According to the recollections of Carolyn Rawlinson, the late inventor of the British Woolfest "[The] Woolfest was born at a liquid lunch just after Christmas 2003. I had dreamt for years of creating a really big show celebrating wool, spinning, dyeing, knitting, weaving, designing and all things associated with this wonderful part of the textile world. I suggested the idea […] and to my surprise (and shock), everyone decided to take it on. Woolfest was born, with a vision for a mixture of the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival in the US and the Potfest here in Cumbria.”
To the day, the Woolfest’s aim is to celebrate all aspects of wool, and Woolfest 2011 set new milestones: Visitors came from all over Europe (including Finland, Germany, Italy, France, Lithuania and the Netherlands), Australia, New Zealand and Canada as well as thousands from all over the UK, including several coach parties.
It is old news that the European – including the British – wool industry is a shadow of its former self. The one and only notable exception in this context are the high-end production units in the North of Italy that supply their products to major global luxury brands.
For starters, in the EU wool is classified as Category 3 waste. Which means that as far as the UK for instance is concerned, a farmer needs a waste transfer bill to move it from the shearing place to e.g. a mill. Shocking and sad are the 2 words that come to mind.
In Britain, the authority that has the legal responsibility to deal with this ‘waste’ is the British Wool Marketing Board (BWB).
This probably is one of the principle reasons why for the last couple of decades most wool batches, with exception of the best qualities and largest quantities, went essentially unsold – bought up and auctioned off by the BWB in compliance to legal regulations. While the BWB is increasingly facing critique from an broad spectrum of stakeholders, the breeders are caught between a rock and a hard place: On the one hand, the price paid for each fleece by the BWB is but a token, and hardly, if at all, covers the costs incurred by the breeder for shearing or transport; on the other hand, it is against the law to simply dispose of wool (= category 3 waste) as the breeders please (implying: in the most cost efficient way, which usually means burning or burying it); and finally, it also has to be recognised that most British sheep are not breed for their wool but for the meet, and as such their wool is not of the best possible fibre quality, and not normally suitable for high-end fabrics.
Yet: although the European ‘big wool industry’ has probably been lost for good to other geographies further east, the tide has started changing and as of recent some breeders and producers start to take noticeably charge of their wool’s fortune again. Their reasons vary of course, but there is one common denominator that can be singled out: The insight and understanding that the loss of industrial wool mills to cheaper overseas production units had caused a loss of highly valued specialist skills, including at the grassroots level and in local sheep farming, including a ‘sheep mono culture’ (with Merino wool being the most desirable).
And when previously it was but individual activism – brands such as Izzy Lane come to mind – in the course of the past 2 or 3 years an undercurrent of a trend has emerged.
In short: the changes that the British and European wool landscape is undergoing have become palpable. And the Woolfest has progressed from being a ‘fibre geeks’ get-together to a yearly face-to-face meeting platform for small scale entrepreneurs who by means of aspiration, inspiration and/or necessity breath new life into the British, even European, wool landscape.
A direct consequence of the mentioned phenomenon are small mills (also called ‘mini mills’) that are cropping up across the whole of the European geography. Most are spinning units, with the occasional carding only and weaving unit thrown in, and minimums can be as low as a single fleece. Most guarantee full traceability (!) from fleece (and therefore sheep) to cone. Even specialist fibre mills, for Alpaca, or British rare breads for example, are among them. The British and European wool industry, in short, is recovering slowly some of its former glory and production capacity, and the breeders of small (rare breed) flocks with a high stake in their own wool and fibre are the market they are catering to – highly successfully if waiting lists as long as 9 months are a measure to go by.
In the big schema of things, and despite the discussions about British and/or rare bread wool as opposed ‘the rest’, the question remains however: What do you need to look out for when sourcing wool?
Interestingly, the answer to this question applies as much to hobby crafts people as it does to the small and medium sized designer-entrepreneur:
- Get knowledgeable about different wool types.
Wool is not ‘just wool’. In Europe alone there exist over 100 sheep breeds1. In addition, we also find a wide range of goats, rabbits that give quality wool, as well as wool producing animals that are not native to Europe but bred for their wool or meat such Yak, Llama, Alpaca, Camels, etc.
What breed produces what type of fibre? What fibre qualities make good wool? And how do these translate to the characteristics of fabric? How score the different breeds and species? Which breeds are bred (widely or locally) in your country / region / area?- A good introduction to the topic is the catalogue to the exhibition ‘Wools of Europe’,that took place from May 1st to 6th 2011 at the Bergerie National de Rambouillet in France, organised by the ‘Consorzio Biella The Wool Company’ and the ‘ATELIER’ (European Association for Study, Liaison, Innovation, Research into Textiles): ‘Wools of Europe: Passion for Wool – Today and Tomorrow’, Marie Thérèse Chaupin, Nigel Thompson (Eds.). The catalogue is available via mail order from ATELIER at a price of €28 + pp.
- The ‘Consorzio Biella The Wool Company’ has developed an exhaustive overview of fibre qualities of different European breeds, including a rough grading schema [in Italian only]. It can be downladed for free from: http://www.biellathewoolcompany.it/dnn/LinkClick.aspx?link=pecore+italiano.pdf
- Be clear what you want the wool to be used for.
Fine jumpers and business suits require a different fibre – and fabric – than for instance overcoats or riding gear. Think about which type of wool fits your bill. It doesn’t always have to be Italian wool fabric destined for Saville Row. - Does it really have to be Merino?
