Shear Force – A Closer Look at Wool
“Examine our every action through the lens of how we would feel if it were to become front page news.”
– John Mackey
Sheep are perhaps the most versatile of livestock species, providing meat, milk, leather, and of course, wool. Sheep wool is durable, offers insulation, can be made into yarn for knitting, and dyed for a broad range of applications. Over the course of a year, a sheep typically produces 4.5 kilograms (about 10 lbs.) of wool, providing 10 meters of fabric, enough for six sweaters, three suits, or to cover one large sofa. About 900 different sheep breeds exist around the world.1 Wool grows continuously on their bodies. To obtain wool, sheep must be sheared every year. Although taken primarily from sheep, wool can also come from alpacas, camels, goats, llamas, and rabbits. Varieties include cashmere, tweed, Merino wool, and Angora wool.
The story of wool begins in Asia 10,000 years ago. Primitive man used sheep for the three basic human needs – food, clothing, and shelter.2 The practice of spinning wool into thread started about 5,000 years ago. Between 3,000 and 1,000 B.C., wool spread throughout Europe thanks to the Greeks, Persians, and Romans. The Romans built the first wool plant in England in 50 AD. Between the late 13th and 15th centuries, England’s ‘empire of wool’ saw the material turn into a major industry. Cloth made from wool accounted for 90% of England’s exports by the 1550s. Christopher Columbus brought wool to Cuba in 1493; Hernán Cortés brought it to the United States shortly thereafter.
After its ‘empire of wool’ peaked, England tried to discourage wool trade with its colonies in North America. Despite England’s restrictions, the wool industry flourished in America. By 1665, 100,000 sheep had been smuggled to North America. Massachusetts passed a law that required its younger population to spin and weave. The eldest unmarried daughter in the family, responsible for spinning duties, was known as the ‘spinster’. New technologies like combing machines, the spinning jenny, and water-powered looms further fueled the industry’s expansion. At the turn of the 18th century, wool reached Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.3 Today, Australia is the top producer of wool, accounting for 25% of global supply. Other large wool producers include China, New Zealand, Argentina, South Africa, and Russia. The global wool market is currently valued at $35 billion and is expected to reach $47 billion in the next decade.
Image credit: Christian Bullinger/Shutterstock
Taking Wool
About 2 million metric tons of wool is produced annually, 60% of which is used to make clothing. Other uses include bedding, blankets, carpets, insulation, and upholstery, as well as protective garments worn by firefighters and soldiers. Several steps are involved in making wool products:4
1. Shearing & Grading: A wool’s fleece is removed by a shearer using a machine or blade. This typically occurs once a year in the spring. Wool classers divide wool into four categories (fleece, broken, bellies, locks).
2. Scouring & Carding: Wool is washed or cleansed to remove contaminants, such as lanolin (wool fat), dead skin, sweat residue, and pesticides through the scouring process. Vegetable matter is often removed by chemical carbonization. Carding aligns and untangles wool fibers.
3. Spinning & Dyeing: Fibers are spun to make a strand. Strands are spun to make thread. Threads create yarn. Dyeing may occur at various stages of the process.
4. Knitting & Finishing: The yarn is woven or knitted into fabric or other products.
Wool can be finished using a mix of treatments to impart desirable properties such as heat resistance, moth-proofing, and stain release.
As a material, wool offers compelling properties:
The Cost of Wool
The wool industry has gone to some trouble to paint a picture of sheep grazing in lush meadows, and gentle harvesting of wool, resulting in an eco-friendly, biodegradable, and sustainable fabric. A deeper look reveals that the reality is considerably different due to industrial production practices.
Animals
More than 1.2 billion sheep are farmed for wool globally.5 Wool shearing is widely seen simply as a ‘haircut’ for sheep. However, the process is substantially more involved and troublesome.
Breeding – Genetic selection has increased the birth rate such that up to six lambs are born at a time. Unfortunately, these lambs often have a low survival rate, particularly in the cold winter months. Ewes may be forced to leave their offspring behind to eat and stay with the flock; some choose to stay and die with their offspring.
