Two Kids Who Couldn't Stop Making Stuff

How childhood best friends ended up knitting yak wool sweaters.

Hi, we're Jack and Slater. We started Oliver Charles in 2020, but the story goes back a lot further than that.

We met in third grade in Aspen, Colorado, and went through a few phases. Child sommeliers of the finest lemonade. Cold sampling kettle corn at the farmers market for our teacher's company. We even formed a band and may or may not have won Battle of the Bands.

Years later we ended up as young students at a little yarn gallery, learning to knit hats, blankets, scarves, even some pretty cool backpacks.

Eventually (12 years later) we thought, why not make the one thing we'd actually wear every day. A sweater.

We never really cared about trends. We only cared about creating a sweater that lasts.

The Tests Every Fiber Had To Pass

Most of us own at least one sweater that let us down. Maybe it itched. Maybe it shrank in the wash. Maybe it wore out after a season. We wanted to make the one that wouldn't.

The first rule in our search was easy. No synthetics. Polyester and acrylic are literally plastic. That's also why a synthetic sweater can smell after a single day.

Finding the right natural fiber was the hard part. So we went down a rabbit hole. Lots of them.

For the better part of a year, we read scientific journals on every fiber we could find. Muskox. Tibetan yak. Eucalyptus. Hemp. There are even fibers made from pineapple leaves and bananas. No, really.

Every fiber had to pass the same tests. Soft enough to wear against bare skin. Warm without the bulk. Fresh after days of wear. Easy to care for. Kind to the land it comes from.

Cashmere came close. It's soft, warm, and famous for a reason. Then we learned something that kind of broke our brains. Cashmere goats have hooves that destroy grassland. They've turned 70% of Mongolia into desert.

One fiber checked every box. Khullu, the down of the Tibetan yak. It's as soft as cashmere, warmer than merino, and it's combed out by hand every spring.

What Is Khullu?

Khullu ("coo-loo") is the soft undercoat yaks grow to survive winters on the Tibetan Plateau. No wonder it's so warm.

That spring combing is the whole harvest. As the yaks shed, nomadic herders brush the down out by hand. No shearing. The yaks are actually healthier for it.

We source ours from Shokay, a traceable Tibetan co-op. A portion of their revenue goes back to herding families and grassland conservation. Over the last decade, they've regenerated 1,600 football fields of grassland.

Then there's the softness. It comes down to fiber diameter. Your hair is about 100 microns. Cashmere is 14 to 19. Yak down sits in the same range as grade A cashmere, which is why it feels soft instead of scratchy.

And the wild part? The odor. Or should we say, the lack thereof. Yak wool is antimicrobial, which is a fancy way of saying it doesn't hold on to smells. One customer took our 30 Day Challenge and just kept going. 45 days, traveling through Europe, same sweater.

That's what let us make our All-Season sweaters. The one thing we'd actually wear every day.

The Loom We Started Oliver Charles With

Reading about khullu was one thing. We needed to get our hands on it.

So we started making. We signed up for weaving classes right away. We must've shown promise, because our first teacher gifted us her 1978 loom to kickstart our business.

And boy, did we weave. Swatch after swatch, sometimes for days on end and into the wee hours.

We were testing how the fiber felt and how it held up. Our friends started calling us the Loomineers.

The loom also taught us how most clothes are made. They're cut from fabric and sewn together. That means seams. And seams are where clothes fall apart. They're also the ridge that digs into your shoulders.

We wanted sweaters with none of that. Which led us to 3D-knitting.

Now every sweater is knit in Brooklyn as one continuous piece. It's a bit like 3D printing. No seams. No cutting. No leftover scraps. And since we knit each one on demand, there's no pile of unsold sweaters either.

If yours ever gets damaged, we decided early on that we'd repair it for life. That's what our younger selves would have wanted.

Then Came Seaweed, Followed By Socks

Yak wool gave us a sweater for every season. But not for every person.

Some people live where winter never really shows up. Some can't wear wool at all. We wanted a sweater for them, too.

So we went looking again and found SeaCell. It's a yarn made from seaweed, regeneratively farmed in Iceland. Harvesters take only the tops of the plants, once every four years, so the beds grow back. And seaweed needs no fresh water, no pesticides, and no farmland.

SeaCell became our lightweight, breathable sweaters. The ultimate base layer. They're soft and gentle on sensitive skin.

After five years of making sweaters, we launched our first socks in 2025. We made them from our best-selling materials, and they've since become a best seller themselves.

They're the smallest thing we make. They also fit perfectly in a stocking. Hint, hint.

One Sweater For You, Two Gifts For Them

With socks, we finally had the full collection. Everything we'd been chasing since that first rabbit hole.

All-Season Yak Wool Sweaters for every day. Light, breathable SeaCell base layers. And socks that keep our feet comfortable, dry, and warm, whether we're hiking, running, or just puttering around the house.

Now a SeaCell layer gets us through a warm afternoon. A yak wool sweater takes over when the fog rolls in. And the same socks carry us through all of it.

Turns out, all three make holiday shopping a lot easier, too.

Pick out the sweater you've had your eye on. Then add two pairs of socks for two people on your list. That's three items, which takes 20% off your whole order.

It doesn't have to be socks, either. Mix in a SeaCell T-shirt or a Yak Wool Beanie, and it still counts. No code needed. Just add and save.

A sweater for you. Two gifts handled. And a better deal on all of it.

Still Two Kids Making Stuff

We're a lot bigger now. Warehouses, boxes, and a couple extra teammates who help us keep it all running.

But the idea hasn't changed since we were kids. Make the thing you'd actually want to wear every day. Make it from something kind to the land. And make it last.

That's every yak wool sweater we knit. Every seaweed base layer. Every pair of socks. Comfortable enough to live in. Durable enough to keep for years. And so easy to care for, your closet and your suitcase both get lighter.

Maybe you're here because you're tired of clothes that let you down. Maybe you're building a closet with fewer, better things. Or maybe you just want one sweater you'll reach for every morning.

Wherever you're starting, we're grateful for your support. And every time a new sweater comes off the machine in Brooklyn, it still feels like third grade. Two best friends, building something together.

If you believe that every good wardrobe starts with owning less and owning better, consider buying yourself an OLIVER CHARLES sweater.