Scottish clothing manufacturers have teamed up to explore a new process to treat coarse wool in a bid to make it more suitable for use in clothing and other textile products.
The project is looking into ways to use thick, coarse, sheep fleece to become more suitable.
Highlands-based sustainable weaver and zero-waste clothing maker, Prickly Thistle Scotland has partnered with woollen mill Johnstons of Elgin to explore a new process that could see natural, eco-friendly Scottish wool fibres used more widely in the Scottish textiles industry.
The research project is being conducted by the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) and the University of Edinburgh.
As part of the feasibility study, chemistry researchers aim to use enzymes that naturally decompose wool to treat the fibres in a controlled way to achieve a thinner, softer material.
Variables such as the temperature, quantity of the enzyme and length of time the fibres are treated for will be tested to deliver the best outcome.
Despite there being more than six million sheep in Scotland, it can cost farmers more to shear a sheep than the fleece is worth, and homegrown wool fleece is most likely to be used for carpeting or hard-wearing upholstery instead of clothing. In some cases, it is disposed of on the farm site.
As well as increasing the value of the natural material, the project could also have environmental benefits.
The impact of fashion is widely reported: globally, less than 1% of fabrics are recycled as clothing, and more than 60% are derived from petrochemicals.
Less than 2% of textiles come from animal fibres and, in Scotland, the majority of the yarn used in luxury clothing such as cashmere and Merino wool is imported from overseas.
Initial results from the study are expected later this year, which will determine whether a suitable yarn quality can be achieved and used in future products designed by both Prickly Thistle and Johnstons of Elgin.
The project team also hopes to share their findings with the wider wool industry, in the hope of opening up a new Scottish supply chain and contributing to the sector’s regeneration.
Clare Campbell, founder of Prickly Thistle Scotland, said: “Textiles is the second most damaging sector in environmental terms and, therefore, a widespread shift away from petrochemical-based products and disposable fast-fashion cannot come soon enough.
“However, as agriculture tends to be driven by meat yield for livestock breed choices, the trade-off has been that farmers currently earn very little for their wool fleece.
“This project could be the catalyst for a significant shift in Scotland’s approach to manufacturing homegrown clothing and fabrics, bringing our native fleece to a point where we can use more of it for a much wider range of products than ever before.”
Chimaeze Onyeiwu, procurement and technical director - cashmere and wool, at Johnstons of Elgin, said: “This project represents an alignment of sustainable goals, industrial know-how and industrial biological expertise. We are channelling this towards elevating the value of Scottish textiles, by attempting to regenerate the quality of Scottish wools through controlled enzymatic treatment.”
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