The brass at 142-year-old Faribault Woolen Mill are unsure why the firm was selected a couple weeks ago to represent Minnesota at the "Made in America" showcase at the White House last week.
"We had no previous connection to the White House," a spokesman said in an e-mail.
A number of Minnesota companies, from small Aggressive Hydraulics to the likes of big 3M, Toro and Graco, make a lot of product for domestic and international consumption.
Faribault Woolen, albeit a small business, does make a lot of stylish, functional stuff.
And Faribault managent was happy to exhibit and schmooze at the White House.
The company, which started making wool blankets at the end of the Civil War, filled a White House table with blankets, throws and scarves.
CEO Tom Kileen and Mary Boudreau, who has worked at the mill for 63 years, staffed the event.
The White House expo, featuring everything from woolens to USA-made fire trucks, also drew criticism because of the Trump family's importation of Asian-goods for Trump-brand apparel companies over the years.
Faribault Woolen is one of the last American "full-process" woolen mills.
It shuttered in 2009 and was revived in 2011 by an investor group led by the Mooty family of the Twin Cities. The 100-employee company, which declined to quantify its results, said sales and employment have risen since it reopened six years ago.
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