When you think of wool, you think of sheep… right? This is normal considering that sheep wool is the most common form of the material. However, there is an abundance of other species that also grow wool – read on to learn more!
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Goats
- There are several different types of wool that come from goats, including one of the more popular forms of wool, cashmere:
- Cashmere is a superfine wool (15-19 microns) that has been popular in the fashion world for many decades. There is also an ultra-fine variety (12-15 microns) called pashmina. Both are well-known for their softness
Llamas
Llamas have both a fine undercoat and a course outer layer of wool. This wool comes in a variety of different colours due to the wide range of natural colours that llamas can have!
Alpacas
There are actually two types of alpaca: Huacaya and Suri.
- Huacaya produce dense and soft fibres
- Suri produce silky fibre that resembles dreadlocks!
Alpacas have been bred in South America for millennia, but in recent years countries such as USA, Australia and New Zealand have adopted the animal.
Sheep
Regardless of the variety of species that grow wool, sheep are the undisputed kings of wool. They were first domesticated around 10,000 years ago, and are still vastly used around the globe, from the U.K. to China (much like premier league footballers nowadays)
Global wool production is estimated to be around 2 million tonnes per year! This equates to around 500,000,000 sheep being sheered around the world each year!
On this website you can read a variety of articles detailing the great properties that makes sheep wool the largest produced type of the material!
Standard Wool have been trading wool for centuries.
For more information visit us at www.standardwool.co.uk.
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