Sheep Industry News January 2025

Michigan Companies Create Legendary Cap

M ichigan sheep producer Eric Wallis is “just a shep herd,” but his desire to create avenues for profit from his flock’s wool led to a unique partnership between his Lake Superior Woolen Company and longtime hat maker Stormy Kromer. Lake Superior has long produced wool blankets, selling the product through word of mouth and online before Wallis’ daugh ter, Kristy, opened a retail store in touristy Mackinaw City, Mich., in 2024. “Four or five years ago, I reached out to Gina Thorsen (chief executive officer at Stormy Kromer) to see if they had a place for our wool blankets,” Wallis said. “I had a couple of Kromers and we chatted a bit but it didn’t work out. Recently my daughter told me they were selling wool blankets now, so I reached out again and Gina remembered our conversation. When we visited in the spring, she was pretty excited about it and wanted to see if they could make a hat out of our blankets. Eventually, we sent them the raw material to make the new limited edition cap.” Since they were introduced in late 2024, the caps have sold quickly, leaving just limited stock available heading into the holiday shopping season. And the success has generated talk of additional collaborations in the future. “She’s given us some hints at what they are thinking,” Wallis said. “We would definitely be interested in working with them again.” It appears the feeling is mutual. “We love partnering with other businesses all over, especially in the state,” said Thorsen. “But then when it’s a chance to do it here in the Upper Peninsula, it’s just really wonderful to know that the start of this fabric that is in the hat started with sheep being raised in Rudyard (Mich.) is really amazing. To think of the whole journey of that, starting with the wool being sheared and ending up in what’s kind of the unofficial hat of the U.P., right? It just all feels so wonderful. We love partnering with great people, and Kristy and her dad, Eric, are certainly that. They value the same things we do in terms of like quality and hard work and just putting everything into what they do. I think just comes through in the product.” Wallis’ family started with a dairy in Michigan’s Upper Pen insula after his grandfather homesteaded the place in the early 1900s. His father sold the dairy and switched to a cow/calf opera tion when Wallis was a kid. Sheep came along in the early 1980s and the family farm in Rudyard has since been home to as many as 650 Polypay ewes through the years. The flock is down to just under 300 now, but Wallis is as busy as ever keeping up with demand for his blankets.

“Before we opened the store, if I sold 12 to 15 blankets between May and September most years, then that was about normal,” he said. “With the store this year, we sold 120 blankets in that time. And sales always pick up in October as we head into winter. The store has been great for us, and that’s totally my daughter and son-in-law’s deal. What she wants to do is sell our stuff, the Stormy Kromer caps and some other local artisan products.” Wallis said the blankets, the cap and everything else he’s done in the wool industry was just an effort to find value in his flock’s wool at a time when the value of raw wool seemed to be decreas ing exponentially. “We had a great product that we couldn’t sell for a profit, so we had to figure out a way to change that and make a profit,” he said. “It’s worked well for us.” The limited-edition caps are (or possibly were by the time you’re reading this) only available through StormyKromer.com and the Lake Superior Woolen Company store.

14 • Sheep Industry News • sheepusa.org