In July, Pendleton opened a pop-up style shopping experience inside Showfields’ NoHo location in New York.
Showfields, known as “the most interesting store in the world,” features a curated selection of brands and products all under one roof.
Pendleton at Showfield’s
Pendleton’s curation includes National Park blankets and throws, Chief Joseph blankets, Motor Robes, the Stanley x Pendleton collection.
It’s all displayed with some true Oregon touches.
On the apparel floor, you can find iconic pieces like the Harding Archive Coat, the Original Westerley Sweater, and the Board Shirt in Surf Plaid.
Shopping at Showfield’s is a truly beautiful and innovative experience. Stop in to see it, and learn more about the store here: https://www.instagram.com/showfields/
Come see the Seattle Pendleton store at our new location, very near the historic Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington.
We are excited about this space! It’s larger than our previous Seattle location, and our Pendleton plaids and patterns look beautiful with all the brick, wood, and vintage charm.
The photo above shows a company history timeline. We are always excited to share the Pendleton story, and here’s a little clip of us installing displays about our history and community connections.
We carry it all!
The store offers a full selection of Pendleton’s home goods, apparel, and accessories.
And you won’t want to miss our Pendleton shirt wall, right behind the cash wrap.
We originally created a similar wall for a trade show, and attendees loved it. We’ve been excited to adapt the idea for a retail store. Here’s a video of the construction.
Where to find us
We are located on the first floor of Seattle’s A.E. Doyle Building. According to the Viaduct History website, “The A. E. Doyle Building is one of the most elegant reminders of Seattle’s early retail corridor along 2nd Avenue. It opened in 1920 as the J. S. Graham Store not long after Frederick and Nelson moved north to Pine Street. This is the only Seattle example of the work of one of Portland’s most prominent architect, A. E Doyle. The large windows set in tall arched bays clad with terra cotta reflect the Italian Renaissance style.”
We are just a two minute walk from Pike Place Market at 117 Pine St, Seattle, WA 98101
This month, we were excited to cut the ribbon and celebrate the opening of a new and unique Pendleton store at the Willamette Heritage Center in Salem, Oregon.
This store marks the return of descendants of English Master Weaver Thomas Kay to the site of his namesake mill. In 1863, when Kay came to Oregon, he played a strong role in establishing the state’s wool trade and eventually opened his own mill in 1890. Thomas Kay’s grandsons, Clarence, Roy, and Chauncey Bishop, went on to open Pendleton Woolen Mills in 1909, and the rest is, well, history!
The Goods
The new WHC store is small but mighty. In a charmingly industrial space, it features goods from Pendleton’s two USA woolen mills: table cut fabric and remnants, with a sewing and felting craft focus. Shoppers will also find a curated assortment of Pendleton’s iconic apparel, home, gifts, and accessories.
Throughout the store, informative displays and graphics tell the story of Oregon’s wool industry, alongside the history of Salem, Oregon’s state capitol. Other displays show our historic (but state-of-the-Art!) mills over the years, and explain our philanthropic partnerships and key elements of our company’s growth from our Oregon roots.
The Willamette Heritage Center
Along with shopping and special events, visitors to the Willamette Heritage Center can take a self-guided tour of the Thomas Kay mill, the place where Pendleton’s weaving legacy began. And speaking of the Center, there is so much more to see here.
The Willamette Heritage Center connects generations by preserving and interpreting Mid-Willamette Valley history. The fourteen historic structures on site house permanent and changing exhibits, a research library and archive, a textile learning center, and rentable event spaces. The five-acre campus is also home to retail shops, art galleries, cooperative artist studios, and offices for our partner organizations. (source)
Since 1964, the Mission Mill Museum Association (now the Willamette Heritage Center) has worked on the restoration and interpretation of the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill. Learn more about the Willamette Heritage Center here: https://www.willametteheritage.org/
We are excited for this new store, with Pendleton returning to where we began.
As a brand, Pendleton Woolen Mills offers some unique experiences to consumers, like tours of our working woolen mills in Oregon and Washington (health restrictions permitting). That’s where we weave most of the wool textiles used in our wool apparel and world-famous wool blankets.
Weaving generates a variety of trimmings, selvages, and “headers” (the point where a run of blanket material joins with the next run of a different blanket material). Pendleton has always had a “zero mill waste” policy. Efficient use of all mill products was part of our mission in 1909, when we re-opened a stilled factory in Pendleton, Oregon. It is an even stronger part of Pendleton’s mission today. That means our leftover fabrics and trimmings go to one of our most unique locations; the Woolen Mill Store in Milwaukie, Oregon (just outside Portland city limits).
This store occupies what was Pendleton’s “Foundation Woolen Mill” for many years. Back in the day, “foundations” were linings, and the entire output of this mill was devoted to lining for men’s woolen neckties. Over the years, many other fabrics were woven here, until 1999, when this mill’s operations were merged with our mill in Washougal, Washington. The facility was used for storage until 2008, when the Woolen Mill Store relocated from its original “Little Red Store” location to the Foundation building.
