This year, for the first time in history, the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics took place not in a stadium but on a river. More than 10,000 athletes from around the world gathered for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France and paraded along the Seine, which runs through the City of Lights.
While the nearly 600 members of Team USA may represent all different sports and hail from every corner of the nation, their uniforms all sported a piece of Oregon in their navy wool blazers with fiber from Oregon-based Shaniko Wool Company.
The pageantry of an Olympics Opening Ceremony along the Seine seems a world away from the wild scenery of the Deschutes River near Maupin in Oregon. That’s the home base of Shaniko Wool Company, which brings in wool from its small group of ranches in the western United States. The company connects American wool and U.S. manufacturing to American designers and brands, while improving the health of the land and ecosystems.
“Shaniko Wool Company has been the first group of ranches in the U.S. to meet the rigorous and leading global certifications for sheep and wool production” says Jeanne Carver, founder and president of Shaniko Wool Company and long-time member and supporter of Oregon Aglink.
Developed by the Textile Exchange, the Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) looks at how the fiber is produced, including best practices in animal welfare. land management, and social impact. In 2017, Carver’s Imperial Stock Ranch was the first ranch in the world certified under the RWS. With demand for certified wool rising, she and her husband established Shaniko Wool Company in 2018 to obtain the certification for a group of ranches and help scale the supply.
The rigorous attention to production standards has made Carver and her companies a good match for Ralph Lauren’s conscientious sourcing of materials for the Olympic designs. Previously, Carver had paired with Ralph Lauren to provide wool from Imperial Stock Ranch in Maupin for the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics; in 2022, the fiber came from the Shaniko Wool Company and its partner ranches. This year will be the first summer event with Shaniko wool in the Olympic spotlight.
“Being involved in the Summer Olympics collection is a first and particularly special,” says Carver. “Those of us who have worked closely with sheep for generations know that wool is the original performance fiber and a premier fiber for year-round use. Wool not only supports our ‘life energy’ in a way no other fiber does, it makes the best suiting fabric in the world.”
Fashion has been a newsworthy focus at the Olympics Opening Ceremony for years. The event draws an average audience of 1.5 billion viewers around the world and around 120 heads of state and sovereigns are in attendance to watch each national team arrive in pride and style. While athletes train for years to have a chance at a bronze, silver, or gold medal in their events, participating nations also know the whole world is watching the opening and closing ceremonies with their parade of national designs. Paris having been known as the fashion capital of the world since the 16th century only adds to the pressure of each designer’s vision and the tiniest details of the uniforms. Team USA athletes wore single-breasted navy wool blazers with red and white tipping; the flag bearers wore a matching blazer in white wool.
“As ranchers, we’re very proud to be helping dress our Olympic team,” says Carver. “By naming us as a partner, Ralph Lauren elevates our work and connects us to Team USA in a way we would never be otherwise. It adds to our purpose. All the ranches who are part of Shaniko Wool are honored to be working with Ralph Lauren, and a small part of supporting Team USA.”
The Olympics are a key story every two years, but Carver points out that wool and textiles are part of a long narrative in their own right: “Textiles have been the fabric of America since our beginning, and wool has been at its core. It’s more important than ever that we preserve the use of natural fibers and keep ‘Made in America’ textiles as part of our future.”
By Allison Cloo and Mallory Phelan