SUSTAINABILITY Waking up to Wool


Martin Curtis, Chairman of the Wool Carpet Focus Group (WCFG), discusses why he believes wool holds the key to sustainable living.


“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” - Winston Churchill, 1942.


Perhaps a little dramatic when this article is only about wool but it just seemed appropriate given what the past year and, indeed, the past few years have thrown at us.


If we bring ourselves back to the present, we see a world that has changed in very many ways and many of those changes will last for years to come. Working from home, the demise of the high street, managing on less and looking more carefully at the way we live are a few of them. The precise ramifications are as yet unknown but it is possible to foresee problems with rents and rates for local authorities and property owners whose incomes will be cut. Do we want to commute to work or can we work productively and more happily from home offices? Do the savings from not travelling to work compensate sufficiently to allow us to enjoy the new products that we can`t live without? Are we happy buying online and having home deliveries? Are we prepared to make things last? Are we prepared to make choices that aren’t just based on the latest fads but that are perhaps based more on quality, dependability and sustainability?


There we have it - the meat and potatoes of this article – ‘sustainability’! It is inextricably linked to what was said above. The world has changed and our lives, and perhaps our outlooks, have changed along with it.


Through the efforts of various wool marketing bodies, The Campaign for Wool being the preeminent one, the unique qualities of wool have been described in various ways. It is fair to say that the creation of Wool Week has given countries around the world the opportunity to showcase the benefits of wool and products made from it. Of course, the wool industry is almost as old as the hills upon which the sheep graze but it is ever changing, evolving to meet different situations and circumstances. It is very much the same today, as invention and innovation within the industry flourishes.


Wool is the most sustainable fibre. It is used in a myriad of different products, from clothing and high fashion garments which have long lives through to the humble sock. This also includes interiors- not just carpets and rugs but also furnishing fabrics, curtains, cushions, beds and bedding, throws, picnic blankets and more. The list goes on and there is a very good reason for it - wool is the best fibre for most things!


Various websites present scientific evidence which proves the validity of the statement above. The Campaign for Wool itself, The International Wool Textile Organisation and others have the details.


The sustainability of wool has been discussed many times. In a simple scenario, imagine a sheep living on a hillside that is


18 | Tomorrow’s Retail Floors


unsuitable for anything other than grazing. The sheep fertilises the land. The sheep produces a fleece which is shorn in the spring when the grass is plentiful. The sheep keeps the land tidy and prevents it from becoming overgrown with weeds and brambles. It has plenty of food, is healthy and fertile and has a lamb or perhaps a pair of lambs. The wool protects them from the harshest of the weather and, when summer comes and they don`t need it, is shorn off and they grow more.


Sheep in some countries are primarily bred for meat and wool is a greatly undervalued by-product. In order to maintain the countryside and the way of life for tens of thousands of sheep producers, we need to appreciate why wool is such an important fibre. By informing our customers about the real benefits of wool, we can ensure the viability of a natural resource that we really shouldn’t allow to disappear in favour of plastics.


Wool has many unique properties, including Sustainability, Bouncebackability, Breathability, Cleanability, Unflammability, Wearability and Biodegradability (on land and in the oceans). It is certainly an all-round performer.


That is why this could be the end of the beginning. The facts are known, the evidence is there for us all to see - that is the beginning. Hopefully, reading this article, perhaps realising why wool is worth looking into more closely than you have done so before, is the start of a new understanding as to why wool is worth a little more.


www.campaignforwool.org www.IWTO.org www.BritishWool.org www.woolcarpetsnaturally.org


www.tomorrowsretailfloors.com


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