The Wool Wire | April 10, 2025
Looking backwards and forwards, from 11,000 years ago to the future of shearing, shepherds, spinners, and carbon neutrality.
News snippets from the wool world
Hello, my friends,
This week I propose that we take a look backwards before turning our gaze steadily toward our wooly future.
For the backward look, is 11,000 years far enough? That's the length of time that humans and sheep have coexisted and coevolved. An international team of researchers has been performing genetic analysis to better understand this coevolution, and it sounds fascinating.
Led by experts from Trinity College Dublin, LMU Munich, and the Bavarian State Collections of Natural History (SNSB), the team examined 118 genomes from archaeological bones.
These samples span 12 millennia and stretch from Mongolia to Ireland, revealing how sheep domestication evolved alongside human societies.
The study highlights the long legacy of mutual dependence between sheep and humans and shows what a significant role sheep have played in shaping our civilization.
Sanjana Gajbhiye
Now in Amsterdam
Speaking of mutual dependence, the Oltre Terra exhibit—which explores this 11,000-year paradox of mutual reliance between sheep and humans—is now at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam until July 13th.
The New York Times' Nina Siegal visited the show in Amsterdam and wrote this report. (Here's a gift link.)
I especially appreciate how the exhibit highlights the amount of wool that gets thrown away around the world every year—potentially upwards of 317,000 tons. How can we turn that around?
Speaking of Turning Things Around
From 11,000 years ago, we get into our time machine and move forward to 1980. That's the year Claire Wilson posed the question, “Why do we have sheep on our surrounding hills but no local wool to knit with?”
That question eventually led to the creation of The Green Mountain Spinnery, a beloved community mill based in Putney, Vermont. After reading this in-depth article about the mill in The Brattleboro Reformer, I have a renewed appreciation for what they've managed to accomplish. You even get a video tour of the mill with co-owner (and wool legend) David Ritchie.
Gordon Hayward
Bucking the Trend
Australia's wool production is forecast to drop by 12% this year, bringing it to levels that haven't been seen since 1921. But that hasn't stopped these three young Australian farmers from entering the business and finding reasons to be optimistic. I found this story very uplifting.
Lara Webster, Josh Becker and Tim Fookes
Bonus points for the video interviews and farm footage.
Teaching the Next Generation
If we're going to boost wool production and consumption around the world, we're going to need to address the significant ongoing global shortage of shearers. For those in the UK, British Wool will be running more than 100 shearing courses between April and August of this year (you'll find all the details on their website).
They even offer a significant discount for young farmers just starting out.
Brecon and Radnor Reporter
Top-Down Support
What better way to boost domestic industry than to invest in it from the top down? That's precisely what New Zealand's government announced it would do this week. Starting July 1st, government agencies will be directed to use wool fiber products "wherever practicable and appropriate" in the construction and refurbishment of government buildings.
“We’re showing our commitment to woollen fibres by leveraging government spending, to provide more targeted opportunities for wool producers,” says [Economic General Growth Minister Nicola] Willis. “This will help to increase jobs, employment, and drive economic growth.”
The move follows several incidents in which high-profile contracts were given to synthetic carpet manufacturers—a slap in the face for a country whose prized commodity is the wool carpet. It would be like Argentina opting to serve tofu at all state functions.
Staff Reporters
Leaving Good Footprints
It's been a decade since Allbirds first sprang into our world. There was a growth spurt, a much-vaunted IPO, and then a precipitous plummet. But they're still here, and they continue to try and push the envelope.
Allbirds' most recent innovation is the minimalistic new design called the M0.0NSHOT Zero. (No, I didn't get a pair.) Released in February, this limited-production shoe made headlines for having a zero carbon footprint that didn't rely on any offsets. This article explains how they did it, and how wool helped.
Not content to have figured it out for themselves, Allbirds wants to help other manufacturers pursue carbon neutrality in their products. So they've outlined all their steps and secrets in an "open-source toolkit" that's publicly available on their website.
And on that note, I'll let you go.
Thanks as always for your readership and your support.
Until next time,
Clara
