Recover Wool without Itching

Much to do in the Dutch press about wool that is discarded in The Netherlands. Indeed Dutch sheep are hoarded for their meet and milk and the quality of their wool is mediocre. Hence about 1,5 million of kilo’s is lost. Is that a lot? Well such a volume is enough to cover the annual demand for suits in The Netherlands (in volume, not in quality). On the other hand 1500 Tons is the size of an average spinning mill, and on a global demand for textiles of 100 Mln Tons it is a marginal quantity. The reason because wool is poorly valorised is threefold: the sheep that are optimal for milk and meat production give a poor (coarse) quality in wool. The coarse qualities have less applications than fine wool. People sleep under duvets and not under blankets, people rather wear anoraks than coats. Finally the processing costs of wool are high, and at the end of this processing far too expensive in comparison to the value it generates and to synthetic fibres with similar or better properties. However it requires a closer look, it is a sin to waste something and there are ways to do better.

Wool in Context

It is important to look at sheep (and goats) in an agricultural context. Sheep are mainly hoarded on open fields and predominantly on marginal lands. In the Netherlands that is on wetlands that can not support heavy farming equipment nor cows. In France and other Mediterranean countries ovines are held in mountainous areas. In the Southern Hemisphere ovines are held in extensive farming practices. Sheep are thus often the only way to valorise marginal lands and to give income to communities. However these landscapes are also possible nature areas. The valorisation of ovines is that they are able to transform grass into proteins (milk, meat and wool). The downsize is that ovines emits nitrates and methane and thus have a negative footprint. The other element is that protein fibres are durable and well reusable (if he fibres are long and fine enough).?

Fine or itching?

The issue of fineness is essential. It is important to stress that wool has changed in the 20th century for being a main stream product to a luxury product. The global wool production is 1 Mln Tons in 2020. That is 1% of world fibre use. The volume is almost equal as in 1914, but then the share of wool was 20%. In 1914 there was a sizeable demand for coarse wool qualities for military uniforms, for blankets, for horse equipment, winter coats, for furnishing fabrics. Much of it has become redundant because of better heating and insulation; synthetic fibres performing identical functions at lower cost. Therefore the market for fine woollens has grown, mainly to be used in menswear, whereas the market for coarse wool has collapsed. Menswear even demand finer qualities below 200gr/M2, compared to over 300gr/M2 until 1980. The market for horse blankets has collapsed. Duvet and sleeping bags have replaced woollen blankets. Polyamide has replaced wool in carpets, and hard floors have replaced carpets. So for coarser qualities wool the market has disappeared or the function of wool has been replaced by polyamide, polyester and acrylics.?

Wool: luxury or craft

The cost issue is also dire. To start with wool can be a side product of milk and/or meat, or it can be the main product. In order to be the main product the fibre diameter must be below 25 micron. Diameters between 20 and 30 micron are usable in blankets and carpets. For clothing the fineness should be below 20 microns. That is the case for Australian wool, but not of European Wool. In view of the current volume of European wool supply, it is wise to see wool as side product of milk and/or meat. The cost of processing of wool is independent of the fibre fineness. Sheep need to be sheared, the wool needs to be sorted and cleaned. Tops need to be combed and/or carded. Fleece needs then to be spun, woven and finished. This means that wool from European herds reach yarn prices of 50-60 Euro’s a kg. That translates into fabrics at 50-60 euro a meter. That leads to end products of 150-200 Euro’s wholesale price and double for retail prices. That are luxury prices that products that are coarse, that itch, that are not washable, that have a limited colour range. They do not even compete with fast fashion, they are not competitive with well engineered quality products. Hence a product made of European wool is likely to be a niche product. Fine to have one tweed jacket, one coarser blanket for the garden chair, but that is enough.

Other sheeps needed

To boost the usage of European wool, one needs to start realising that even a successful thrust is a marginal contribution to improving the overall sustainability of the textile value chain. It will start with replacing the current herds by sheep varieties that have a finer wool quality. So lets first kill all current living sheep. The downside of merino is that the quality of meet and milk is different than with currently used sheep. By the way merino is not the only acceptable race. Moretta wool is around 26 micron, shetland wool is around 23 micron. With clever engineering fine qualities can be obtained. Wool can also be blended to improve fineness, as long as it is kosher.

Skills and scale

The second problem is that scale is required to improve quality and cost of wool. Wool processing requires specific equipment, specific skills and is disagreeable for its surrounding (it smells). Current domestic wool initiatives are small scale cottage wise. While small is beautiful, it makes it expensive. The shearing of wool costs 7 euros a sheep. The price of wool washing in The Netherlands is around 5 Euros a kilo. Spinning costs 50 Euro’s a kilo. This while a kilo of Italian high quality yarn is between 10 and 20 Euros/kilo. As wool washing stinks, a centralised unit is needed covering an area of 200km in diameter. That would be a unit of 2000-3000 tons/year. Just to compare the wool production in Prato (all recycled wool: your suit ends up as knitwear) is 50.000 Tons a year.

Clusters and synergies

There are many initiatives to boost European wool: in Baambrugge (NL), on the Luneburger Heide (DE), in Scotland, in Isle-sur-la-Sorgue and in the Camargue (F), around Biella (I). A first step would be to bring the parties together. A second step is to look at synergies with other fibres. Hemp, juniper, kapok and many other fibres face the same problem as wool in Europe: fragmentation of efforts, hard to find specialised staff, environmental issues. Shared facilities might be a solution to study.

But let us be realistic. There is an alternative. Wool is a byproduct of milk (cheese) and meat. If we reduce our milk, cheese or meat consumption the number of sheep will decline. However reducing the number of cows is then a better strategy, and soil suited for cows (or for feedstocks for animals) has much more agricultural options than only wool. So regional strategies are needed, keeping in mind that wool needs more than one region to make a revival. The Netherlands, being in an urgent political impasse on the future of agricultural (and of water levels), needs also urgently a vision, a road-map and?a regional programme.