Sustainable Wool, What does that mean? No more mulesing
Understanding what it means to have ‘sustainable wool’ means understanding the terrible world of mulesing. I’m sorry to have to go into all this here, but it just can’t be avoided I’m afraid…
The antiquated practice of mulesing:
Mulesing is the removal of strips of wool-bearing skin from around the breech (buttocks) of a sheep to prevent the parasitic infection known as flystrike (myiasis). Flystrike occurs when flies lay eggs in the often urine and feces-infested folds of a sheep’s (usual a merino) skin, only for those eggs to hatch into maggots that can eat a sheep alive.
Much less than a painless process of getting a shave, though, mulesing is often barbaric. Farmers typically restrain the sheep on their backs, with their legs between metal bars. Without the use of any painkillers or sedatives, they then carve huge chunks of skin away from the animal’s backside, or attach vise-like clamps to the flesh until it dies and sloughs away. Both of these procedures are terribly painful. On top of which, many animal’s that undergo this procedure still end up suffering the slow death of flystrike, when the flies infest the bloody wounds.
In very recent years, several of the more progressive fashion companies have pledged to start the move away from mulesed wool. We at Watson Ellis have been stepping up to the plate as well, by adopting a certified Responsible Wool Standard (which incorporates non-mulesing). What this means, in effect, is that we’re now offering wools that are certified humane (OEKO-TEX), as well as being fully traceable through blockchain. We’re also encouraging our mills in every way we can to further adopt this anti-mulesing approach.
To be clear, the cruel practice of mulesing has only come to light in the last 5-10 years. As such, mills and fashion brands are still in the process of turning a very big ship around and moving towards non-mulesing. It’ll take time. I truly wish I could say that none of our fabrics come from mulesed animals, but this is just not a viable reality as yet. We’re trying, and looking forward to that future.
If you’re interested in exclusively non-mulesing fabrics, here are some of the fabric book options we have on offer —
Tonik Wool & ECHO by Dormeuil
Australis Super 150’s Native Australian Merino by Loro Piana
Australis Natural Stretch Summer Super 150’s by Loro Piana
Tasmanian Super 170’s Ultra fine Australian merino by Loro Piana
Currently the only quality with certified wool is ETHOS super 170’s by Piacenza
The Piacenza book is certainly a current favorite, in light of this description: “Drawn from certified sustainable sources to guarantee high performance by making an ethical use of resources, with complete respect for nature and an eye on the future. Environmental sustainability translates into a cloth that takes excellence into account at every stage in its production. With Ethos, the future is a desire that we wear.”
Here’s to a non-mulesing future!