Wool is one of the oldest fabrics around, and for good reason. With its moisture-absorbent, fire retardant, downright durable and renewable status it is a hard fabric to beat when it comes to making things last. But how does wool actually get processed, and just what makes this fabric sustainable even after all these years?
Wool from our furry friends, sheep, transformed from a cottage industry in 4000 B.C. to a global industry. Australia, Argentina, China, South Africa, the United States, and New Zealand are the major suppliers and consumers of raw wool globally. To date there are around 200 types of wool created from only 40 breeds of sheep.
Creating the wool that we see in clothing, bedding, and in pillows takes four steps. First, the sheep are sheared once a year in spring or summer. Second, the wool is graded and sorted so any stained or damaged wool can be removed from the pile. The grading assesses the strength, fineness, diameter, length, waviness, and color of the wool. The sorting classifies wool into five areas: fleece, broken, pieces, bellies, and locks. The wool is then thoroughly cleaned and then dried to cleanse it of excessive lanolin (aka wool grease) which is beneficial in smaller amounts for its warmth and water-resistant properties.
Next it is "carded" or combed to create a flat sheet that can be transformed into yarn. The third step, yarn-making, requires carding and combing into woolen or worsted yarn. The final step is the transformation of yarn from a material to a product such as fabric, knit-friendly yarn, or garments. Some examples of wool items include clothing, wool balls in place of dryer sheets, blankets, rugs, mattresses, and even pillows to keep us warm and healthy.
Wool has taken on the name "green" lately because of its natural properties. It is renewable, hypoallergenic, durable, absorbent, and somewhat fire resistant. The majority of mattresses today fall under strict regulations to be fire resistant, which equates to extensive chemical use in most cases, but some suppliers are working with wool in place of chemicals to help de-toxify bedrooms. Wool is actually able to absorb 30% of its weight in moisture, which is what helped it grow in popularity in the first place. Add to that its low rate of flammability (since it smolders) and its hardcore versatility and we have ourselves a long-lasting and naturally healthy product. It is also one of the few fabrics where in pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizer don't play center stage.
So do you love wool a little more now?
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Despite that they're itchy, I really love all my wool products. They hold up like no other!
Wool coats, wool rugs, wool socks, etc.
Thank heaven for fluffy sheep!
Not all wool products are itchy, merino wool is really soft. Most superwash wool are not itchy as well.
Not to be a bummer, but there are some issues re humane wool. This is an except of a blog post I did about wool, with the 2 links added @ the end.
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"What's so bad about wool? The animal doesn't lose its life and just needs to be sheared."
Wool is more complicated because you picture farmers in a serene field, shearing their peaceful sheep. What could be wrong with that? Wool isn’t just material sheared off sheep who produce it...normally. The sheep are bred/genetically modified to produce huge amounts of wool ($ ca-ching! $) – so much they have difficulty keeping hygienic and the process to shear them is incredibly gross and inhumane. Maggots and slicing skin off infected areas are common and wool sheep are usually sold off as meat when they are no longer “useful”. This is a really short to-the-point video about wool and YES, it's narrated by Pink and YES, PETA did it. But I swear it's the short skinny on wool.
On a more positive note, this is a sweet rescue story – Thistle the Sheep at Farm Sanctuary! If you ever have a chance to go to Farm Sanctuary (NY or CA) or Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary, go! They’re pretty amazing.
Farm Sanctuary rescue story:
http://www.farmsanctuary.org/rescue/rescues/2007/thistle.html
What's wool, really? video.
https://secure.peta.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=823
The product may be greener, but the production process means that wool is not a particularly green material. Livestock husbandry is not very environmentally friendly, unless the wool comes from a small family farm. In terms of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers, wool may not bring them into your home, but they're still letting them into the environment: I strongly doubt the sheep are being fed organic feed. Something like Bamboo cloth, which is
I've never heard of wool as a dryer sheet. Interesting!
Er, one of my sentences got cut off. It was supposed to read: "Something like bamboo cloth, which is purportedly more sustainable, would probably be greener."
people, don't buy in excess, use it long, reuse and repurpose. Invest a little into something you know you will love and it will last you for a while. And if money is tight, find it on sale, or see if relatives and friends have any they don't want.
yeah all my wool things have and will continue to last for generations. nothing greener than that.