A simplified version of this article appeared in the International Wool Trade Organisation‘s quarterly magazine.
The full report entitled “Recycled Wool – A Primer for Newcomers and Rediscoverers‘ which resulted from these research efforts, can be downloaded here. Later and updated versions are available from the European Outdoor Group”s website.
Co-written with: Anna Rodewald, Greenroom Voice
Wool is slowly recovering some of its former popularity. While for some it is an old acquaintance, for many others in our industry, and in this current time and age, it is a new, or maybe better novel, material for the portfolio. A material that opens doors to fresh opportunities for innovation while re-learning about the challenges and benefits of using animal-originated fibres.
This said, with new, and increased attention on the wool industry and its products, scrutiny by the end-consumer and the brands themselves also increases. This is also the case because wool is considered by this new generation of potential users as one potential way to improve a brand’s environmental and materials footprint.
This slots in well with the wider work done in this area such as the development of the Responsible Wool Standard (RWS), which focused on the traceability of virgin wool. This consequently means that traceability and impact data gaps are being closed, design guidelines made publicly available, old processes unearthed and brought into the modern age, and new technologies developed or discovered.
It the same realm, one question keeps cropping up. It is a question that indeed previously also has been asked about – and then answered for – materials such as cotton, polyester, nylon, elastane and even down: is recycled, rather than virgin, material a viable and desirable ingredient, both from a product as well as sustainability point of view?
We realised that we had few, if any, answers to the many questions that are related to the use of recycled wool.
It is for this purpose, that in collaboration with Greenroom Voice, we organised a week-long trip to Prato, near Florence.
What we found was a rarely talked about, but nonetheless sizeable ‘niche’ of the textile industry which has developed highly elaborate and specialised skills, processes, machinery and – last but not least – products.
Recycled Wool: Some History
Historically, the use of recycled wool was first and foremost an opportunity for European business to remain competitive in an economic sense, specifically in the lower price brackets of interest to multinationals more familiar with overseas-sourcing for cost reasons.
Hence, until not too long ago, these products were undervalued for the sustainability potential they offer. And as a consequence also flew under the radar of most sourcing professionals in the outdoor, but also the fashion and textiles, industry.
No discussion on any topic is ever only black and white’. The nuances of the topic ‘wool recycling, and what we have seen in Prato could fill books. For the purpose of this present article here however, kindly allow me to outline some of the topics that with the insight acquired already further questions do get triggered, underlying once more that the discussions are invariably ongoing.
Recycled wool: Sustainability Potential
For example: Recycled wool has an interesting potential to lower a brand’s material portfolio’s environmental impact. However – at this point of time the scientific (LCA) data to prove that is few, far between and at the same time patchy. What we know for certain today would allow to make a reasonable judgement call about the environmental impact of virgin vs the one of recycled wool. But the knowledge at this point is not good enough to contrast the insights against what we know about other recycled or virgin materials.
Equally, the use of recycled wool offers the opportunity to skip the wet processing stage required for virgin wool, which could lead to interesting positive side effects with regards to the use of chemicals. However – there exist reasonably realistic scenarios where legacy chemicals (legislated today, but not a few decades ago) could accidentally be introduced, or where a manufacturer may ignore the opportunity and choose to overdye so as to ensure for colour consistency in a fibre lot.
Further: Leadtimes could be highly interesting with regards to the order-to-market timeframe. This however assumes that sufficient recycled fibre in the colours required are quickly available – which, depending on shade, may or may not be the case.
| Approximate: Used Wool Lead | |
|
3 weeks for
| Production of raw material fibre (sorting, pulling, blending – assuming colours are not ‘special’) |
|
1 week for
| Spinning (yarn counts, colour blends) |
|
2 weeks for
|
Weaving
|
|
2 weeks for
|
Finishing
|
|
TOTAL,
7 to 8 weeks
| Important: dyeing not included, assumes fibres can be mixed from recycled wool colour palette |
Table: Typical lead times for fabrics made from recycled wool (post –consumer and post-production).
And one more example: the recycled wool process requires specialist manual labour in at least one production stage. It is therefore a process important for generating local employment. Yet at the same time, manual labour requirements – which represent cost drivers in the value chain – always pose the question of worker welfare and working conditions.
With only the above handful of examples in mind, there are a couple of highly important ‘ingredients’ in this whole discussion. These are not often talked about, but also in our visit we could identify these as ‘success factors’
- The specifics of the relationship between a suppliers and brand, and
- An motivation in all players of this value chain – from the collector through to the brand, to practise transparency, and find ways how (the right level of) transparency would foster mutual trust
I was alluding to the fact that ‘black and white’ discussion are few and far between, also when it comes to recycled wool.
Consequently, for both brand and manufacturer a trusting and reasonably transparency business relationship is important so as to learn how far towards the ‘white’ side of the scale their business partner is operating, and hence how much ‘good faith’ they can assume, and therefore the extent of ‘micromanagement’ (not) required.
Organisations such as The Sustainable Angle and Textile Exchange, have benefited from these insights. And they ensure that insights gained are also circulated into their respective networks.
Overall, and with the ever-growing relevance of sustainability for brands’ materials choices, recycled woo from Prato specifically, offers potentially a double advantage to material portfolios by combining environmental benefits with the option for European near-shore quality production at affordable cost. Recycled wool hence could now come to bear in its own right, rather than as a simple ‘diluting’ measure to lower the price point of goods sold.
