Organic wool fabric

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Description
♦ Wool is the animal hair from sheep, alpaca, angora, goat and lama. This article will focus on sheep wool and its eco properties.
♦ Conventional sheep wool farming methods use a large amount of chemical based substances; pesticides, parasite treatments etc.
♦ Conventional sheep wool processing methods use a lot of chemicals. This means by the time natural wool reaches your home it hardly resembles the natural material it once was. This article gives an eco analysis of sheep wool.
♦ Buying certified organic wool in your home furnishings and textiles will ensure you have nothing but 100% natural.

Advantages
♦ It is quick drying and adapts in line with your body temperature, keeping you cool or warm as needed.
♦ Wool holds excellent natural fire resistant characteristics.
♦ It is soft, bouncy and as with cotton, wool allows the air to flow through the mattress.
♦ Excellent anti allergy, anti bacterial, mould and mildew properties.
♦ Hypoallergenic.
♦ Can hold up to one third of its weight in moisture, yet will not be damp to the touch and releases the moisture into the air.
♦ Has the natural ability to absorb vapours e.g. aromas and smells.
♦ Has the natural ability to absorb sweat, salt and waste skin cells – to break them down and release them into the air.
♦ A self cleaning fibre.

Disadvantages
♦ Certified organic sheeps wool is a more expensive choice.
♦ Can be a more expensive addition to mattresses compared to synthetic foam mattresses.
♦ Needs regularly airing to maintain the natural characteristics.
♦ 100% natural wool is not easily washed mechanically.

Embodied Energy
♦ This depends on the location of the sheep farm – if a local farm then shipping and transportation is reduced, which uses less fuel and lower the amount of embodied energy.
♦ Conventional wool processing methods use chemical and synthetic additives, which use more energy intensive methods (e.g. more fossil fuel) and create more carbon emissions.

Source/Origin
♦ Sheep farms are all over the world.

Renewable
♦ A natural animal hair, that is 100% renewable and sustainable.

Environment & Health
Organic Farming
♦ Organic wool has been farmed with the health and wellbeing of the sheep as a priority.
♦ Sheep are fed with organic and natural foods without chemical additives, pesticides, growth hormones or antibiotics.
♦ Sheep are not bathed in chemical sheep dips to kill parasites.
♦ Sheep live on natural pasture land without the use of chemicals such as pesticides.
♦ During processing no chemical or synthetic additives are used.
♦ Overall this means better living conditions for the animals, better working conditions for the farmers and no land, water or air pollution.

Performance
♦ Will outperform synthetic alternatives in durability.

Recyclable
♦ Can be downcycled into filling material.

Disposal / Biodegradable
♦ 100% biodegradable if chemical or synthetics treatments have not been added during material processing.

Ethics
♦ Organic farming methods create safe working conditions for the farm workers; e.g. no exposure to chemicals like pesticides or parasite inhibitors which are toxic to humans.

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