Pendleton Woolen Mills

Beginning in the late 1800s, colonization policies forced Native Americans to rely on white traders for goods, including blankets. Established in 1909 by a white settler family, Pendleton Woolen Mills originally produced machine-woven blankets with Native designs for sale to the Native American market. Pendleton’s non-Native designer, Joe Rawnsley, visited tribes to copy their designs. Many of Pendleton’s blankets still use Diné designs, without accreditation or compensation.

While they continued to make Native American trade blankets, Pendleton also began producing apparel for broader American markets. A glance at this simple plaid shirt doesn’t reveal its manufacturer’s history of Native American design exploitation. Many textile and fashion brands have histories of stealing designs from Native American communities.