What’s the fuss about wool?
Unless you are deep into all things wool, you may not have heard the latest drama around wool. During New York Fashion Week, animal rights advocates from PETA disrupted a COS runway show, carrying signs claiming animal abuse and cruelty in wool production and calling on the fashion industry to stop using wool. The group has conducted similar protests during London Fashion Week over similar claims.
While these protests are reminiscent of the anti-fur campaigns waged by PETA and other activists in the 90’s, there are some significant differences between the fur and wool industries, namely that wool does not necessitate the killing of an animal to get the end product. Humans have been raising sheep and using their wool for millennia. Whole nations once made their wealth from wool and sheep; to be a spinster was an esteemed position as a woman who made her own money from wool. And today, without regular shearing, sheep—long domesticated by humans to grow wool that no longer naturally sheds—can suffer health problems and even early death. In short, as long as sheep are around in their current form, they have to be shorn. But this doesn’t mean that there are not examples of cruelty in the wool shearing and sheep shearing worlds.
With inexperienced or uncaring shearing, an animal can be injured, sometimes severely (as can the shearers and workers). Some breeds of sheep—most notably merino—have been bred for skin folds that can hold more and more wool. When raised in a climate less suitable for them, their breeding can make them susceptible to infections from insects, harming the sheep’s health. In Australia, the controversial practice of “mulesing,” aka taking strips of skin from the rear end of a sheep, is done to avoid fly strike and parasitic infections. Some wool brands, such as Knitting for Olive, have stopped using Australian fibers due to this practice. This practice is not widely practiced in the US, though there is no federal law prohibiting it, yet.
Many of us who love fiber crafts have not only a deep appreciation for the wool, but also for the sheep. We can’t resist their fluffy faces and sweet antics, like to visit breeds at sheep and wool festivals, and in general have a respect for the animal that literally grows the wool we use. Without sheep—and the farmers who raise them—designers, dyers, and a whole world of crafting wouldn’t be the same. For smaller farms who closely tend their flocks, name their animals and have close connections to them, animal welfare is just as important to them (perhaps more important) than it is to us as the buyers.
Of course there are people who craft with natural non-animal fibers, whether due to allergy or personal preference. Cotton and linen yarns abound; bamboo has grown in popularity as a non-animal alternative. With these fibers, as with wool, the methods of growing and processing play a big part in its actual sustainability. But, at the end of the day, natural fibers won’t ever shed microplastics into the water system, don’t derive from petrochemicals and oil, and will biodegrade back into the soil in a way that acrylics or plastic yarns simply can’t.
As with almost anything, making a purchase that takes sustainability and animal welfare into account isn’t black or white. Looking for mill end yarns that repurpose production waste into new yarn, buying recycled yarns, shopping from small farms where you can see the flock and know the farmer—all these are ways to make a more conscious decision. For us, we don’t source wool blended with nylon, even for socks. Our stock will always be 100% wool or, perhaps eventually will also include some non-animal fiber selections we can feel good about, and almost all the wool we buy in is non-superwashed to further limit the environmental impact of the production process.
We support small farms and artists by knitting local and like to support other women-owned business however we can. As knitting season and the holidays start to get closer, we hope you will take these thoughts into consideration, too.