Breaking Down Wool

Across Australia, millions of sheep lead largely carefree lives roaming vast paddocks almost every day of the year. Wool is a natural fibre grown by sheep that covers most of their body. The fleece protects sheep from the weather, keeping them warm during winter and cool during the hot summer. In Australia, where weather conditions can be particularly extreme, sheep live a mostly carefree life due to the natural insulating and cooling properties of their own wool. Australia produces about 345 million kilos of wool every year – about one quarter of the world’s wool. This makes Australia the world’s leading producer of wool, followed by China, Russia, New Zealand, Argentina, South Africa, the UK and Uruguay. 98% of Australia’s wool is exported, with the vast majority of this exported to China where it goes through the initial stages of its journey into becoming clothing. In fact, in 2017/18, the amount of Australian wool sold was equivalent to 869 million wool jumpers. The Australian sheep flock is overwhelmingly Merino. Merino wool is the highest quality wool, sourced from a breed of sheep called Merino. These sheep produce finer wool than other breeds, which means that the vast majority of Australian wool is suited to the manufacturing of the world’s highest quality apparel and high-end fashion garments. Shearing is the process of removing the fleece, which is just like getting a haircut as the wool grows right back. It’s for this reason that wool is truly renewable. There are about 4000 shearers in Australia who are highly-trained in the specific practice of shearing sheep. They do so with electric shears and are able to remove the fleece in one piece. It’s considered such a specialised skill that there are even national competitions to find Australia’s best shearer each year.

Citation:

Where does wool come from?: The Woolmark Company. Where Does Wool Come From? | The Woolmark Company. (2018, March 1). Retrieved December 1, 2021, from https://www.woolmark.com/fibre/woolgrowers/where-wool-comes-from/.