Lawson Edwin Glidden is the president of L.W. Packard, dba Minus33 Merino Wool Clothing in Ashland, which makes base layers, socks, headwear, gloves and blankets.
The president of L.W. Packard, dba Minus33 Merino Wool Clothing, Glidden, in a reversal of traditional roles, has his father, John Lawson Glidden, working for him as the company’s vice president. This came about after John hired Lawson to run Minus33 as a member of the fifth generation of descendants of Luther Woodbury Packard.
In 1916, Packard founded the company that continues to bear his name as a maker of fine wool and woolen broadcloth.
Together, the Glidden father and son are bound by their deep appreciation of Merino wool and its many qualities, and by the desire to optimize the fiber in everything that Minus33 makes for men, women and children. Among its 150 products are base layers, socks, headwear, gloves and blankets.
Minus33 president Lawson Edwin Glidden shows equipment used to make woolen socks at the company’s factory in Ashland.
According to Minus33, L.W. Packard sold to Burberry, Hickey Freeman, Hart Schaffner & Marx, Calvin Klein, Perry Ellis, Liz Claiborne, Neiman Marcus, Lands’ End, Nordstrom, L.L. Bean, Eddie Bauer, Bergdorf Goodman and Evan Picone.
In the early 2000s, when garment manufacturing went overseas, however, so did many of L.W. Packard’s customers.
“We didn’t go broke,” said John Glidden, but the company was left with more space than it could use. The company pivoted to making winter recreational clothing and maintained ownership of a portion of the sprawling former L.W. Packard facility on Mill Street, which later became the home of Minus33.
Recently, Minus33 acquired the Freudenberg NOK Sealing Technologies property on Main Street in Ashland, which is located immediately adjacent to L.W.
Packard Field, a mainstay of recreational activities in the town. That new space, which effectively doubles Minus33’s current space, will be used for manufacturing and as a warehouse, Lawson Glidden said.
The Gliddens are very keen on the properties of wool.
“Every technical fiber is attempting to do what wool does,” for sheep, and for human beings, too, Lawson Glidden said, which is to keep them warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
John Lawson Glidden became the company’s vice president after he recruited his son, Lawson, to take over the company, the fifth generation to do so.
On its website, Minus33 touts other benefits of wool, which is Merino wool acquired from Australia, among them that wool is “naturally anti-odor and does not stink;” that it is moisture wicking; is chemical and PFAS free; is warm when wet; is humane, renewable, sustainable, non-allergenic and hypoallergenic; and is “super soft and nonitchy unlike traditional wool.”
Wool, says Minus33, is naturally breathable, offers protection from UV radiation, and, interestingly, is fire resistant and flame retardant.
Minus33 also said its Merino wool products are machine washable, and while not as soft as cashmere, they are less expensive and more durable.
“Merino wool does all those things comfortably,” Lawson Glidden said.
In partnership with the Mount Washington Observatory, Minus33 tests its products atop Mount Washington, the “Home of the World’s Worst Weather.”
Minus33 also works closely with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department and the search-and-rescue teams that frequent Mount Washington and New Hampshire’s 4,000-foot peaks to assist hikers.
Not long ago, a member of a local search group contacted Minus33 about the fact that rescuers often gave up their own woolens to keep the people they rescue warm but never get those clothing items back.
In response, Minus33 created emergency warming kits that it gives away free to search and rescue teams around the country. Each kit contains a top and bottom Merino wool base layer, a wool hat, wool socks and wool gloves.
Minus33 recently acquired the Freudenberg NOK Sealing Technologies property on Main Street in Ashland, which it will use for manufacturing and as a warehouse.
For a discount on future purchases, Minus33 customers can donate “gently used” wool clothing that, along with Minus33 factory seconds, are cleaned and reconditioned to go into the warming kits.
“We’re the only ones making these kits, and there’s a need for them,” Lawson Glidden said.
Compared to other companies that make woolen products, especially socks, “we’re a tiny guy,” said John Glidden, but Minus33 is committed to more than just replacing a sock with a hole in it; Minus33 wants to make, as much as possible, socks and clothing without defects.
Toward that end, Minus33 in 2018 purchased and installed sock-making machines imported from Italy, even going so far as to itself translate the operating manuals from Italian into English.
Minus33’s production plant includes sock-making machines it imported from Italy in 2018.
All returned, defective articles are subject to a thorough postmortem exam.
“Our key people are all outdoors people, and we really use the stuff and we’re really critical” of how it performs, John Glidden said.
Underperforming socks are a particular bugbear for Minus33, said Lawson Glidden, because the sock-making machines are very precise and can be tweaked as needed.
“I tell everybody that if you can find a better sock, call customer service and they’ll connect you to me,” said the younger Glidden, adding that, as of mid-June 2026, “I’m still waiting for that call.”
The Gliddens are optimistic for the future of Minus33.
Lawson Edwin Glidden shows a sample of one of the company’s 150 products made in Ashland, where Minus33 employs about two dozen people.
At its peak, L.W. Packard employed more than 300 people, whereas Minus33 has about two dozen, which in about six years’ time, it hopes to grow to forty.
Neither L.W. Packard nor Minus33 has ever operated in the red, said the Gliddens, and the upcoming $4 million expansion is being financed entirely in-house.
“Over the last three years, we’ve seen double-digit growth in our sales, reaching outdoor enthusiasts across the country through our direct-to-consumer site, Amazon storefront and local retailers across the country.
We’re excited about the future of Minus33, as we continue to expand our footprint here in New Hampshire,” said Lawson Glidden.
The Gliddens attribute most of the success of Minus33 to a skilled and dedicated workforce.
“I could buy a bunch of robots” to do some work, said Lawson Glidden, “but I wouldn’t fire a single person.”
“We’ve hired very good people and gave them the reins to use their trades and talent,” said John Glidden, adding that profit-sharing has also helped Minus33 recruit and retain employees.
Minus33 Merino Wool Clothing is a new, old company that in 2026 is celebrating 110 years of family ownership in Ashland, a small town in central New Hampshire, as well as a major expansion, all while being fully committed to making the best Merino wool products available.
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