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Conscious. Chic. Functional. Style.
HEAR ME OUT. I love a cozy hug from a warm wool sweater as much as the next person. But when shearing sheep goes skin deep, who speaks for their bleating hearts?
Fashion trends come and go, but wool remains a staple. As it should! This favorite fiber is a gift from nature that boasts a formidable array of beneficial properties. Wonderful, warm, and wooly are a few thoughts that come to mind. Additionally, the structure of the wool fiber traps odors so you can wash wool clothes less, and wear them more. The perfect travel companion! Also, wool is a temperature regulator thanks to its coil-shaped moisture-trapping hair. If you are curious to understand the how, this blog post should scratch that itch: The Science Behind How Wool Keeps Us Warm in the Winter.
With so many benefits, it’s no wonder wool is a hot commodity. But here’s the problem- there are only so many sheep, right? Well, somewhere along the way, someone figured out that they could breed sheep to have extra wrinkles. Presto chango! More surface area for the wool to grow. Sound cute? Unfortunately, albeit obviously, it turns out that meddling with mother nature is not be the best idea.
What is mulesing?
Mulesing: a practice is so obscure that autocorrect flags the word as a misspelling.
The purpose of the painful, stressful, and crude process of mulesing is to prevent flystrike, which is when flies lay eggs in the folds of the animal’s skin. Without getting too graphic, we can suffice to say that mulesing involves slicing skin from around a young lamb’s backsides in order to remove the extra wrinkles so that flies can not lay eggs in the folds. If your curiosity has been piqued, you’ll likely want to read PETA’S article Mulesing by the Wool Industry. Trigger warning:
*WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT AHEAD. Proceed with caution.
This barbaric attempt to smooth the skin’s surface leaves the animal with exposed wounds that get infected. It’s important to note that the procedure is largely ineffective as many animals that undergo mulesing still suffer agonizingly slow deaths from flystike.
Luckily, there are a few great companies who have come out of the Dark Ages to produce wonderful wool wares without woe. And the more that we vote with our dollars, the more companies will offer non-mulesed wool items. That is why it’s so important to be an educated consumer! However, the fashion industry is notorious for its lack of transparency. In our “Sorry To Tell You” series, we remove the veil and expose truths so that you can act as a truly educated consumer. So let’s make sure you understand what you are putting on that beautiful body, shall we? Here are a few of our favorite companies that we think are worth checking out: