As part of the CFDA’s extensive Sustainability Initiatives Resource Hub launched in January 2019, the CFDA operated an A-Z directory called the Materials Index. The Index was designed as an informational tool, focused on fiber knowledge.

The Materials Index listings migrated in to the CFDA.com Materials Hub and split traditional fibers from new-age innovative fibers/materials.

This series of resource guides are dedicated to ensuring designers have extensive knowledge on traditional fibers.

Overview

Wool is a natural animal fiber. Wool usually refers to fiber from sheep, although wool can also come from Angora and Cashmere goats, camel, alpaca, llama, yak, vicuña, possums, rabbits and more. Lamb’s wool comes from sheep younger than 7 months. Hundreds of varieties of sheep exist with wool in a multitude of colors, textures, and lengths, but by far the most popular breed for the apparel industry is Merino.  Because the cost of wool is high, synthetics are often substituted for wool, but no synthetics achieve all of wool’s qualities.

Wool now accounts for less than 2% of fiber used for apparel but is still a valuable resource (CO). According to the International Wool Textile Organization, around 1.160 million kg (2015) of clean raw wool are produced by more than 1.163 billion sheep around the world (2015 data). The top three producers of wool are Australia, China and New Zealand.

According to the Organic Trade Association, an estimated 10,698,697 organic sheep were raised in 53 countries around the world in 2015, mostly in China, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Italy, and Greece (U.S. ranked 32 with 10,741 sheep, and Canada ranked 38 with 3,667. Organic sheep represented almost one percent (0.92) of all 1.163 billion sheep in 2015.

In terms of sustainability, wool is a renewable resource that is biodegradable. But wool production can have significant negative impacts on the environment and animal welfare.

A myriad of different farming systems are used to produce wool, from small free-range production to huge industrial farms. How the sheep are farmed can impact both the quality and the sustainability of the wool.  For example, farming practices will determine whether sheep help maintain grasslands or destroy it.

Sheep are usually sheared manually once a year by a shearer using power shears. Alternatively, sheep can be fed or injected with chemicals that make their wool brittle and easy to pull off.

Grease or raw wool refers to freshly sheared wool, which also includes impurities like grease, dirt and sweat. When these impurities are removed wool becomes clean or scoured. Grease is used to make lanolin.

Sheep can be genetically engineered to produce different qualities of wool.

Definitions

• Wool: The fiber from the fleece of the sheep or lamb or hair of the Angora or Cashmere goat (and may include the so-called specialty fibers from the hair of the camel, alpaca, llama, and vicuna) which has never been reclaimed from any woven or felted wool product. (Definition from Official US Federal Trade Commission)
• Recycled wool: 1) The resulting fiber when wool has been woven or felted into a wool product which, without ever having been utilized in any way by the ultimate consumer, subsequently has been made into a fibrous state, or 2) The resulting fiber when wool or reprocessed wool has been spun, woven, knitted, or felted into a wool product which, after having been used in any way by the ultimate consumer, subsequently has been made into a fibrous state. (Definition from Official US Federal Trade Commission)
• Wool Product: Any product, or any portion of a product, which contains, purports to contain, or in any way is represented as containing wool or recycled wool. (Definition from Official US Federal Trade Commission)

More Sustainabile Options

• Cloudwool®: An innovative nonwoven textile made of 100% sheep‘s wool. Lighter and more flexible than conventional felt, Cloudwool® is highly breathable, thermally and acoustically insulating and therefore suited to a wide variety of applications. Cloudwool® has no directional grain line, making it efficient to cut and prevents it from fraying. Cloudwool® is a fabric for the Circular Economy: Natural, Recyclable and Biodegradable.