How is Wool Produced?

Sheep are born. Sheep grow fleece. Sheep are sheared. Simple right?

Well yes, in the same way that the Sky Tower is just some metal, concrete and glass dumped in a big pile.

The truth is that for wool - especially the soft wools like Merino and Alpaca - there is a process that the fibres go through to maximise both comfort and utilisation.

Wool has been used by humans since neolithic times and there’s evidence that the Babylonians wove wool garments around 4000 BC.

So if there’s one thing humans know how to do is is produce a decent ball of wool.

There are 3 key stages to producing wool that go far beyond ‘shear sheep, knit wool, repeat’. In fact it’s so involved that - coupled with the effort that goes into raising herds of healthy, fleece bearing sheep - you’ll start to appreciate why wool is the premium product it is.

Design

The type of wool you end up with in your clothing was determined centuries ago. Careful breeding has given humans a bountiful array of sheep - not to mention animals like alpacas and possums - to give us every kind of wool you can imagine.

The British had a large hand in this and aggressively moved to dominate the sheep market. So fiercely did they protect their ‘golden fleece’ that they passed laws banning American farmers from attempting to improve their sheep bloodlines.

The penalty was the amputation of a hand!

As the centuries wore on and Britain’s grip on the world - and the wool industry - slipped it gave other nations the opportunity to develop and refine breeds of their own and this is how New Zealand was able to perfect merino wool in the 18th century.

This diverse marker and gene pool gives us the perfect material for anything from blankets to evening coats and thousands of other products and garments in between.

But if the quality or the softness still aren’t quite right the mechanisation of fabric production makes it relatively easy to blend different wools or wool with other materials to meet the need of the manufacturer.

All of this is predetermined before the wool goes through the production process and ends up in your clothes.

Our Palliser ridge NZ Natural Clothing Yarn

Production

From start to finish there are 8 stages to the wool production process.

Breeding & Care

Depending on the markets the wool is grown for, selective breeding is crucial for yield and the micron of the fibre. Climates and breeds have been crafted by generations much of the time, they also require animal health care along the way!.

Shearing

Obviously removing the fleece is the first stage of the process. Where possible the shearer will keep the fleece in a single piece and shearing usually occurs once a year.

Grading and Sorting

Grading is breaking up the fleece based on overall quality. The fleece is sorted into sections of different quality fibers from different parts of the body.

The location will largely dictate what the wool is used for - lower legs for rugs, shoulders and sides for clothing.

Cleaning and Scouring

Needless to say the wool needs to be cleaned after it has been sheared. Sheep tend to get a little on the mucky side so the raw or grease wool needs to be cleaned of all contaminants which can range from sand and dirt to bugs and leaves.

The wool is treated in an alkaline bath that scours the fleece before the excess water is squeezed out with rollers.

Carding

Carding is the process of using metal teeth to gradually straighten and blend the fibres into slivers. Depending on the type of wool - worsted or woolens - the wool goes through different stages.

Wool intended for woolen yarn - soft fibre wool - is sent directly for spinning.

Worsted - the tougher wool - has two further stages known as gilling and combing to remove shorter hairs and align the longer fibres so the slivers can compacted and thinned.

Spinning

Spinning is probably the part of the process that most people are familiar with having most likely learned about or even tried the process at school.

Spinning is exactly that - the wool fibres are spun together to form a strand which is then spun with multiple other strands to form a single strand of yarn. Because wool naturally clings to itself it’s really quite easy to get multiple strands to take and spin together.

Weaving

Weaving is the process that turns bobbins of wool into fabric. This can either be a plain weave or a twill and the process is usually determined by the type of wool being used.

Plain weave is a loose fabric and has a soft surface with hardly any luster. The plain weave also can hide flaws in the construction process which isn’t always ideal from a quality standpoint

Twill allows you to make a tightly woven fabric, with more or less any pattern you like, with a smooth finish. Twill worsted wools are very durable and therefore more expensive.

Finishing

This is a series of procedures that help to make the fabric more durable by interlocking the fabric - fulling and then permanently setting that interlock - crabbing.

You can also shrink proof the fabric - decating - and you can dye the wool as well. Although the wool can and often is dyed before the carding process.

Quality Control

The third and high necessary process actually occurs during finishing but isn’t part of the finishing process itself.

Quality control is the arduous and highly manual task of checking the wool by sight and by feel for imperfections, loose threads and knots.

Loose threads are removed and knots tucked to the back of the fabric so they can’t be visible. The knot doesn’t compromise the fabric, it just doesn’t look quite as pretty.

The individual will also look out for - and remove - and specks of dirt or other particulates that have escaped the cleaning process.

Wool production is one of the most involved processes for natural fibres in the world and requires a huge amount of time and investment from the raising of the flocks to wool collection and all the other processes.

Not to mention the breeders who work to ensure that the breeds produce the best possible fleece.

We’re proud to stock a wide range of wool products - 95% of which were made in New Zealand.

To view our range click here. To learn more about fabrics, knitwear and the the New Zealand Merino sheep, check out our blog.