Jeanne Carver

Jeanne and her late husband, Dan Carver, owned and operated the historic Imperial Stock Ranch since the late 1980s. Their focus was stewardship of natural resources, until in 1999, they faced a new challenge. 

 

With a collapsing wool market due to a diminished U.S. textile infrastructure, Jeanne led them from commodity wool sales in a new direction. Similar to the farm-to-fork “slow food” movement that reconnects us to our food, Jeanne pioneered taking her wool direct to market, at scale, and built fiber supply chain relationships as close to home as possible. Connecting their ranch’s heritage and mindful stewardship of land and animals to the products, she built a growing customer base for textiles with an attachment to place.

 

Her efforts eventually took her to the world stage as a partner to well-known fashion brands. At national trade shows, she was the “Farmer’s Market of Textiles,” known across multiple segments of the U.S. fashion industry and beyond. She has been the voice and source of American wool for Ralph Lauren’s Team USA Olympic uniforms since 2014. 

 

In 2016, Imperial Stock Ranch became the first ranch in the world certified to the leading global standard for sheep and wool production, called the Responsible Wool Standard. 

 

With demand increasing, in 2018, Jeanne launched Shaniko Wool Company to scale the supply of U.S. wool meeting this leading global standard. 

 

Today, Jeanne has become a global voice for Responsible Animal Fiber standards, and has led the development of a fully certified textile supply chain in the U.S. meeting these standards. 

 

Jeanne is an award-winning agricultural entrepreneur and author.  In 2023, she received the American Sheep Industry Innovation Award and the Oregon State University College of Agricultural Sciences Hall of Fame Award. She was featured in His Majesty at 75:  The Leadership and Vision of King Charles III  (November, 2023), for her work in regenerative wool production and promoting the provenance of wool in fashion. She co-authored Stories of Fashion, Textiles and Place – Evolving Sustainable Supply Chains (Davis and Carver - Bloomsbury Publishing, London).