(Warm yet comfortable, wool is not only the preferred choice for winter clothing but is also the most long-lasting and hard-wearing fibre around. However, the methods of procuring and producing virgin wool are often met with controversy. Ahead, we take a closer look at the problems surrounding the wool industry and figure out the sustainable alternative.
Key takeaways:- Find out about the animal-welfare issues that surround virgin wool
- Discover the many forms of sustainable wool and their benefits
- Learn more about the sustainable range of wool we use
Annually, around 1,160 million kilograms of virgin wool is obtained from a global herd of over a billion sheep — that’s enough wool to make one sweater per person on the planet each year. But in reality, only 1% of the fibre used in clothing is wool or wool-based, other uses for the textile produced are furniture and carpets.
Wool is essentially made of keratin, the same protein substance as human hair. And just like human hair, sheep are usually shorn once a year for their fleece (or hair) and then more wool starts to grow, making it a renewable resource. Unfortunately, malpractices like premature shearing and sheep abuse plague the wool industry. According to PETA, sheep and lambs in Australia (where 80% of Merino wool is produced) are forced to endure a gruesome procedure called “mulesing,” wherein huge chunks of skin are cut from around the breech of the sheep is often carried out without any painkillers.
Furthermore, sheep are sheared each spring, after lambing and just before they would naturally shed their winter coats. Since the timing on this is critical, shearing too late would mean a loss of wool for producers. As a result, in the rush to get their share of fleece, an estimated one million Australian sheep die every year of exposure after premature shearing. Since a sheep’s normal body temperature is about 102 degrees F (much higher than a human), a closely shorn sheep is, more sensitive to the cold than a naked person.
Worker welfare is also one of the least spoken about issues within the wool industry. Sheep shearers are usually paid by volume and not by the hour, which encourages fast work without regard for the sheep’s well being. Experienced shearers clip more than 350 sheep in a day, and that pace is usually maintained for up to four weeks.
Sustainable wool and its versionsDespite being 100% natural, renewable and biodegradable, environmental rating agencies tend to rate wool poorly against synthetic fibres. Land use, water pollution and global warming are just some of the other negative factors associated with wool production.
Fortunately, sustainable wool production and fabric comes in different forms:
- Organic wool: Certified by GOTS, organic wool is beneficial for the environment, animal welfare, human health and wellbeing. The use of chemicals is carefully controlled both in the agricultural stage and in the fibre processing stage — this prevents toxic residues from running off into water systems, and can help protect soil health. Moreover, with organic wool farming, the sheep that are reared for their wool are treated with much more humane conditions than exploitative factory farms.
- RWS certified wool: The Responsible Wool Standard is an independent, voluntary standard for farmers designed to ensure the best practices in land management and that the animal welfare criteria are met. Through the processing stages, the RWS certification ensures that wool from certified farms is effectively identified and tracked. Some of our knitwear pieces contain a blend of 21% RWS wool along with a mix of 42% organic cotton, 34% LENZING™ EcoVero™ viscose and 3% cashmere.
- GRS certified recycled wool: One of the best aspects of wool is that it is recyclable. Recycled wool respects animal welfare, reduces the dependence on virgin, animal-derived wool and helps combat global textile waste. When wool passes the Global Recycle Standard (GRS) certification, it helps provide the assurance that those products were processed in an environmentally-friendly manner with minimal chemical use. A wide range of our pieces is made from a GRS certified blend of wool and other synthetics. We obtain our wool from pre-consumer sources, such as factory scraps which are sorted by color and then shredded and respun into yarn. Our pieces combine these wool fibres with recycled polyester ones, that further enhance its thermo-regulating properties while strengthening the fibre.
Published by: Jharna pariani/ 2021-11-06