The Wool Wire | December 8, 2025

Venus Williams in wool, more talk about methane, the story of vicuna, fighting for fineness, and traceability from WeatherWool

Clara Parkes

8 Dec 2025 — 5 min read

Toasty warm and chatting through the fence. // Photo by Duncan McNab / Unsplash

News snippets from the wool world

Hello, my friends,

It turns out that wool tennis balls weren't the only wool story at this year's US Open. We begin with an article that's ostensibly about the fact that Venus Williams chose to play in a Merino wool dress. But really, it does a superb job of highlighting wool's slow, steady pendulum swing back toward popularity, aided by the sustainability conversation.

Making do with methane

The previous article cites a Collective Fashion Justice report that made waves for calling wool the third-worst material for methane emissions. So it only makes sense for us to go there next. Or, more specifically, to an Apparel Insider article about that report.

CFJ’s report is the most comprehensive, likely only, report to date focusing solely on methane and animal-derived fibres. The paper estimates fashion’s methane footprint at 8.3 million tonnes per year and attributes roughly three quarters of that to animal-derived materials, namely leather, wool and cashmere.

However, the author notes...

There is a broader picture here. Total global methane emissions are in the order of six hundred million tonnes a year. On that baseline, CFJ’s 8.3 million tonnes is roughly 1.4 per cent of the total. If three quarters of that is animal-material related, the animal-fibre share is around one per cent of global methane.

That is not trivial, but it is also not the dominant slice of the global methane pie.

As I mentioned in the last Wool Wire, there's more to the methane story than meets the eye. It will be exciting to watch the science unfold. I find it encouraging that so many people are digging for answers before calling for the extermination of every grazing sheep on the planet.

What is wool?

When I say "wool," I'm referring to the fibers grown by a sheep. But for some, especially those who still adhere to the Wool Products Labeling Act of 1939, "wool" also can refer to the coats of other animals including goats, rabbits, alpacas, and the lesser-known vicuña.

The smallest of the camelids, the elusive vicuña grows an extremely fine fiber that was reserved for Inca royalty. Once hunted to near extinction, the vicuña is now a success story in how to balance luxury with sustainability.

I found this next article fascinating. Yes, it tells the vicuña story—but it's aimed at investors. And the author makes it abundantly clear that the value of vicuña fiber lies in its responsible conservation, not rampant extraction.

The vicuña wool industry exemplifies how conservation and commerce can coexist. For investors, it represents a niche but high-margin opportunity in a world increasingly valuing sustainability. Success here requires patience and alignment with local stakeholders, but the rewards—both financial and reputational—are substantial. As the luxury textile market evolves, vicuña wool stands out not just as a product, but as a testament to what responsible capitalism can achieve.

The fight for fineness

At up to $3,000 per kilo, vicuña is considered one of the finest and most expensive fibers in the world. But it certainly doesn't have a monopoly on the luxury fiber business. This next Financial Times article details the fashion industry's race for fineness—including some helpful perspective on the value of matching texture to garment and not simply obsessing about micron.

Still, I got a laugh out of the beautiful $1700 cashmere one-size "chore jacket" listed in the article. Maybe my definition of the word "chore" is old-fashioned, but I certainly couldn't imagine wearing such a thing while stacking firewood or mowing the lawn.

Taking traceability to a whole new level

If we're going to talk about beautiful chore jackets, I have to mention a company I waxed poetic about in our most recent Flock Talk. The American outerwear brand WeatherWool takes domestic manufacturing and traceability to a whole new level.

Starting with raw fiber purchased in 2018, they've added a Batch Tag to every woven product. That number will tell you everything you didn't even know you could know about a garment—not just where the wool came from but also details about who shipped, scoured, dyed, spun, wove, finished, marked, cut, and sewed the garment, the lab report for those wool fibers, how many were in the batch...the list goes on.

They, too, have a chore coat similar to that one-size $1700 cashmere one I mentioned earlier. Only theirs comes in nine sizes (with women's sizing on the way) and five colors of their 100% wool denim, costs $575, and looks far more likely to survive whatever chores you might throw at it.

Sew what?

For those who prefer to make their own clothes, WeatherWool also sells several of its custom wool fabrics by the yard—which makes this next video a must-watch. It's from the fine people at Seamwork, and it highlights five common mistakes to avoid when sewing with wool.

Are things looking up?

And finally, here's some encouraging wool data for you. In 2024, the global wool market was valued at $42 billion. It's estimated to end this year at a value of $43.9 billion. And by 2033, with any luck, it'll have grown to $56 billion.

These are all estimates, of course. But the important part is that the numbers are on an upward swing. So let's keep it going!