Having been used for thousands of years, wool is an extremely versatile textile fabric that has found a huge range of uses for its many different properties – softness and smoothness are attributed to more luxury goods as weatherproofing and warmth to more practical goods. British Wool have a great resource of information for finding out more about the different types of sheep and the different types of wool as well as how to care for some wool based products – but what are the most popular uses of wool today?
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Clothing –
One of the most familiar uses for wool will certainly be for clothing from woolly hats in the winter to lighter weight options for the summer too as it’s a great fabric for keeping cool but the different properties of wool also finds it being used in other scenarios – with its fantastic fire resistant properties, merino wool has been preferred in firefighters uniforms as it doesn’t melt or shrink for example, and it’s a great fabric for activewear as it’s a very high performance fibre that breaths very well and handles moisture better than ever some synthetic textiles that are available too.
Furnishings and bedding –
Not surprising once again but another very popular use for wool is within furnishing and bedding products. Much like clothing, the breathable properties make it greater for when its warmer weather and great for when its colder too, and with different properties for it being durable, soft, and very lightweight it fits a wide range of uses for furniture and for bedding too. For the crafty ones out there, it’s also great for a bit of DIY as wool has long been used for knitting and crochet and is a fantastic material for making clothes, sheets, and other textiles too.
Fertiliser –
A surprising use that may not cross the mind of many, but it actually works very well for this purpose – as a bio-degradable material and being very absorbent too, it finds a lot of use in mulch pads as an alternative to synthetic mulches with projects in other countries like Italy which could see unusable wool be turned into fertiliser instead of going to waste – for those looking to be more environmentally conscious, this can be a fantastic change to make in the garden to make use of wool that can’t be processed.
These are just a few of the many uses, wools as a material is extremely versatile and covers a huge range of industries and with a host of unique properties can often surprise those who even know a lot about it.
