Bates Mill Store
- Headquarters
- Monmouth, ME
- Manufacturing
- Monmouth, ME
- Categories
- furniture-and-bedding · home-goods
The Bates Mill Store sells the Bates bedspreads, coverlets, blankets, throws and shams woven by Maine Heritage Weavers in Monmouth, Maine, and stands next to the factory. Its FAQ says every product it sells is made entirely in the United States, and the shop’s full catalogue bears that out: every item carries the same “Made in USA” line, and nothing in it is made by another company.
This is a Bates lineage listing, and the line was broken. Bates Manufacturing wove cotton in Lewiston from the 1850s and its first bedspread in 1858. Bedspread production stopped at the Lewiston mill in 2000–01: Maine’s state arts agency gives 2000, and the brand and the Lewiston Sun Journal give 2001. In 2002 Fred Lebel, who had run Bates, founded Maine Heritage Weavers with his daughter and a team of former Bates workers. The maker says its former Bates craftspeople use “the same equipment”, while its own history records buying its first two looms from Biddeford Textiles and salvaging other machinery from closing mills. The Sun Journal counted a crew of 20 on seven looms in 2015, “in many cases” the same people who had made the bedspreads in Lewiston, and 26 employees in 2021.
The blankets are woven from cotton the brand says is American grown and spun. The bedspreads, which are the heart of the line, say only “100% cotton”, with no word on where the yarn comes from, so the brand sits at the second mark and the blankets are listed at the first.
The record
The brand says every product it sells is wholly manufactured in the United States
“Each product we sell is proudly 100% manufactured in the United States by skilled craftsmen.”
batesmillstore.comRetrieved
The goods are woven by Maine Heritage Weavers, a company founded in 2002 by the former Bates president with former Bates employees
“Shortly after, former Bates President Fred Lebel founded a legacy company, Maine Heritage Weavers, with daughter Linda Cloutier and a team of former Bates employees.”
batesmillstore.comRetrieved
The maker says its team of former Bates craftspeople weaves on the same equipment
“this team of former Bates craftsmen and women use the same equipment to weave superior quality woven bedspreads, blankets and accessories for the home as taught to them by their parents and grandparents.”
maineheritageweavers.comRetrieved
A state arts agency records that Bates stopped bedspread production in Lewiston in 2000 and that Maine Heritage Weavers carries it on with former Bates workers
“In 2000 Bates & Co. stopped the production of bedspreads at the Bates Mill Complex. At present time, Maine Heritage Weavers proudly continues the art of the Bates bedspread at their manufacturing plant in Monmouth, Maine, employing many of the former Bates mill workers and continuing to weave many of the original Bates & Co. designs.”
mainearts.maine.govRetrieved
A local paper describes a crew of 20 weaving the Bates bedspreads on seven looms in Monmouth, in many cases the same people
“A crew of 20 turns out between 10,000 and 15,000 each year on seven looms, with an eighth coming online soon, packaged under the label “Bates by Maine Heritage Weavers.””
sunjournal.comRetrieved
A 2021 local report gives 26 employees, seven of them with roots at the Lewiston mill
“Maine Heritage Weavers, which also operates the Bates Mill Store, has 26 employees, seven of whom, like Fitzsimmons, have roots back to Mill No. 5.”
sunjournal.comRetrieved
The blankets are woven from American grown and spun cotton
“This heirloom-quality blanket is loom woven from American grown and spun cotton”
batesmillstore.comRetrieved
The bedspreads, coverlets, throws and shams do not state where their cotton yarn comes from
“Made in USA. Machine Wash and Dry. 100% Preshrunk Cotton.”
batesmillstore.comRetrieved
Domain record
batesmillstore.com was registered on .It dates the domain, not the business: a maker that moved to a new address reads young here, and an old domain says nothing about who holds it now.
RDAP registry record · checked 19 Sep 2026
Products
Filters
Where to buyGeorge Washington's Choice Cotton Blanket
Made in USAThis item carries a different mark from Bates Mill Store as a whole, so it has its own record.
The product page says this blanket is woven in Maine from American grown and spun cotton
“This heirloom-quality blanket is loom woven from American grown and spun cotton”
batesmillstore.comRetrieved
Where to buyMartha Washington's Choice Bedspread
Where to buyQueen Elizabeth Matelasse Bedspread
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