Theological Threads Inc.   -  Company History    

In 1976, Rev. Joseph Curran, whom we still affectionately call "our founding father", put a notice in our church bulletin asking for volunteers to repair vestments.  The opportunity for Juanita to use her sewing skills on religious items combined 2 things - love for the church - and love of sewing.  After several vestments were repaired, he asked if she could create one from scratch.  He was very pleased with the "professional" results and he suggested that we consider starting a business.  He said, "There is a market for high quality mid priced vestments."  The events began to unfold from there.

Our fuel oil delivery man saw some of our work and told us that he went to school with Andrew Lane, who had a religious goods store in Peabody (MA). He suggested that we show Andy our things, which we did. Andy gave us encouragement and much advice.  Andy suggested we market our vestments through NCGA dealers.  In 1981 we formed the company as a partnership with George and Juanita as equal partners.  Between 1981 and 1984 we kept our jobs in the electronics/aerospace industry - Juanita in Marketing and Purchasing, George in Executive Management. During this time we did market research and sought out suppliers.

In 1984 we renovated the barn on our property to accommodate a business.  We then went full time with Theological Threads with the hope that income would start before our savings ran out. We began visiting religious goods dealers listed in phone books throughout New England .  We carried our vestments in the trunk of an old Oldsmobile Toronado.  It worked. 

We applied to, and were accepted as members of the National Church Goods Association in 1986. That year we also purchased a van, with an extended roof to accommodate the vestments on hangars.  This gave us the ability to travel further than New England and allowed us to carry a larger selection of vestments

Our son Rick, and his wife Karen, joined us in 1987. Rick left his full time job as a manager of a mid size retail establishment.  Karen continued her full time occupation of raising two kids.  She ably managed to juggle "Mom" duties with learning to sew.  As the children got older Karen became more and more involved.  The business continued to grow. 

In 1989 we purchased a 35-foot motorhome and converted it to a "Mobile Showroom/Office".  This enabled us to visit religious goods stores across the country and support dealers with vestment shows, and displays at clergy workshops.    In 1995 we incorporated.  In 1996, we purchased our present facility - a 6,400-sq. ft. commercial building, and moved the company from the renovated barn on our property at 15 Washington Street, where we still maintain an office.