The Defense Supply Center Philadelphia (DSCP) has released the largest solicitation for wool blend fabrics the industry has seen in the last number of years. The solicitation will begin the U.S. Army's conversion from the green dress uniform used since World War II back to the historical two-tone blue dress uniform.

The solicitation calls for the production of 8.77 million linear yards of Army shades 450 and 451 over four years. Both fabrics are a 55 percent polyester/45 percent wool blend. Total production, when the contract is awarded, will require approximately 3 million pounds of clean, American, grade 64s wool (20.6 to 22.04 micron). Bids for this contract will open on Aug. 19, 2008.

Per DSCP contracting officials, the contract is expected to be awarded before Sept. 30, 2008. In addition, DSCP has several smaller contracts they expect to award before the end of September making Fiscal Year 2008 the best wool contracting year in the last several.

"The American Wool Council has been tracking this development for months and is very pleased the effort is officially underway. This will mean the usage of millions of pounds of American wool," stated Rita Kourlis Samuelson, director of wool marketing for the council.
Staff contact: Rita Kourlis Samuelson, ext. 29

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