In the present, most industrial mills just use Merino wool because it is easily available on the world market, and because it’s qualities are widely known and considered superior. Few producers are in fact familiar with the qualities of other sheep breeds’ wools – this knowledge has been lost in the past 20 years. This means that if you buy mainstream industrial wool fabric or fibre, chances are that it automatically implies the use of Merino wool. This is not ideal for at last 2 reasons:
First, while Merino is originally a Spanish breed, less than 1% of the world Merino supply comes from Spain. Nearly all Merino comes either out of Australia or New Zealand, therefore carbon footprint is an issue. And second, in all but a few cases the wool stems from massive, industrial mono-breed farms, and is jumbled together before pre-processing or shipping – making traceability even back to a specific farm difficult if not impossible. - Look into rare(r) breeds, which have traditionally been bread for their wool quality and not meat alone.
The most popular among these are: Blue Face Leicester, Wensleydale Longwool sheep, Shetland sheep, Hebridean sheep, Jacob sheep, Teeswater sheep
Fleeces from these breeds can either be obtained from the British Wool Marketing board, or directly from the breeder via the respective breeder’s society. - Lose a thought about traceability – ask for your wool’s CV:
Are you confident that the sheep your wool comes from have been kept properly? What about mulesing, or mono breeding industrial farms? Do you know where your wool stems from, and where it has been processed? And what about the working and environmental conditions in the (yarn / fabric) producing mills?
In the UK and across Europe, small spinning and weaving mills are coming back into business. If you decide to buy wool fleece directly from a breeder – rather than the finished product from a whole-seller – and contract production process to one of the small local mill, the wool is fully traceable, sometimes even from ‘sheep to cone’.
The mills not only have wast experience they can share with you, but importantly, they produce high-quality – if not Saville Row level – yarn and/or fabrics, are often willing and able to collaborate in yarn design (incl. colour ranges), and have low minimums. - Organic is not only for cotton and food: [Soil Association Resources: Resource 1, Resource 2]
10 years ago first steps were taken to have a fully organic British wool supply chain in place, and the efforts have paid off: from the numerous breeds of organic sheep, to grading, scouring, dyeing, carding, spinning, finishing, weaving, knitting or constructing final products, including clothing and designer wear, worsted wool fabrics, home textiles, accessories, fibres for carpets, mattresses, knitting kits, or blankets.
Certification thereby takes place at each level of the supply chain. For instance, on the farm against the organic farming standard; and in the mills or at the hand weavers against the organic production requirements, which guarantees that in the process organic wool is properly separated from standard wool and not contaminated.
The Woolfest is one of those events where the story of wool goes full circle. It is an opportunity for textile SME production units, crafts people, designers and merchants to fathom new market opportunities and exchange tips and tricks. Importantly though, it is also a place where sourcing becomes – relatively speaking – transparent. Questions are asked, and there is little reluctance to answer even critical questions openly, always with an eye towards future improvements.
It is also a place where experts still buy as they used to in the times before the entire industry was outsourced east, although on minuscule scale. Jan Hicks, member of the Wool Clip, and organiser of the Woolfest, illustrated this: “Every year we ask breeders and farmers to bring along their fleece for sale, and then spinners, dyers and designers can buy as close to direct as possible. This year, we were piled high at 10am when opening the doors to the Woolfest, but were looking a bit depleted, having sold over 320 fleeces by the end of the first day. Fortunately, more fleece was brought in on the morning of the second day, so there was still a wide selection of different colours, breeds and weights available. In the end, we sold nearly 500 raw fleeces across a range of breeds, prices and qualities.”
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Mini – Mills: A list
- Griffith’s Mill
Website: http://griffithsfarming.com/mill.html
Minimum: 1 Fleece - Cold Harbour Mill / Fibre Harvest / Black Down Hills Natural Fibre Group
Websites: http://www.coldharbourmill.org.uk & http://www.fibreharvest.co.uk
Minimum: Washed fleece only, will process from 1 fleece. No scouring facility.
Note: The cold harbour mill is a working museum. As such, it is an old mill, with old technology, notably it is water-wheel powered.
Fibres: Broad range, including hemp. - Diamond Fibres
Wesbite: http://www.diamondfibres.co.uk
Minimums: From 1 fleece
Note: Full service, but won’t take primitive breeds, including Shetlands.
- Halifax spinning
Website: http://www.halifaxspinningcompany.co.uk
Minimum: 1 fleece
Note: New large mill offering full service - Farrlacey Alpaca Mill
Website: http://www.farrlacey.co.uk/page.asp?id=alpacamill&
Minimum: From 1kg to 500kg. - Two Rivers Alpaca Mill
Website: http://www.tworiversmill.com
Minimum: 10kg app.
Note: New mill (June 2011) - Natural Fibre Company
Website: http://www.thenaturalfibre.co.uk
Minimum: Carding – 10kg; Spinning – 20kg
Note: Offers also organic processing. - Wheeldale Woolcrafts
Website: http://wheeldalewoolcrafts.co.uk/aboutus.htm
Minimum: Small – ask for precise numbers
- Curlew Weavers Woollen Mill
Contact: Tel: 01239 85 1357, No website
Minimums: Contact mill direct for detailed information.
Note: Specialising in scouring, carding, spinning, weaving services for breeders’ own fleeces. - New Lanark Organic Woollen Yarn Spinners and manufacturers
Website: http://newlanarkshop.co.uk/shop.php?view=page&page=42
Quantities: 150kg – 2 tonnes
Note: Organic processing only. - Consorzio Biella The Wool Company
Website: http://www.biellathewoolcompany.it
Minimum: Suggested about 300kg
Note: Not a stand alone mill, but rather offers small hold farmers access to the high-end production facilities in and around Biella, Italy.
