Pictured are 30 year KentWool veterans Deborah Hare, Sandra Green, Peggy Holbrook, Audrey Fisher, Diane Ussery and Janice Hendricks.

PICKENS — KentWool is this month’s Pickens Chamber of Commerce member of the month.

Family owned and operated, KentWool has earned a reputation as being a manufacturing pioneer. KentWool has developed a state-of–the art, wool-based yarn spinning operation which produces the highest quality yarns in the industry.

The Kent Manufacturing Company was established in 1843 by Thomas Kent in Philadelphia, Pa. The Runnymede Plant was built in Pickens in 1954. The company was rebranded to KentWool and has expanded multiple times. The facility is now more than 130,000 square feet with corporate headquarters in Greenville.

All KentWool products are made in the USA, including KentWool golf socks, which are branded as the World’s Greatest Golf Sock. KentWool is one of the three companies in the Western Hemisphere and one of just 62 in the world to receive the Usterized Quality Certification indicating the highest level of quality assurance in yarn production.

KentWool currently employees 96 people.

“Without a doubt, the most valued asset at KentWool are the employees. As KentWool continues to grow and proper, we will maintain the family owned and operated environment that the company was built upon,” said Keith Horn, President of Manufacturing. The employees at KentWool recently celebrated the company’s 170th anniversary at an Employee Appreciation Day.