Even the oldest, most traditional industries need to innovate. So it is that Langhorne Carpet Company, an 82-year-old, Wilton carpet mill – one of only a handful left in the United States – is expanding with a new line made of Peruvian Alpaca.
“Our technology is very traditional, but our products are not,” says President Bill Morrow.
Langhorne uses mills that haven't changed much from the ones Morrow's great-grandfather bought in 1930 from Henry Ford, who couldn't get the looms to properly make carpets for his cars. And Langhorne is located in the same red brick mill in Penndel near Philadelphia at which it was established.
Nevertheless, says Morrow, Langhorne “constantly has to be innovative to keep up with colors and trends – or create them.” The new Alpaca line is another such innovation. Langhorne's first order of nearly 2,000 pounds of alpaca fleece will be woven into the mill's first designs especially for the Peruvian alpaca.
Innovation in the carpet business could arguably be blamed for the demise of woven wool carpet making in the U.S., which Morrow reckons today accounts for less than one percent of the market. Instead, most domestic carpet is tufted and produced with synthetic fibers, some made with heavy petrochemical compounds.
But demand for traditional carpets from the high-end residential market (and custom reproduction jobs for historic sites such as the White House and Independence Hall) is sufficiently strong that Langhorne has recently created four new positions, including three weavers, who it trains from scratch, bringing its workforce to 35.
Source: Bill Morrow, Langhorne Carpet Company
Writer: Elise Vider