Most wool brands buy fleece from a broker. Duckworth owns the sheep. The Helle family has raised them outside Dillon, Montana, for generations. In 2014 they turned that wool into a clothing company. This is how a sweater gets from a ridge at 9,500 feet to your closet. Every step happens in the United States.
This is No. 1 in Small Brands You Should Know, a series on small makers with a real story. The farm, the mill, the machines, the people. Nothing in the series is sponsored.
A ranch before it was a brand
The Helle family story starts in the late 1800s, when John Helle’s forebears left Europe, per The Land Report. A post from the ranch puts the tradition at more than 150 years on that spot. John’s grandfather started the ranch itself in the late 1920s or early 1930s.
Today the family runs the 25,000-acre Helle Rambouillet Ranch. The sheep graze on a mix of public and private land at elevations from 5,000 to 9,500 feet. Temperatures run from minus 40 to over 90 degrees Fahrenheit. They eat natural grasses and Montana wildflowers.
Duckworth itself dates to 2014. John Helle, John Edwards, Graham Stewart and Rob Bernthal formed it, per a Rural Montana story the brand reprinted. Sheep to shelf was Helle’s goal. He is a rancher, and he found partners for the rest. His son Evan now manages Duckworth’s production and runs the ranch.
Why Montana wool stretches
The breed is Rambouillet, the French line of the Merino. John Helle says the Montana climate, with its extreme heat and very cold winters, gives the fiber an advanced crimp. He compares it to a spring. In a knit, that crimp becomes natural stretch. Graham Stewart puts it another way in a brand video. The wool’s big curvature lets Duckworth make fabrics without Lycra or elastomers.
Shearing day: 48 strokes and a lab test
The flock is shorn once a year, and the fleece grows back over the next twelve months. In spring 2026 the brand’s shearing post named the crew. Brothers John and Tom Helle, and John’s sons Weston and Evan. One bout covers about half the flock, 5,000 head, over a few days. A perfect shear is exactly 48 strokes, and the fleece comes off in one piece.
Then the science starts. A sample of each fleece is scanned on the shearing floor for micron and comfort factor. The ranch works with the Montana State University Wool Lab, which tests for micron, comfort factor, crimp and staple length. The wool is sorted by end use. Thicker fiber goes to socks. The finest, softest fiber goes to shirts worn against the skin. The data also feeds back into the flock’s genetics.
One sheep produces 8 to 14 pounds of wool a year. Evan Helle says that makes about 8 to 10 shirts. The family shears nearly 10,000 sheep a year for about 80,000 pounds of wool. It buys 180,000-plus pounds of other American wool on top. The sheep meet people up close for only a few days a year, per the brand’s supply chain page.
The sheep trail
At the end of each June the bands move into the Gravelly Mountains for summer grazing. The brand’s own account counts some 10,000 sheep, 28 dogs, eight horses, four herders and three ranchers. The trip to the high meadows runs about 50 miles. In the fall they all come back down.
From fleece to shirt, all in the United States
The wool leaves Montana for more than 30 American partners to be scoured, spun, knit, cut and sewn. The Our Story page says spinning, knitting and dyeing happen with American partners. The finished fabric then goes to facilities across the Eastern Seaboard and Midwest to become garments. The Rural Montana story counts more than 30 factories across 17 states, many specializing in one step or one garment. One named partner is American Woolen, which makes the brushed flannel for the Sawtooth shirt.
By law, the tag in any garment sold in the US has to name a country (the FTC’s Textile Act). Duckworth can go further and name the ranch.
What Duckworth makes
- Maverick Long Sleeve Crew. 100% Montana Merino at 160 grams per square meter. The everyday base layer. Product page.
- Sawtooth Shirt. 100% Montana Merino brushed flannel at 11 ounces, made with American Woolen. Product page.
- Snowcrest Shirt Jacket. 22 ounce Rambouillet Merino, naturally water, snow and wind resistant. The brand says each jacket’s journey takes more than four years. Product page.
- Socks. The Midweight Hiking Crew is 67% Montana Merino with nylon and a little stretch. John Helle has called the socks the gateway drug to wool.
Everything sells direct at duckworthco.com.
The claim worth knowing
On its wool page, Duckworth says a polyester fiber snaps after about 3,000 bends. Merino, by its figure, takes roughly 20,000. That is the brand’s figure, not an independent test. Treat it as a direction, not a spec.
The next chapter is already underway. Demand for Helle wool now exceeds what one ranch can grow. In June 2026 the brand said it is expanding to neighboring ranches in Montana and the Rocky Mountain region. It is sharing its Rambouillet genetics with them.
Frequently asked questions
Where does Duckworth wool come from?
From the Helle family’s Rambouillet flock near Dillon, Montana, plus other American wool the brand buys to meet demand. The sheep graze between 5,000 and 9,500 feet.
Is Duckworth made in the USA?
Yes. The wool is grown in Montana. More than 30 partners in the United States scour, spin, knit, dye, cut and sew it, per the brand.
What is Rambouillet wool?
Rambouillet is a Merino-derived breed developed in France. Duckworth says the Montana climate gives its fleece a strong crimp. That shows up as natural stretch in the finished knit.
How much wool does one sheep give?
Duckworth puts it at 8 to 14 pounds a year, or about 8 to 10 shirts.
Sources: Duckworth, Our Story; Sheep to Shelf; Why Choose Merino Wool; Shearing Season, May 2026; MSU Wool Lab partnership; Sheep Trail; The All-American Rambouillet Revival, June 2026; Rural Montana, reprinted by Duckworth; The Land Report, August 2023; FTC Textile Fiber Products Identification Act. Facts checked October 29, 2026.
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