See the work

Pendleton Woolen Mills — Woven in Oregon Since 1863

Pendleton Wool History & Heritage

Thomas Lister Kay was an English master weaver who crossed an ocean and the Isthmus of Panama to reach Oregon in 1863. His daughter Fannie learned the mill floor beside him; she married retailer C.P. Bishop, and their three sons rebuilt an idle mill in the sheep town of Pendleton in 1909 — blankets first, then shirts, still woven under the same family name. One of the last vertically integrated woolen mills in America. We carry Pendleton here in Fayetteville.

Black and white photo of the Pendleton Woolen Mills building in Pendleton, Oregon, with a flag on the roof — Pendleton Woolen Mills, Pendleton, Oregon.

Two mills, still running

Pendleton still weaves at its original mill in Pendleton, Oregon, and a second in Washougal, Washington. They are two of the last working woolen mills in the country. The wool comes from long relationships with local sheep ranchers, and each blanket is finished by hand. Seven generations in, it is still a family-owned company.

Vintage photo of the Pendleton Woolen Mills building with painted lettering along the side and an early automobile parked out front — The mill, with its painted sign.

Rows of cream-colored wool yarn spools on a mill creel — Wool yarn on the creel.

Vintage black and white photo of a mill worker in overalls standing beside spinning frames — At the spinning frames.

A shared history with Native communities

Pendleton's relationship with Native communities goes back more than a century, to some of its earliest customers on the Columbia Plateau. In many Native communities, Pendleton blankets are given to honor achievements and milestones, used in ceremonies and celebrations, and passed down from one generation to the next. Pendleton says that history carries responsibility, and that today it works directly with Native artists, supports Native-led organizations, and helps create opportunities for the next generation.

Patterns built to last

The Glacier National Park blanket, first woven in 1916, anchors Pendleton's National Park Collection. Pendleton's designers don't chase a season. They make heirloom-quality pieces meant to be handed down, which is the same idea we build Moon Ridge around.

Pendleton in pop culture

The Beach Boys once called themselves the Pendletones, and you can spot Pendleton board shirts on the cover of Surfin' Safari. The Original Westerley sweater picked up a cult following after Jeff Bridges wore one in The Big Lebowski. Shop the Original Westerley, or browse our best-selling Pendleton.

The Story of Pendleton

1863An English weaver lands in Oregon

Thomas Lister Kay grew up in Yorkshire mills — bobbin boy first, then weaver — before training on the American East Coast. In 1863 he took the long way west: Atlantic ship, burro across the Isthmus of Panama, Pacific up the coast. Oregon had sheep, clean water, and room for a man who knew wool. He helped organize early mills, then opened his own in Salem in 1889. Pendleton still counts that arrival as year one.

1876–1909A mill the town paid for

Kay’s daughter Fannie learned the floor and the books beside him. In 1876 she married C.P. Bishop, a Salem clothier — mill craft on one side, retail on the other. Their sons Clarence, Roy, and Chauncey trained at the Philadelphia Textile School. In 1909 the town of Pendleton put up a $30,000 bond and the Bishops matched it, rebuilt an idle scouring mill, and hung the family name on the building. First product out of finishing that September: Jacquard trade blankets.

1909–1916Blankets for the Plateau

The first customers were the Cayuse, Walla Walla, and Umatilla — neighbors on the Columbia Plateau who already knew what a good trade blanket was worth. Joe Rawnsley, a Jacquard hand who’d learned the loom at the Philadelphia Textile School, spent time with Native communities to get color and pattern right, then cut those preferences into the machine. Square corners replaced the old round ones. In 1916 Pendleton wove the Glacier National Park blanket for Great Northern’s park stores — candy stripes at each end, the first in a National Park line that still runs.

1912–1929A shirt that wasn't grey

In 1912 the Bishops bought a second mill in Washougal, Washington — lighter cloth, suitings, room to grow beyond blankets. Headquarters moved to Portland in 1919. Clarence Morton Bishop wanted something the drab work shirt market didn’t have: virgin wool in real color and plaid. In 1924 the Pendleton shirt landed. Ranchers, loggers, and sportsmen took it first. By 1929 the company ran a full men’s sportswear line off the same Pacific Northwest looms.

1940s–1960sWar wool to Pendletones

World War II put most of the looms on military blankets and uniform cloth. After the war, Pendleton opened a women’s line — the ’49er jacket in 1949 became the postwar hit. In 1961 a California band called themselves the Pendletones after the plaid wool shirt surfers wore on cold beach mornings. They changed the name to the Beach Boys. The shirt kept the nickname anyway.

TodayWoven in the Northwest

Seven generations of the Bishop family still run Pendleton — same Oregon and Washougal mills, virgin wool dyed, spun, and woven in-house, still “Warranted To Be A Pendleton.” Blankets for home and ceremony. Shirts that break in instead of wearing out. We carry the line at Moon Ridge in Fayetteville. Come feel the wool in person, or shop it online and we’ll ship it to your door.