If you’ve been watching the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France, you might be surprised to know there’s an unusual connection between Team U.S.A. athletes and Meeker: the wool in their official Opening Ceremony Blazers. The sheep that thwart the sheepdogs every year at the Meeker Classic belong to one of the ranches that are part of Jeanne Carver’s Shaniko Wool Company. Twelve years ago, Jeanne and her late husband Dan, owners of the historic Imperial Stock Ranch in Oregon, began supplying Merino wool to designer Ralph Lauren for the official Olympic gear athletes wear at various ceremonies. They also became the first ranch in the world to meet a new global wool standard focused on land and animal care.
With demand increasing, in 2018, Jeanne created Shaniko Wool Company to scale the supply of wool meeting Textile Exchange’s global Responsible Wool Standard (RWS), the leading standard in the world with stringent guidelines for land management, humane animal husbandry and worker welfare.
Six of the 10 sheep ranches who make up the Shaniko Wool Company wool supply are located in Colorado, including in the Meeker area. Shaniko Wool provides certified wool to U.S. brands and manufacturers, including Ralph Lauren. This year marks the first year Shaniko wool has appeared in the Summer Olympics.
NOTE: Updated to reflect corrections from the original post.
