Aaron Feuerstein, the man who brought you Polartec and became an icon of social responsibility in an era of unbridled corporate greed, has gone granola.
Aaron Feuerstein LLC is introducing a line of alpaca athletic and fashion socks, hats and scarves at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market show. The venture is being positioned against Merino wool, on the high end of sustainable apparel.


As many in the industry will recall, Feuerstein endeared himself to Americans in the mid-1990s after Malden Mills’ main plant burned to the ground and put 2,700 people out of work. Rather than retire or rebuild overseas, he invested $130 million in rebuilding the MA-based plant, and regularly paid employees for months after the fire. Malden Mills went on to file bankruptcy twice. Its assets were acquired out of bankruptcy last year to form Polartec LLC, a company named for Malden Mills’ most successful innovation.


Feuerstein, now “82 years young,” is quick to dismiss his tenure at Malden Mills, which he left in 2006 prior to its second bankruptcy, as “ancient history.” Today, he enthusiastically discusses his newest venture.


“I worked my entire life on oil-based materials and we did the very best job we thought we could possibly do,” says Feuerstein. “We made the best quality, made in the USA, high-tech performance fabric, and we were careful about the environment. But in the final analysis, when everything was said and done, it was oil-based. It was the DuPont era. We excelled in it, but I thought if I was going to go into business again I would do my damnedest to save the planet.”


Feuerstein now preaches the benefits of alpaca’s hollow fibers, which he contends have better warmth and wicking properties than Merino wool, cashmere or other luxury natural fibers. The company uses an alpaca/nylon blend in its socks for durability. Feuerstein also asserts that alpaca causes less environmental damage than sheep.


According to Feuerstein, the new alpaca product will be made in the U.S. by contract manufacturers at undisclosed plants in New Jersey and North Carolina. The company is prepared to ship inventory for Fall ’08, and capacity is in place for Spring and Summer ’09.


In the executive suite, the company contracted former employees from Malden Mills to design the apparel and set up the operation. Howard Ackerman, former COO of Malden Mills, is the CEO. Feuerstein’s son, Daniel, oversees sales and marketing. 


While Feuerstein touts the benefits of natural fibers, he is a bit contrarian regarding the outdoor industry’s efforts to secure duty relief for petroleum-based performance fabrics imported from Asia.


“A lot of the tings that I stood for in the 20th Century-such as being more considerate of your workers, manufacturing in the U.S.A., and being more considerate of the environment-was difficult to do because the country did not focus on in it,” he says. “[The country] was not prepared to suffer anything in order to take care of worker and the planet. I think that is in the process of changing in a big way. So the kind of values I had when I founded Malden Mills are more important in the marketplace today.”