Wool for the Win!
By Karina | August 16, 2010
It is no surprise to many of you to hear that I love wool. it’s true! after Jenn and I expounded on our love for the icebreaker clothing, I’ve been watching the season-end sales and scooping up tank tops and underpants and leggings whenever I could. By now I’ve got a good set of indispensables, and I’m so glad to have these wonderful items of performance clothing.
This weekend, though, I got to try out a wide range of the wonder of wool. I went away with friends on the motorcycles up to Lake George. It was lovely! And because it’s upstate New York State in the summer we ranged between temperatures in the upper 80s to the mid 50s. And through it all, my wool clothing was a stalwart and comfortable aid. Motorcycling can get really hot - especially under your protective gear! and for the trip up and around Lake George I wore a wool tank, which kept me cool in the sun but kept insulating when the sweat chilled on my skin in a stiff breeze. And added bonus, wool doesn’t get stinky like other clothes do, so the tank was a great versatile option and my wool socks were the obvious smart choice inside my motorcycle boots. Once we reached our destination I just changed into a skirt and we were ready to go out on the town.
The real test was the trip home, though - about halfway through the ride it started to rain, and we made the decision to push through rather than stopping to fiddle with rain gear. I was wearing a t-shirt and when we started off it was chilly, so I had a light weight long sleeve wool shirt on over the shirt and under my not-at-all waterproof motorcycle jacket. I was pretty comfortable as we were riding, but as we got nearer to home hands started to get cold and gas tanks started to empty so we stopped at a gas station for fuel and warm drinks. So as we drank our hot chocolates, I remembered Jenn’s sage advice that “cotton kills!” and took off my cotton t-shirt, put back on the sopping wet light weight long sleeve wool shirt, and topped the outfit off with a zip-up wool sweater. While I was in the bathroom changing I uncuffed and pulled my very long wool socks up over my knees, and thanked my lucky stars I had on wool underpants. When we got back on the bike I put on my wool glove liners under my motorcycling gloves and we made the rest of the trip home in relative comfort - even though I was absolutely SODDEN, and when I got home I could squeeze water out of my clothes because they were so soggy. Now, the temperature was in the low 70s and there’s a kind of general rule of thumb that when you’re motorcycling you should consider the temperature to be about 20 degrees colder than it is, so I have to say - if I didn’t have on the amazing insulating wool clothes on, to be out in the rain in 50 degree weather for 3 or 4 hours? would have been a Very Bad Idea. As it was, I made it home safely and happily, and changed into yet ANOTHER wool sweater to recover on the couch with some delicious dinner.
So! Wool for the Win!
What has your favorite item or type of clothing been this summer?
[[Photo of adorableness by flickr user chrissthegirl via creative commons license.]]
Topics: Transportation, Yoga & Fitness | 8 Comments »
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scrutinizing…just so ur readers can be educated on why not to choose wool…i think there are other choices for warmth be great to read about some here..
and addendum of course its one thing if there’s no option but in the usa we got tons of options….sorry to be my usual positive self but to tell you the truth with all the global warming we won’t have to worry about layering just right in the future…michele z
“One might think that wool production is benign…like getting a haircut, and perhaps it was that way before sheep were bred for constant wool production, rather than seasonal production linked to their natural molting schedule. Now, sheep are sheared before they naturally would shed their winter coats, then the wool grows back during the summer months. Many sheep die of exposure (heat and cold) every year.
Worst of all is a technique called mulesing. Merino sheep produce the most wool because they are bred to have the most folds of skin. Unfortunately all those folds of skin become breeding grounds for fly infestations around their tail area. The factory farm solution for this problem is to carve off folds of skin, yes, their skin…hoping to create a smooth, scarred surface where the flies can’t lay eggs. And no, they don’t use anaesthesia for that either.”
oh, so sad and not cruelty free at all. :(
are there any ethically raised/sheared sheep left out there? any companies doing OK things with the sheep?
If you read the icebreaker links up above, you’ll find that the icebreaker clothing Jenn and I have been wearing is touted as carefully raised with a full lifecycle control over the shepards, shearing, spinning and knitting, and transport.
and also there’s a lot of discussion on why the only other option for performance clothing - petroleum based materials - is not for me!
please do take a read on our posts about the icebreaker wool, and I know that many other responsible fabric manufacturers are careful to avoid factory farm solutions, as you say. also smaller farmers (i.e., not factory farmers) can’t afford to lose sheep every year to exposure. it’s all about knowing your farmer, just as vegetables are! and knowing where your clothing manufacturer is getting their supply.
I’d add also that for people who are trying to minimize their petroleum usage as well as avoid cruelty - there’s a harsh dichotomy set up, right? do we just tell people that they can’t go outside and enjoy the environment they’re working so hard to protect, because there aren’t suitable clothing options for them? that’s something that I struggle with sometimes, and something that makes me work that much harder to track down what “my” farmers are doing.
it is a nasty dichotomy, for sure.
sorry that i didn’t click on all the links … i’m actually allergic to wool so i knew i wouldn’t be buying any of the products. ;) good to know that there are some manufacturers out there that are being responsible.
this summer (like most), i lived in bathing suits and sarongs. each year i pretend i live in hawaii for the jersey summer … ;)
On most of the outdoor marketed marino wool that is ‘name brand’ you will find that the practice of mulesing is not used. This is clearly marked on the package and in New Zealand, where most of this wool is sourced, this is big business, so there are checks going on there to be sure this is not happening (but that is only for those who say they don’t do it, not for the industry there as a whole). Marino sheep are mainly breed for the actual quality of the wool and not the quanity. The wool fibres are finer and softer then those from other breeds, hence the no itch factor in wool from marino sheep.
There is something else that is critical to consider and that is the source of the information about the wool industry. The rules about these kind of industries differ greatly from country to country. The idea of using growth hormone in beef is accepted in the American beef industry but forbiden in most Eurpean countries. The same goes for the feed lot thing. Allowed in some countries, forbiden in others. So you need to know the source of your wool industry information vs the source of your wool.
Thanks for the timely reminder about your beloved Icebreaker clothing…each time you mention it, I think “I need to get some of this stuff,” and then I don’t pull the trigger. Now that I’ve signed up for a winter half-marathon, I need some good base layers, so I’ll be saving my pennies for a few good pieces. What are your “must-haves” for cold weather? (I do have good socks and gloves, so I’m set there - whew!)