New York

When Maxine Bedat and Soraya Darabi set out to make a wool sweater entirely in the U.S., their first challenge was finding sheep.

A Google search turned up the Imperial Stock Ranch, a 143-year-old sheep and cattle operation in northeastern Oregon. The environmentally conscious ranch owners had a feel-good story that seemed perfect for the entrepreneurs’ brand, Zady, which markets the origins of the products it sells.

But when Ms. Bedat, 32, called from her New York City office, she got a cool reception from ranch owner Jeanne Carver. “She told me that I was from the east and she was from the West; I was a lawyer, she was a farmer; I was young and she was old,” says Ms. Bedat. “She didn’t want to work with me.”

“Made in the USA” is a popular marketing message these days, but much American-made apparel uses fabric and raw materials that are imported. Zady’s young entrepreneurs seized upon the idea of creating a garment entirely in America—wool, spinning, knitting and all. For their socially conscious customers, marketing every aspect of their all-American supply chain would be crucial.