There are a lot of good things to mention about wool. As founders and creators of SoLP wool is our most important fibre with which we work. As creators we want to make beautiful things, as Global Citizens we want to keep our CO2 footprint as low as we possibly can. Wool is normally given by sheep, in some cases by their colleagues goats. The herds of sheep which graze the mountains in Portugal or Canada are huge contributors to bio diversity; they eat aggressive newcomer plants and keep the plains open. Sheep herds can be kept on the same slopes forever, impossible to compare to crops like cotton which needs to be stopped after 2 to 3 years to avoid exhaustion of the acres on which it grows. Also wool, given by these sheep does not request any chemicals or pesticides to grow it. We make sure that we are using non mulesing yarn, easy to avoid as we don't use any Australian merino wool. Wool in general is sustainable, durable, and easy to recycle; once you can't use these fibers anymore for yarns, it can be used in the paper industry or as a natural isolating layer between 2 walls.
The good thing about wool is that it keeps you warm in the cold and cool during heat; the wool fiber is curly by nature and keeps a lot of air in it. The more wool in the fiber, the warmer it is. Next to being durable and recyclable wool is a fantastic fiber to regulate sound, and when set on fire it slows the flames down and finally it extinguishes the fire completely.
100% woolen blankets and clothing are hypo allergene; if the quality of the knit or the woven surface is ok it keeps the lanoline, which makes the product water repellant and keeps dirt, molts and dust mites away. These are important sources for allergies.
In particular our woven blankets are heavy (2,5 kilos), they guarantee deep, wel divided pressure on your body, an important factor for a good of night of sleep. If adults, but also children are suffering from insomnia, stress, ADHD or a burn out the effect of a heavy blanket is proven to have a positive effect on the individual, this was already known by the Native Americans and Canadians who kept their elderly and children in particular under one or even two heavy blankets.
In our online shop we are happy to announce that have knitted and woven blankets in different weight, handknitted Cowichan inspired jackets from Canada and recycled yarn knitwear, knitted in small community family lead factory in the North of Portugal. As you can tell we are fans, what about you?