Growth – Within a few weeks of birth, lambs’ ears are hole-punched, tails are chopped off, and males are castrated without anesthetics. During hot months, the unnatural excess of wool causes many sheep to collapse and even die of heat exhaustion. The wrinkles in their skin collect moisture and urine, attracting flies that lay eggs in the folds of skin. These eggs hatch into maggots, which can infest the sheep, causing suffering.6
Shearing – Left alone, sheep don’t require shearing. However, they are bred to maximize wool production, which creates a dependency on humans for shearing. Shearers are paid by volume (not hourly), which incentivizes them to work quickly without regard for animal welfare. Parts of skin, tails, and ears are often cut off during shearing. Holding and pressing down the animal creates injuries that may be left untreated or sown shut without medical gloves, disinfectants, or pain relief. Sheep are prey animals. Shearing requires sheep to be ‘handled’ repeatedly, which is highly stressful for them. Before shearing, sheep are deprived of food and water in order to limit resistance. According to one shearer, “Imagine if someone attacked you after … you’d been starved for 24 hours – you wouldn’t have much of a fight.”7
Mulesing – To prevent the onset of flies, farmers perform a barbaric procedure called ‘mulesing’. Sheep are forced onto their backs, with legs trapped between metal poles so that parts of the skin can be cut off the animals’ backs, often without painkillers. The result is scar tissue, which doesn't attract flies if it heals properly. It also means that the animal suffers for weeks with an open wound. Although this is not the only method of prevention available, it is considered the cheapest.
Winter Lambing – To maximize the ‘production’ of lambs, farmers often overbreed sheep during the winter months. This practice aims to produce the highest number of lambs at the lowest cost, as it allows farmers to wean the lambs in spring when the paddocks are most fertile. However, lambs born in winter are often too small and weak to keep warm on their own and may not survive more than 48 hours. The industry accepts these ‘losses of stock’ as part of conducting its business.
PETA has captured video footage that reveals cruelties in 117 wool operations across the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and South America.
People
Sheep rearing involves physically demanding tasks such as shearing, lambing, feeding, and moving animals. Farmers often work long hours, especially during lambing season, which can lead to fatigue and burnout. Workers in the industry also face a range of health-related issues. A study of 2,153 workers in wool textile mills in the United Kingdom revealed respiratory problems which included coughing, wheezing, chest tightness, and breathlessness along with rhinitis, conjunctivitis, chills, nosebleeds, and chest illnesses.8 Chemicals used in the wool production process – for degreasing (diethylene dioxide, synthetic detergents, trichloroethylene), disinfection (formaldehyde), bleaching (sulphur dioxide, chlorine) and dyeing (potassium chlorate, aniline) – exacerbate health problems. Risks include gassing, poisoning, eye irritation, lung irritation, and skin conditions.9 Dealing with animal deaths and making difficult decisions about livestock can also be emotionally taxing.
Planet
Compared to a cotton sweater, a wool sweater emits 27 times more greenhouse gases and uses 247 times more land.10 The Made-By Environmental Benchmark for Fibres ranks wool as a ‘Class E’ fiber, its lowest ranking, due to its CO2 emissions, human toxicity, ecotoxicity, as well as energy, water, and land use.11 Wool emits far more greenhouse gases than other comparable fabrics:
Sheep grazing causes serious degradation of land and vegetation. As the second largest producer of wool in the 20th century, Argentina saw its Patagonia region undergo ‘widespread desertification’ due to sheep ranching. After the removal of sheep, biologists saw the ‘land heal’ as the grasslands ‘regained their vitality’. Domestic sheep that are not part of the natural habitat put wildlife at risk by disrupting local ecosystems. Fear of conflict with wildlife results in the proactive killing of animals such as wolves and grizzly bears. In the Australian regions of Queensland and New South Wales alone, it is estimated that 50 million native animals are killed annually due to land clearing. A number of species, such as the Tasmanian Tiger, are already extinct due to the wool industry.
