Martin Curtis explains the extraordinary work that goes into British wool.

I am an economist, wool marketer, wool merchant, wool processor, carpet manufacturer and have more than 30 years’ experience within the British wool trade, having sold British wool all over the world.

One British wool that particularly took my interest and that my son works with today is Real Shetland Wool, wool sourced exclusively in the Shetland Islands by crofters and sheep farmers. Every individual fleece is graded and sorted for quality by Jamieson and Smith aka ‘The Woolbrokers’. They buy the vast majority of wool that is grown in the Shetland Islands and pay the growers a proper price for it in record time. Fast pay makes friends fast in the wool world!

The sorted wool goes to our family’s scouring plant in Bradford, Haworth Scouring Ltd, which washes the wool and removes dirt, grease and other unmentionables from the fleeces. Haworth is the most environmentally friendly scour of its type in the world and has more certificates and badges than the Chief Scout!

Once scoured the wool goes to our combing department where it is carded and combed into a continuous sliver, called a top, which then goes to the spinner. This is called the worsted route – if you miss out the combing it is the woollen route. The difference is that by combing the wool all the fibres are made parallel and are smoother to the touch. The easiest example is if one compares a Harris Tweed cloth to a fine smooth suiting cloth. The Harris Tweed is woollen and the smooth suiting cloth is worsted. Both processes have their merits and much depends on what sort of a product you want to make as to which one is best.

The spinner will take the combed top and rework it so that it is suitable for their plant. The yarn for this range is a 2 ply which means two finer yarns are spun individually and are then twisted together to make a single thicker but strong yarn.

The yarn then goes to the dyer. The thickness of the yarn and the shades it is being dyed to are subject to much discussion and thought and designers have a great deal of input here. Considerations include whether they coordinate, whether it is economical and how they will look when put together.

So, at this stage we have yarn on cone in dozens of different shades and we need to get it woven into cloth. However, before we can start weaving we have to know what cloth designs we want and then get those designs translated into a form the weaver can work with. This is where we asked a team of highly talented designers for their help. They have the shades to work with and a blank canvas to create something special. We work with designers of some of the top labels in the world (I don’t think I can mention their names here but think of the highest high-end names and they have worked with them!). They draw the designs and colour them in the chosen shades and show us what they had come up with.

Our aim is to make a product that we are all be proud of and is also excellent value for money. In terms of the amount of money the farmer gets for his wool then it is never enough. In terms of the price we have to pay for it, it is probably reasonable. In terms of the price we can get for it from our spinner and manufacturing customers it is far too high!

As merchants and early stage processors we form a vital link in the chain from the farm to the manufacturer. At Haworth Scouring we can wash the whole of the British wool clip and still have room for plenty more. The yarn spinners, tufters and weavers all do their jobs and in the end we have a wonderful array of woollen products in the shops that we all take for granted!

Of course, each one of us in the chain has the hardest job to do. The farmer has to tend his flock, feeding the animals through terrible weather, ensuring lambing goes well and that ewe and offspring are healthy. He or she then has to shear the sheep.

Quite a task but ours is greater.

We have to buy the wool, pay for it, sometimes sort it, mix it together with other qualities of wool in order to get it just right, wash it, dry it and sometimes comb it. We have to buy it at the right price and we have to sell it at the right price. We take huge risks - we often sell wool that has yet to be shorn from the sheep. Our customers sometimes delay the take-up of wool on contract and sometimes they ask for contracts to be swapped for different types of wool.

We are a service sector all of our own and when prices rise we have to pay more for wool and lose money and when prices fall we often struggle to deliver it. Ours is a very difficult job and that is why there aren`t many of us left.

Nevertheless, manufacturers think they have the toughest job.

They have to buy wool from us and think we charge them far too much for it. They have a huge amount invested in the plants where they spin, weave, and tuft and they have to sell their finished products to retailers who insist on hitting price points in their stores irrespective of what it costs to make the product in the first place!

Retailers also have a tough job.

They have to mark up the cost of the product they are trying to sell many times over and they have to pay rates, rent, staff costs, heat and light and advertising. Then, they have to charge VAT at 20%!

It is all too easy to take for granted what each of us in the industry has to do in order to create and sell such a wonderful product. To add value to something, to create proper jobs, to produce something of real worth.

At the end of the day that is very satisfying and is actually priceless.

PS: Please remember, if something calls itself Shetland wool it probably isn’t genuine unless it has the registered trade mark, the 3 Sheep logo on it.

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This article first appeared in Smallholder magazine. Find your copy at a local newsagent or subscribe by emailing subscriptions@warnersgroup.co.uk or call 01778 392011.