Wool

This is an accepted version of this page Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids.

Wool's crimp, and to a lesser degree scales, make it easier to spin the fleece by helping the individual fibers attach, so they stay together.

Wet felting occurs when water and a lubricant (especially an alkali such as soap) are applied to the wool which is then agitated until the fibers mix and bond together.

This wool contains a high level of valuable lanolin, as well as the sheep's dead skin and sweat residue, and generally also contains pesticides and vegetable matter from the animal's environment.

Scouring may be as simple as a bath in warm water or as complicated as an industrial process using detergent and alkali in specialized equipment.

[10] In less-processed wools, vegetable matter may be removed by hand and some of the lanolin left intact through the use of gentler detergents.

This semigrease wool can be worked into yarn and knitted into particularly water-resistant mittens or sweaters, such as those of the Aran Island fishermen.

Raw wool has many impurities; vegetable matter, sand, dirt and yolk which is a mixture of suint (sweat), grease, urine stains and dung locks.

The sheep's body yields many types of wool with differing strengths, thicknesses, length of staple and impurities.

In medieval times, as trade connections expanded, the Champagne fairs revolved around the production of wool cloth in small centers such as Provins.

The network developed by the annual fairs meant that the woolens of Provins might find their way to Naples, Sicily, Cyprus, Majorca, Spain, and even Constantinople.

Raw wool was baled and shipped from North Sea ports to the textile cities of Flanders, notably Ypres and Ghent, where it was dyed and worked up as cloth.

They shaped the landscape and the fortunes of the meseta that lies in the heart of the Iberian peninsula; in the 16th century, a unified Spain allowed export of merino lambs only with royal permission.

The German wool-market – based on sheep of Spanish origin – did not overtake British wool until comparatively late.

[28] In December 2004, a bale of the then world's finest wool, averaging 11.8 microns, sold for AU$3,000 per kilogram at auction in Melbourne.

[30] In 2007, a new wool suit was developed and sold in Japan which can be washed in the shower, and which dries off ready to wear within hours with no ironing required.

Wool comprises ca 3% of the global textile market, but its value is higher owing to dyeing and other modifications of the material.

[1] Australia is a leading producer of wool which is mostly from Merino sheep but has been eclipsed by China in terms of total weight.

Breeds such as Lincoln, Romney, Drysdale, and Elliotdale produce coarser fibers, and wool from these sheep is usually used for making carpets.

In the United States, Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado have large commercial sheep flocks and their mainstay is the Rambouillet (or French Merino).

Also, a thriving home-flock contingent of small-scale farmers raise small hobby flocks of specialty sheep for the hand-spinning market.

Wool is environmentally preferable (as compared to petroleum-based nylon or polypropylene) as a material for carpets, as well, in particular when combined with a natural binding and the use of formaldehyde-free glues.

This process was invented in the Heavy Woollen District of West Yorkshire and created a microeconomy in this area for many years.

Wool felt covers piano hammers, and it is used to absorb odors and noise in heavy machinery and stereo speakers.

Initial studies of woollen underwear have found it prevented heat and sweat rashes because it more readily absorbs the moisture than other fibers.

In 1998, an Ermenegildo Zegna Protected Wool Trophy was launched for fleece from sheep coated for around nine months of the year.

[44] In April 2008, New Zealand won the Ermenegildo Zegna Vellus Aureum Trophy for the first time with a fleece that measured 10.8 microns.

In 2010, an ultrafine, 10-micron fleece, from Windradeen, near Pyramul, New South Wales, won the Ermenegildo Zegna Vellus Aureum International Trophy.

[45] Since 2000, Loro Piana has awarded a cup for the world's finest bale of wool that produces just enough fabric for 50 tailor-made suits.

[46] The New England Merino Field days which display local studs, wool, and sheep are held during January, in even numbered years around the Walcha, New South Wales district.