Sheep rearing produces huge amounts of wastewater which pollutes local waterways. Full of contaminants from fecal waste, dead animals, antibiotics, pharmaceuticals, and insecticides, the runoff can cause eutrophication, soil contamination, and biodiversity loss. Since sheep consume large amounts of water and pastures require irrigation, this significantly impacts freshwater and marine habitats.
Beyond Wool
Wool is billed as a renewable and sustainable fiber. The industry neglects to highlight that wool is often processed with detergents after shearing, bleached to prevent moth-eating, and coated with resin or plastic for machine washing. It may also contain heavy metals and non-biodegradable substances used in dyeing. According to a 2023 report by the Center for Biodiversity and Collective Fashion Justice, the relentless ‘greenwashing’ by the wool industry “lacks any standard definitions or accountability.” Further, wool products are often blended with synthetic fibers. A study of 785 knitwear items from 13 top brands revealed that nearly 75% of wool garments were blended with synthetic materials, which significantly reduces biodegradability, utilizes fossil fuels, and causes microplastic pollution.12
Several alternatives to wool provide comparable properties but are far better for animals, people, and the planet:
At least 16 companies are working on alternative solutions to wool with compelling properties including:
Geneus Biotech – A French company that has developed a Keratin-based technology in the luxury wool segment under the brand name LiquidWoolTM.
KD New York – Its Vegetable CashmereTM is spun from pulp derived from tofu production. It is machine-washable, sensitive skin-friendly, UV and pest-resistant.
Nanollose – Turns liquid waste into rayon fiber for clothes with minimal environmental impact. It is derived using microbes that convert waste products into microbial cellulose.
SMARTFIBER – A German Company whose SEACELL fiber uses sustainable technology to mix wild brown algae into cellulose fibers.
SPINNOVA® – A Finnish company that produces a natural, cellulose-based textile fiber derived from various sources, including wood pulp, agricultural waste, and textile waste. Its fiber is biodegradable, microplastic-free, and recyclable.
Werewool – Produces engineered microbes that brew designer proteins that deliver performance and color to textile fibers without plastics and water pollution.
The Pull of Wool
Over the past 15 years, global clothing production has doubled. Humanity consumes 400% more clothing than just two decades ago. ‘Fast fashion’ is making planned obsolescence increasingly common, where clothes are designed to wear out faster. Rather than repurpose excess clothing, brands burn or destroy them. More than ever, sustainable alternatives are necessary. Wool production is an environmental crisis. According to a 2021 report, “wool is not a fiber simply provided by nature — it is a scaled product of modern industrial, chemical, ecological and genetic intervention that’s a significant contributor to the climate crisis, land degradation, water use, pollution, and biodiversity loss.”13 Wool, along with leather, is a key contributor to the devastating impact of animal agriculture. As Matthew Hayek, an assistant professor of environmental studies at New York University states, “Wool and leather are not byproducts of meat production, they’re co-products: producers support their livestock operations by selling meat as well as wool and hides, all of which keeps them afloat.”14
Fortunately, consumers are demanding change. In a global survey, more than one in three consumers cite a significant shift toward sustainability when purchasing products.15 This behavior is even more pronounced in the younger generation. 75% of Gen Z consumers care more about sustainability than brand names when shopping and are willing to pay 10% more to purchase sustainable goods.16 Consumer sentiment, along with technological innovation, creates both supply and demand to move toward more sustainable practices in the fashion industry. New Zealand and the European Union (EU) have banned mulesing. Hundreds of brands support banning the practice as well. Standards such as ZQ Merino and Responsible Wool Standard are a start, but don’t go far enough. Real progress is hard won, but fortunately for sheep (and our planet), the tide is turning.
Felt & Yarn Blog
The American Wool Council
Ibid
The Woolmark Company
Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
Sentient Media
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
R G Love et. al. (1988), Respiratory and allergic symptoms in wool textile workers
International Labor Organization (ILO)
Vox Media
Common Objective
Center for Biological Diversity
Collective Fashion Justice
Vox Media
Simon-Kutcher & Partners via Statista
Nasdaq Insights