WASHINGTON 鈥� Barclay Saul never imagined he鈥檇 be an expert in wool.
For most of his career, the Northwest D.C. native ran a music school in Tysons Corner. But his tune changed last year when he joined childhood friend and former Potomac School classmate Steven Anderson in a business venture that took him out of Northern Virginia guitar studios and into a women-run arts collective in Kyrgyzstan.
Saul and Anderson鈥檚 business is called , and they sell wool-felted slippers that are handmade in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
鈥淲ool felt is the oldest textile on earth. There are examples of wool felt that are at least 8,000 years old,鈥� Saul said. 鈥淎nd the people who make these slippers, the Kyrgyzstan people along the ancient silk road, have been wool-felting for as long as people have been there.鈥�
Saul was drawn to the slippers for a few different reasons 鈥� comfort was one of them. He calls wool felt 鈥渁 sort of magic material鈥� for its ability to keep the body warm when it鈥檚 cold, and to cool the body down and wick away moisture when it鈥檚 hot. In Kyrgyzstan, everything from clothing to shelters 鈥� namely, yurts 鈥� are made using wool felt.
The story behind the artisans making the slippers was the other big attraction. The factory, which employs mostly women, pays a living wage, and the shoes are made with water, wool and natural soap 鈥� no chemicals.
鈥淭hey are really lifting these people out of poverty,鈥� said Saul, who added that Kyrgyzstan is one of the poorest countries in Central Asia.
鈥淓ach of the women who makes these is in a really good position, and they鈥檝e actually already hired 50 new women [in the factory] since we started in less than a year.鈥�
Currently, Kyrgies, based in Fairfax, Virginia, makes an indoor-only slipper and an indoor-outdoor version that Saul said is perfect for running errands or wearing around the office. The majority of their sales are online, although a few retailers in Canada carry the shoes.
Hygge is a big hook for Kyrgies. The Danish word that more-or-less means 鈥渁 state of coziness鈥� (pronounced hue-guh) is a popular buzzword these days, mostly when it comes to interior design. But Saul said it translates beyond furniture and light fixtures to feet.
鈥淲hen you get home, not only should you take off your shoes, you should put on something that lets you forget the outside world, and much of the rest of the world does that,鈥� he said.
This spring, the business partners hope to expand the Kyrgies line by adding a spring slipper and a leather-sole shoe. They鈥檙e also hoping to partner with other organizations to spearhead some infrastructure projects in Kyrgyzstan, starting with wool cleaning.
鈥淥ne thing we really need to specifically do is help them clean wool,鈥� Saul said. 鈥淭he wool that you get from Kyrgyzstan is just as good as the wool that you might get from New Zealand or Australia, but New Zealand and Australia have an industrial infrastructure so that they can basically keep leaves and grass from getting into the wool.鈥�
That鈥檚 not the case in Kyrgyzstan, where workers lose up to 30 percent of the product in the cleaning process. 聽
Kyrgies come in several color options, ranging from gray to teal, and cost between $49 and $59.
