Canton’s Draper Knitting helps outfit Team USA

Last fall, Kristin Draper, president of the Draper Knitting Company and a sixth generation member of the family, received a call from a representative of the Olympia Gloves Company in New York.

“They contacted me looking for some fabric,” Draper said. “I did not know what it was for.”

Information on Draper’s website explains that the company produces knitting and nonwoven stitchbonded fabrics that are used in buffing pads, footwear liners, and filtration filters. Local consumers may be aware that the Draper fabric is used in Sherwin Williams and Wooster Brush Company’s paint rollers as well as the Canton Bulldogs blankets. But that phone call was about to bring international fame to the company, which has been in Canton since 1856.

A few weeks later, Draper received another call from Olympia Gloves regarding the fabric order, and this time the caller gave Draper some additional information. “He said, ‘By the way, this is for Polo for Ralph Lauren for the gloves for the athletes for the opening ceremony,’” Draper recalled.

The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony took place in Pyeongchang, South Korea, on February 9. The United States Olympic team entered the Olympic stadium wearing matching jeans, sweaters, boots, hats, jackets — and the gloves with the Canton connection.

The fringed beige suede gloves are decorated with top stitching and the five Olympic rings, the American flag, and the word Polo in beading. They are lined with beige fabric from Draper Knitting that is a blend of 30 percent wool and 70 percent recycled polyester.

“It had life as a water bottle,” Draper said of the recycled polyester. “It gets made into fiber.”

She added that the Polo brand has been using more wool in its clothing items, and the employees at Olympia Gloves liked the idea of a liner that also used wool with a blend of recycled materials. Draper shipped about 400 yards of the fabric to New York for the lining of the gloves.

The gloves attracted a lot of attention both during and after the opening ceremony. In an article for Elite Daily, writer Dylan Kickham called them an interesting outfit choice for the team’s appearance. “Even among all of the superstar international athletes who appeared during the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics opening ceremony, the real star seemed to be those huge, fringed Team USA gloves,” he wrote. Each pair of the gloves was priced at $995 on the Ralph Lauren website, but quickly sold out.

Draper said that she has not had any feedback yet from the athletes about the gloves, but has a connection to athlete John Daly. Daly participates in skeleton, a sport in which athletes ride face down and head first on a small, flat sled that traverses an icy track. Daly is a friend of a son of one of the Draper salesmen. “We‘re going to wait until he gets home from the games,” she said.

The public does not always have the opportunity to see the products for which Draper Knitting provides the lining, but the Team USA gloves were viewed by millions of people. “All of the employees of Draper Knitting are proud and excited to be a part of the Olympic experience,” Draper said. “We love being a part of such an exciting product. You just never know.”

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Posted by Mary Ann Price on Mar 3 2018. Filed under Business. Both comments and pings are currently closed.