The store occupies 12,000 square feet with 350 rolls of Pendleton fabrics. More than just a fabric store, the Woolen Mill Store sells Pendleton yarn, buttons, notions and patterns. Weekly deliveries from Pendleton’s mills bring multicolored selvage and blanket trimmings, prized by crafters all over the county for rugs and other creative pursuits. The store also offers Pendleton apparel, hats and bags, and one the largest first-quality blanket selections found in any Pendleton store—the blanket wall here is a marvel.
Today’s Refreshed Woolen Mill Store
We have just refreshed this store inside and out. The exterior has a new bold color scheme that recalls a National Park blanket, and lit signage.
Inside, we have an improved layout, expanded classroom space, and a wealth of informational and historical displays. When you visit, you’ll see a one-of-a-kind banner behind the cash wrap that celebrates the materials and craft at the heart of the Woolen Mill Store.
Measuring 8′ x 12′, the banner was designed and created by Pendleton’s Marketing team. The design is based on the Mt Hood graphic on a vintage shirt box, which is also used in our current Born in Oregon logo. The pattern was enlarged onto a full-sized paper pattern using a slide projector.
This pattern was cut apart and used to trace the shape of the mountain and the shoreline.
The sky and lake shape are made from the same fabric – the face and reverse of a wool denim. The 150+ stylized trees were cut from a wide range of plaids, stripes, jacquards, and solid fabric, including our Sunbrella outdoor fabrics.
The richly colored fabrics, all in shades of blue, were appliqued together with a fusible bonding, and then machine quilted with a layer of wool batting and a solid cotton backing fabric. This secured all the fabric layers and created a diamond patterned stitch design over the entire surface. The quilting was done by Nancy at Just Quilting in Portland. You can find her at @justquilting on Instagram.
Once quilted, the layers of needle felted trees and the logo were added on top, and the banner was bound on all sides in felt by store staff. The logo was created using 3-D logo letters wrapped in wool yarn and sewn to the sky area of the banner. Shading on the lake is created with airbrushed fabric paint, the only element not sold at the Woolen Mill Store. The larger trees at the bottom, are created by freehand needle felting.
Here’s a behind-the-scenes movie of the process.
This is a celebration of hand crafting, and a fitting salute to our quality materials and the work that our customers create. Here’s a closer view, and we hope you’ll visit us to see it in person soon.
We’re excited about alpaca at Pendleton this year, because we have some truly stunning items that use this gorgeous fiber The sure-footed Alpaca originated in the Andes, where it grazes gently, without damaging root systems. Its fine, lustrous fleece evolved to meet the challenge of high mountains and cold temperatures. The result is a soft, sustainable luxury fiber that’s warmer than lambswool. Durable, lightweight and hypoallergenic alpaca fiber will keep its strength and luster for generations.
Oregon Alpacas
So that got us thinking–this is Oregon, which is basically Alpaca Central. Couldn’t we get up close and personal with one of these adorable camelids?
It turns out we can.
Jean-Pierre the Alpaca and Napolean the Alpaca will visit the Pendleton Park Avenue West store on Sunday, December 2 from 1pm to 3pm. These friendly, well-groomed therapy animals love attention. So stop by to say hello to this adorable duo. They will be happy to pose for photos, and we will even have a Pendleton photo booth for you!
This fall, we commissioned a series of short films to commemorate some of the talented Oregon makers who were part of our Pendleton Park Avenue West store design. And here they are! We hope you enjoy learning the stories behind the creators. Their skills and artistry are something else.
It’s a beautiful space, filled with a curated selection of apparel for men and women, and of course a wide selection of our gorgeous made-in-the-USA Pendleton wool blankets.
We can’t wait to roll up this garage window when the weather gets brighter.
In early August, we got a shout-out on Twitter from Matt Preston, asking if we’d be interested in helping with the finishing of his Soap Box Derby car. Matt is part the ADX Portland community, and we will talk more about the derby, but first we want to tell you about ADX. ADX brings together thinkers, makers, students and experts in a shared 14,000 square foot fabrication facility where dreams are made. Once you read about it, you will want to be part of it.
Now, back to the derby. Each year since 1997, Portland has been home to the PDX Adult Soap Box Derby. According to their website, “Now in its 18th year, the PDX Adult Soap Box Derby continues a beloved summertime tradition at Mt. Tabor Parkl—a community event that draws crowds of 7,000 – 10,000 people to watch a colorful and sidesplitting spectacle of 40+ coaster cars powered only by gravity, whimsy, and attitude.”
Matt’s entry was framed but not finished.
Would we be willing to furnish some of our wool to cover it? Oh you bet.
Matt made a trip to our Woolen Mill Store in Milwaukie, Oregon. With the help of our manager, Mary, he picked his favorite. You might remember this Serape pattern from our second collaboration with Doc Martens.
It wasn’t quite “off to the races” yet. First, Matt went back to ADX for final construction.
We were delighted to see that Matt was inspired by “The Point,” the Harry Nisson 70s classic.
Arrow was a great best friend. Here’s a little clip for those of you who weren’t around back then.
The derby was held on August 15th. We don’t have any images of Matt’s car in action. It was sidelined in a crash! Here’s what Matt had to say about it: The race was a great time and we got a lot of comments on our craft and on the wool covering. Unfortunately, our tire wrecked during the race and so the craft only got one good run in her, but we will be reusing the wool and structure for next year’s race and it will be even better!
