An ancient natural fiber

Today, to talk about wool, let’s imagine a group of Stone Age men moving around following a flock of wild sheep for a while to have fresh food and skins to wear. At some point, they manage to regroup a few of them on some dead-end road so they can use them according to their needs without fear of losing them and without having to carry loads.

When man abandoned being a nomad, he began to sow crops and raise animals, including sheep and goats, which reproduced, grew fat, and their coats became lustrous and abundant. Then he thought of braiding or spinning those strands to use them as clothing, better adapted to the bodies than the skins with which they protected themselves from the cold and that they managed to sew with rustic needles made of bones. 

There are essentially four natural fibers known since ancient times: wool, silk, linen, and cotton. The first to replace furs was wool, followed by the other three in more developed cultures.

A rather laborious process is required to convert sheep hair into the fabric, and roughly speaking, it is as follows: it begins with shearing – up to twice a year – which today is done with electric clippers. The best fleeces are selected, and the cleaning stage starts to eliminate the remains of grease and dirt. After washing, the yarn is carefully untangled and combed to soften it and transform it into strips or ribbons of the material with the option of dyeing. Often the natural tones of the coat are preferred. Then, depending on the product’s destination, it will be woven in artisan looms, industrial looms, or simply in skeins for domestic “little spiders.”

We know several wool types and qualities depending on the animal that produces it:

Merina: is the most common; it is found in many places such as Spain, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa and, therefore, is the least expensive. It is antibacterial, does not absorb water, and “does not itch.”

Angora: with a very soft texture, comes from a rabbit of the same name; the old harvesting methods have been changed to prevent the animal from suffering. 

Mohair: long and shiny fiber, comes from the angora goat raised in Turkey and should not be confused with the rabbit.

Cashmere: one of the most appreciated for its softness and resistance to the cold. It comes from a goat of the Kashmir region at the foot of the Himalayas. The highly esteemed Pashmina wool is from this area but a different type of goat. 

Alpaca and Vicuña: from the llama family of the Andes, which makes it very resistant to low temperatures. Like Cashmere, they are difficult to obtain, so they are expensive wools. Vicuña wool is very scarce because it is a protected species.

Other wools come from the Bactrian camel of Central Asia or the excellent wool of the Qiviut, musk ox of Canada and Alaska.

In Snowdrop, we have rugs, pillows, and throws made of alpaca and sheep wool, following our tradition of using handcrafted work and natural materials.