Wool Month Launch Hosted by Sir Nicholas Coleridge

Launching Wool Month this year kicked-off with a two-day pop-up event showcasing beautiful wool products, many available in stores this Autumn.

It was fantastic to see so many people and products come together to celebrate wool and the start of wool month. With over 100 brands on display at the event at 30 Old Burlington Street, highlighting how truly versatile wool really is. Campaign brand and retail supporters have worked, once again, to highlight wool and Limited Edition pieces for Wool Month which we greatly appreciate Launching the THRILL of wool and its many products and versatility, the theme for Wool Month this year honed-in on key areas where wool performs exceptionally.

The Versatility of Wool – Keep Warm With Wool

• Wrap yourself and your home in wool
• Wool has an inherent insulation and temperature regulation system, in fact research indicates wool flooring saves up to 20% on energy costs
• Wool’s natural thermo-regulation system means wool adapts to changes in temperature, keeping you cool when required and keeping you warm when it is hot

Circularity – Repurposing wool into new products

• The event saw the launch of Eco-Luxe and Rewound
• Eco-Luxe – tailors off cuts/wate is being transformed into new yarns, woven cloths and products created by the tailors in Savile Row. Spending months collecting the tailors excess fabric cuttings, Eco-Luxe collated over 200 kg of textile waste to ‘kick start’ the project using the new iinouiio ‘fibre opening’ machine. The yarn was spun at Camira, before being woven into cloth at Woven in The Bone, a micro mill in Scotland. The project has so far resulted in 36 metres of grey herringbone luxury cloth, the first of its kind used in Savile Row tailoring. It’s truly a step forward to a future with zero-waste tailoring and highlights the tailor’s recognition and importance of reducing textile waste that goes to landfill.
• Rewound – John Smedley have created the Re-wound collection – it consists of two parts, the first being the re-use of otherwise considered redundant yarns, which have been re-knitted into beautiful base layers, and the second taking this ethos of circularity even further and unwinding returned panels of knitwear and garments themselves to create new yarns, which can then be knitted into exceptional new sweaters.
• An important area for wool, as it is the most repaired, recycled and repurposed fibre

Women’s Tailoring – an area which is growing across all sectors and markets

• Worn by the ‘mother of the bride’, brides, Kate Middleton and many more for occasions not associated for wearing tailoring
• Casual, oversized and different proportions
• From high street to bespoke
• And with menswear also seeing an increase and a desire to ‘dress up’ with tailoring using a more casual styling

Planet Friendly – not forgetting this important area for wool as it naturally biodegrades

• Wool DOES NOT add to planet pollution – neither in the ocean or the land
• The ocean covers 78% of the world’s Earth and because it is biodegradable, wool has less impact on Marine life and artificial waste build up in the ocean.
• Wool will organically break down leaving oceans, sea and waterways safe and clean.
• When wool biodegrades it actually adds nutrients back into the soil
• Many fibres try to replicate wool’s inherent natural properties, none of which can achieve all of them in ONE fibre

Well-Being – For performance, healthy minds and skin

• Superfine wool is proven to help eczema prone skin, unlike cotton which keeps the skin in a moist environment
• Knitting is My Meditation – a craft which is known to have therapeutic benefits for relaxation and lowering heart rate
• When wool is used in active and performance wear it can benefit a multitude of activities and used in various wool types and microns suitable for each

 Innovation – enhancing the already known versatility and products using wool

• Innovation is key to maintain wool as a contemporary fibre
• Wool is being used in bio-resins for furniture, tree guards and golf tees
• Used in horticulture for growing healthy plants in pots that biodegrade into the soil, wool-matting and logos for peat restoration, protection form slugs and frosty weather
• Wool netting and ropes for new markets in the ocean and replacing plastic twine and products with wool
• Non-woven wool that allows the creation of new products, removing the weaving process to create durable cloths and structures

We appreciate the generosity of The Pollen Estate for the use of 30 Old Burlington Street.