Carol Johnson, Southern Indiana Business Report
FRENCH LICK – A Crawford County couple looking for more space for their retail and commercial natural fiber business recently relocated their shop to French Lick.
Ty and Lindsey Higgins opened Red Hill Fiber & Co. in April in the former location of Fox Hollow Gallery.
The new shop at 8830 State Road 56 greatly increased their retail capacity and production space.
“We went from about 1,000 square feet to 3,000 square feet,” said Ty.
The move to French Lick will also make it easier for current and new customers to find Red Hill Fiber, which offers a selection of artisanal mill-spun yarns and along with hats, gloves and socks made from Alpaca wool.
Ty said the couple wanted to stay in southern Indiana and considered locations in Jasper and Corydon before choosing French Lick.
“Our business roots are here and we didn’t want to go too far,” Ty said.
French Lick was right for several reasons, said the couple.
Red Hill Fiber has customers from across the Midwest and French Lick is a popular golfing , vacation and outdoor recreation destination.
“We wanted to give those customers a reason to visit us. French Lick is a great town and our customers can make a weekend of it,” Ty said. “There’s a lot of emphasis on growing the town and we found a lot of support from the town.”
With the French Lick Resort welcoming thousands of guests each week, Red Hill Fiber will gain exposure to a whole new customer base.
“A lot of people are interested in what we do,” Ty said.
With the larger space, Lindsey is able to focus more on finished goods like alpaca wool socks, hats, gloves and scarves. Red Hill also has a line of candles.
“We’re half yarn store, half boutique with a large fiber apparel selection,” Lindsey said.
Skylar Whiteman, executive director of the Orange County Economic Development Partnership, said she’s thrilled that Red Hill Fiber chose French Lick.
“Ty and Lindsey definitely did their due diligence in finding both the right space and location and I think the tourism draw of French Lick won them over,” Whiteman said. “They are a great addition to the other unique businesses in the downtown area and I know they look forward to participating in festivals like the Block Bash and potentially developing their own events in the future! I’m hopeful that their presence will help draw additional visitors to the other small businesses nearby, as well, as we continue to see expansion in the area.”
Balancing family, work
A desire for a better work-life balance also factored into the decision to relocate. Parents of two young sons, Ty and Lindsey said the business, taking care of the alpaca herd and maintaining the 25-acre farm had become all-consuming. Ty said too many nights when dinner didn’t get on the table until 10 o’clock prompted them to make changes in the business.
Moving the business to French Lick meant the couple had to sell their herd of alpacas, which had grown to about 40. It was tough to part with the animals, said Lindsey. They all went to good farms and several live on a Seymour farm that partners with Red Hill to process the alpaca fibers.
The roots of Red Hill Fiber started in 2016 when the couple bought property in Crawford County near Taswell and acquired a few alpacas for Lindsey’s craft projects.
The idea of starting a business was sparked when they discovered there was a backlog of 12-18 months for wool to be processed. They saw an opportunity — one that perfectly matched Ty’s skills as a mechanical engineer and Lindsey’s business background.
As the wool processing segment grew, the couple also offered tours of the farm, letting visitors see the alpacas and how their wool is processed into yarn. They were seeing about 5,000 to 6,000 visitors a year, but after a few years, the numbers declined.
“Overall, I think the newness wore off,” said Ty, “and our manufacturing really took off. We got some larger contracts making commercial yarn and doing that in rural Crawford was going to be a challenge.”
Online sales were also up and making multiple trips to the post office from their rural location was another factor.
Red Hill Fiber hours
The Higgins are very happy with their decision. Lindsey holds a Fiber Friends night every Tuesday from 6-8 p.m. and she plans to offer knitting and crocheting classes in the future.
A few items from Fox Hollow Gallery, a metal sculpture and folk art gallery owned by Virgil and Darlene Hoffman, remain for sale
The store is open Monday-Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday-Saturday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday noon to 6 p.m.
The store will also be a stop on the French Lick Resort trolley tours.