The Price of Wool

As I was driving into Fakenham this morning, (very early as I was manning the road closure barriers for the Fakenham Food Market), I heard on the radio the news that at long last the price of wool is going up. For years now, the price of a fleece has been less than the cost of shearing it, but that has apparently changed this year. The person on the radio, who I think was from the British Wool Marketing Board (British Wool), said that more carpets are being made again and that a lot of the wool is being used in bedding, as well as there being an upturn in people looking for natural, biodegradable fibres to wear.

British Wool operates the central marketing system for British fleece. It represents around 30,000 registered wool producers across the UK and is a farmer’s organisation built on cooperative principles. It works to collect, grade, promote and sell fleece wool to the global textile industry for flooring, furnishing and clothing. It is a not-for-profit organisation aimed at helping farmers and promoting learning about fleece. It is not the only place that you can get raw wool of course. I know that Fibreworkshop purchases her Norfolk Horn Fleece directly from the farmers. And Jamieson & Smith are woolbrokers in Shetland, fulfilling a similar role to British Wool, but on behalf of the Shetland sheep farmers.

The price of wool, of course, is about more than the cost of the fleece. Processing wool is a complicated thing – it has to be washed, carded or combed and then spun and dyed before it hits our shelves. Not to mention the cost of raising the animals from which it comes, and shearing the wool. I am often a bit exasperated when people tut at the cost of a ball of Colour Lab DK, when one considers what goes into creating it.

When you purchase wool that is processed in the UK such as West Yorkshire Spinners, John Arbon Textiles and Jamieson & Smith, you can know that you are helping out British farmers and factories in difficult times. If you have a wider world view, many of the yarns I stock are produced by co-operatives in different parts of the world that allow people, particularly women, the opportunity to earn a fair living. For example Knitting for Olive’s mohair which comes from South Africa, or Malabrigo‘s merino which is produced in South America. I try very hard to check the provenance of the wool I sell, to ensure that it is fairly traded and sustainably produced, and I believe that a slightly higher price is worth paying if it means that the producers will be getting a fair price for their wool.

As a business person I know that I should be concerned about an increase in the price of wool, but I was very cheered by the news this morning, because I believe that wool should be more valuable than it is. It is such an amazing fibre, after all. Cool in summer, warm in winter, self cleaning and completely biodegradable. What more could you want?