Charlie Sutherland Jr.’s family produced an oil that worked well for its intended purpose in knitting machines. It was slippery and prevented yarn breakage.
Only one problem, though.
“It absolutely would not come off the yarn,” says Charlie’s son Taylor Sutherland. “No industrial-strength cleaner could touch this oil.”
So Charlie reverse engineered the oil and developed a soap to clean it off. It worked just as it was supposed to without damaging the yarn or machinery or the people using it. But then he ran into another snag…