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Wool is a caring friend of man

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Wool is a caring friend of man
Wool. When you pronounce the word, it already gets warm. Natural insulation known since primitive times. What is wool, what is the difference, and why is it so loved by the textile industry?
About properties
The basis of the wool formed by the guard and down hair of animals. Coarse, long, thick hair of the outer cover forms structure, volume, and serves as protection. Downy hair called undercoat. Soft. Thin and crimped, they maintain a comfortable body temperature. Microscopic pockets form in them, in which air trapped, so the animals do not overcool or overheat.
Wool is hygroscopic, breathes well. Able to absorb moisture up to forty percent of its own weight. The advantage of this property is that wool accumulates body evaporation, and, gradually transporting moisture outside, does not cease to warm. The downside is that wool increases in weight from water and dries for a long time, which can cause certain inconveniences during use.
If a woollen product is of high quality, due to the special chemical composition of the fibres, it has a therapeutic effect on the body.
Wool is antibacterial. The reason for the amazing feature lies in the negative electrical charge that nature has provided it. Wool fibres repels bacteria, does not absorb odours, and remains clean.

About structure
The structure of wool is directly dependent on the habitat of animals. Polar bears, for example, live in harsh climates and have a hollow fibres structure. Due to this structure, there are more air pockets, which for the better reflected in the thermal insulation properties. The feature has long noticed by clothing technologists and used when sewing thermal underwear. The Polar bear line of the famous «Accapi» brand designed for use in low temperatures. It sewn from jersey fabric made using natural hollow thread technology, imitating the wool structure of inhabitants of northern ice.
Australia is the main supplier of wool to the world market. More than a third of natural raw materials produced on the mainland.
About species
Several types of wool subjected to industrial processing.
Camel wool - usually the undercoat of animals. The wool is very warm, highly durable and hygroscopic, while being lightweight. Due to the hollow fibres structure, it has excellent thermal insulation and breathes well. Often in the production of threads, it combined with sheep's wool.
Goat (mohair, cashmere) or goat down - silky, smooth, pleasant to the touch wool with a uniform structure. Combing or shearing goats obtain raw materials. Down of Angora, Kashmir, Orenburg goats is the most popular raw material with elastic, thin hair 16-18 microns thick.
Exotic (alpaca, llama, vicuña) - wool obtained from distant relatives of camels. Products made of such wool are of high quality, they are lightweight, durable, pleasant texture, but expensive.
Sheep is the most popular and widely used wool in the light industry. Availability, low price category of raw materials in relation to the versatility of use, make it a favourite with consumers. Sheep wool has high strength and low thermal conductivity. The latter property allows it successfully use in protection from both heat and cold.

About marking
The spiral shape of the fibres makes the wool of the sheep dense and elastic. Products are voluminous, durable, with a good degree of thermal insulation.
Sheep wool varies in quality. There are several types of product.

Wolle. This marking used to designate medium quality pure sheep wool. It used in mass-produced items.

Schurwolle, new wool, virgin wool. High quality wool, with other fibres not exceeding 7 percent.

Sheep's wool. Premium quality wool, soft and silky. The first wool stripped from a lamb.

Merino wool. The marking indicates that you are holding a fleece of the highest quality, sheared from merino sheep.

Interestingly, the merino first bred in the 13th century in Spain, and the Spanish herders protected the breed for five centuries, preventing its breeding in other countries. Only after the siege of the country by the British in the 18th century, several heads fell into England, and then to Australia.

About characteristics
One of the main characteristics of wool, which determines its quality, is the fineness - the thickness of the hair. The fineness is measured in microns (one millionth of a meter) and indicates the cross-sectional diameter. The smaller the diameter, the better the quality of the wool fibres.

Tonin depends on gender, diet, keeping conditions, age, and breed characteristics. Young animals have thinner hair. Sheep also have finer wool.

The length, strength, crispness of the wool is of great importance. Fine wool sheep (including merino sheep) are the best suppliers of raw materials. The advantage of the merino over other breeds is that one sheep gives two to three times more fleece. The difference is in the white colour of the coat, good elasticity, pleasant softness, proportional ratio of length and fineness, and the presence of an optimal amount of white or creamy grease.

About application
Merino wool is the basis for the production of thermal underwear for athletes. The wool meets all the requirements for sportswear.

For example, clothing produced under the global brand Icebreaker is completely made of merino wool. The assortment consists of both warm clothes for the cold season and light items for hot summer days. The manufacturer considers merino wool to be the best raw material. Icebreaker garments are odourless and breathable compared to products made by other companies from conventional wool fibers. It is very warm, absorbs moisture and dries quickly. Soft things that do not cause skin irritation maintain body temperature well. The clothing endowed with a fire retardant function, providing a high degree of protection against UV rays.

The modern consumer chooses more and more eco-products. Pure merino yarn, for example, is very popular with knitters.

About leaving
As a natural organic material, wool requires careful handling. The service life of woollen products largely depends on the quality of their care. Care cannot called laborious, but there are a number of nuances.

Wool items are easy to clean. Both hand and mechanical wash allowed at a water temperature not exceeding 30 degrees. Before that, you need to turn the product inside out. A special mode used for machine wash. Use a water-based woollen detergent or regular shampoo. It not recommended using washing powder as it makes things harsh.

Drying also requires care. Do not twist things during spinning, dry them near heating devices. During drying, it is better to spread the item on a flat, ventilated surface.

Woollen things are very fond of moths. Special household chemicals and accessories will help keep your favourite clothes from the invasion of the gluttonous butterfly.

Afterword
The technologies for the production of artificial fibres have made great strides forward, and are improving every year, offering the consumer nano-forms. However, the natural biological material wool will always be a caring friend of man.