Berroco

The story begins in the year 1810 when Warren Wheelock's great-great-great-grandfather opened the first of the Wheelock mills in rural Massachusetts, one of the first in the fledgling United States to produce woolen cloth, he began an enterprise that would grow and change and endure over six generations. Beginning as Stanley Woolen Mills, the firm survived two depressions, weathering the changing times and the changing demands in the world of textiles.

Over the years, the Stanley Woolen Company mills sold to such manufacturers as Evan Picone, Perry Ellis, Brooks Brothers and Hager. In 1968, the Wheelock family formed a new handknitting subsidiary called Stanley Berroco, a name forged from the names of three business associates. This new firm grew to become one of the largest importers and wholesalers of handknitting yarns, patterns and supplies in the United States. Importing yarns from the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy, New Zealand, Japan, Brazil, and Uruguay, Berroco also produces a full range of handknitting books and patterns. Berroco patterns and yarns have been featured in such magazines as Woman’s Day, Family Circle, Redbook, Vogue Knitting, Knitters, Interweave Knits, Fashion Knitting, Knitting Digest and McCall’s. The year 1992 brought further change to the company begun six generations ago. Warren Wheelock, president of Berroco since 1987, created the Handeze Glove Division becoming the master distributor of the Handeze glove in the craft industry. Operating on the site of one of the Wheelock family’s original woolen mills, Berroco, Inc., continues the family tradition of changing with the needs of the times to provide top quality products.