IF YOU NEED YOUR SCHACHT SPINDLE COMPANY
loom or spinning wheel repaired or just tuned up, someone
in the shop might call to ask if you want to retrofi t some of
the product’s recent improvements. When my 1992 Baby
Wolf went in for some love aft er decades in a basement, the
loom builder asked if I’d like to have a newer brake system
put on. Th ere was nothing wrong with the original, they
assured me, and the choice was all mine—but they’d found
a better mechanism in the last few decades and wanted to
off er me the option for a reasonable price.
Th at kind of tinkering and innovation have been part of
Schacht Spindle Company since its fi rst days. Not long aft er
Barry and Dan Schacht fi lled their fi rst drop-spindle order
for Louise Green of Greentree Ranch in 1969, Dan made a
simple loom for his girlfriend at the time. Watching her use
it, Barry thought, “Th at looks tedious!” He made a small
adjustment to the heddle bar holder and showed it to Louise,
who was impressed by his idea. Barry continued tweaking
that design and developed the company’s fi rst tapestry loom,
setting up a pattern of consistent improvement.
Buoyed by the “back to the earth” movement of the
1970s, Schacht’s simple spinning and weaving tools found
an audience right away. Simple looms off ered an expres-
sion of creativity. Th ere were a variety of manufacturers at
the time, but the burgeoning craft market had room for
all of them in the beginning. “You could be creative inside
the market,” Barry says. “Th en [in the 1980s] things
slowed down, and some of the manufacturers disap-
peared. Th e craft remained solid, but not growing at a
high speed.”
Jane Patrick adds, “In the 1970s, women weavers were
supercreative, doing amazing work. Th en many women
went to work and didn’t have as much time.” A former
editor of Handwoven (see page 26), Jane has also served as
Schacht’s creative director and Barry’s business partner
for 25 years. Since 1981, she has also been Barry’s wife.
As more and more weaving shops opened around the
country, Barry noticed that many manufacturers weren’t
changing their business models to accommodate a regular
wholesale-retail relationship. At a time when loom
companies gave very small discounts to their dealers, he
decided to give a wholesale discount of 40 percent—
enough so that a dealer could maintain a business,
develop a customer base, and survive. Over time, the rest
of the industry has also shift ed to giving a signifi cant
discount margin. Cultivating a strong network of dealers
worldwide contributed to the teaching and expanding of
the craft s—the keys to a vibrant market, according to Jane
and Barry.ALLPHOTOS^ COURTESY^
OFSCHA
CHT^ S
PINDL
E^ CO.After Fifty Years,
Schacht Spindle
Company
Looks Brand New
ANNE MERROW
A Free School tapestry weaving class in Boulder, Colorado.The Free
School was an example of women exploring their creativity through
weaving, and Barry was very involved with the school at the time.
10 | HANDWOVEN http://www.interweave.com
SPOTLIGHT