We feel very strongly that starting WoolTribe on values-based foundations is what’s best for us and for our customers.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://wooltribe.co
• Instagram: @wooltribe
• Facebook: @wooltribe.co
• Linkedin: @wooltribe

Image Credits
Model photos by Hamilton Ward. Product shots by Lyn Griffin-Roberts. Other beanie and studio photos by Ladianne at WoolTribe.co. Tory Burch Foundation image from Tory Burch Foundation website.