Where Can I Buy Merino Wool Near Me WORK
Say goodbye to the stereotypes you may have heard about old school wool, and say hello to super soft, comfortable, easy to care for merino wool. Qualities like high insulation and low air permeability have now made merino wool a performance favorite for outdoor apparel, socks and thermal underwear.
where can i buy merino wool near me
Minus33 Merino Wool is also machine washable and dry-able, thanks to Total Easy Care technology. Developments initiated by Australian Wool Innovation and the Woolmark Company have delivered Merino Wool garments that are no longer hand-wash only. Learn all about caring for merino wool.
Wearable Year RoundNatural comfort, ability to keep you warm in cool temperatures and cool in warmer temperatures, resistance to odor, resistance to static, breathability, hypoallergenic properties, and moisture management make merino wool clothing a no-brainer for your next adventure - no matter the conditions.
Merino wool comes from Merino sheep. This breed of sheep originated in Spain in the twelfth century before being brought to Australia in 1797. Today most merino wool comes from sheep in Australia and New Zealand.
Making a garment with merino wool can use twice as much material compared to conventional wool. The fine fibers of merino require additional layering. We believe that the cost is justified for a natural, sustainable fabric like merino.
In socks, merino wool is often blended with lycra for elasticity and a snug fit. Clothing companies also blend merino with nylon or polyester for increased durability. A nylon blend is generally more durable but also more expensive than a polyester blend.
Merino wool is an entirely natural, renewable and biodegradable fiber. Our Merino wool is sustainably sourced from certified-humane sheep farmers in Australia and New Zealand. Here are our top 5 reasons why we love merino wool clothing.
We stand by our homegrown merino wool socks and our promise to help you feel better. If you're not happy with your compression or Everyday Comfort socks, contact us and we'll take care of you. We want you to love your Sockwell socks!
We offer awesome colors like Denim, Blue Ridge, Ash, Mineral, and Raspberry. Our patterns include bold geometrics, sassy stripes, happy hearts, fancy florals, and super block solids. And we go to the height of your style, too, with sock lengths from no-shows and micros to quarter, crew, and knee high. No matter your style, we have a merino wool sock for you!
Sockwell is committed to supporting our community by sourcing our merino wool right here in the USA! We source our fiber blends from responsible, sustainable sources and local farmers so we can spread the joy and keep resources close to home.
Our merino wool socks are made in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as well as our mills located in North Carolina and Alabama. We hold all our global meetings in Chattanooga so our community flourishes from the travel business we bring in, too. We stand by our commitment to quality in our community and yours.
That being said, there are some tradeoffs for this wonder textile. It can be more fragile and less durable, both in wearing and washing, which is why we considered both 100% merino wool layers and merino wool blends (with a majority of merino greater than 60%).
Nuyarn takes the soft touch of merino wool and spins it around a nylon core, greatly increasing its durability and stability. And since the fiber is drafted as opposed to twisted, it retains all of the high-loft softness and breathability we love about merino.
When comfort is king, the Ridge Merino Journey and Wander Merino Wool Shirts are high on our list of most cozy merino wool shirts.
Most merino wool shirts tend to use as high of a percentage of merino wool as they can get away with while still receiving the benefits of polyester. We prefer at least 75% merino wool in our blended fabrics. In our testing, it was no surprise the 100% merino shirts were the softest of the bunch.
Technologies like the Nuyarn used in the KUIU ULTRA Merino 120 LT SS Crew-T draft merino wool around a nylon core in order to offer the benefits of nylon while avoiding compressing the merino wool.
If you know you want a natural fabric that comes with all the soft, cooling, and wicking properties that merino has, keep the price in mind ($80 for a tee?!). It sounds ridiculous at first, but the price does truly reflect the quality of merino wool fabric.
The three theories of the origins of the Merino breed in Spain are: the importation of north African flocks in the 12th century;[7] its origin and improvement in Extremadura in the 12th and 13th centuries;[8] the selective crossbreeding of Spanish ewes with imported rams at several different periods, so that its characteristic fine wool was not fully developed until the 15th century or even later.[9] The first theory accepts that the breed was improved by later importation of north African rams and the second accepts an initial stock of north African sheep related to types from Asia Minor, and both claim an early date and largely north African origin for the merino breed.[10]
The third theory, that the Merino breed was created in Spain over several centuries with a strong Spanish heritage, rather than simply being an existing north African strain that was imported in the 12th century, is supported both by recent genetic studies and the absence of definitely merino wool before the 15th century. The predominant native sheep breed in Spain from pre-Roman times was the churro, a homogeneous group closely related to European sheep types north of the Pyrenees and bred mainly for meat and milk, with coarse, coloured wool. Churro wool had little value, except where its ewes had been crossed with a fine wool breed from southern Italy in Roman times.[15] Genetic studies have shown that the Merino breed most probably developed by the crossing of churro ewes with a variety of rams of other breeds at different periods, including Italian rams in Roman times, north African rams in the mediaeval period, and English rams from fine-wool breeds in the 15th century.[16][17]
Although Spain exported wool to England, the Low Countries and Italy in the 13th and 14th centuries this was only used to make cheap cloths. The earliest evidence of fine Spanish wool exports were to Italy in the 1390s and Flanders in the 1420s, although in both cases fine English wool was preferred. Spain became noted for its fine wool (spinning count between 60s and 64s) in the late 15th century, and by the mid-16th century its merino wool was acknowledged to equal that of the finest English wools.[18][19]
The earliest documentary evidence for merino wools in Italy dates to the 1400s, and in the 1420s and 1430s, merino wools were being mixed with fine English wool in some towns in the Low Countries to produce high quality cloth.[20][21] However, it was only in the mid-16th century that the most expensive grades of cloth could be made entirely from merino wool, after its quality had improved to equal that of the finest English wools, which were in increasingly short supply at that time.[22]
Preserved mediaeval woollen fabrics from the Low Countries show that, before the 16th century, only the best quality English wools had a fineness of staple comparable to modern merino wool. The wide range of Spanish wools produced in 13th and early 14th centuries were mostly used domestically for cheap, coarse and light fabrics, and were not merino wools.[23] Later in the 14th century, similar non-merino wools were exported from the northern Castilian ports of San Sebastián, Santander, and Bilbao to England and the Low Countries to make coarse, cheap cloth.[24][25] The quality of Spanish wools exported increased markedly in the late 15th century, as did their price, promoted by the efforts of the monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella to improve quality.[26][27]
Before the 18th century, the export of Merinos from Spain was a crime punishable by death. In the 18th century, small exportation of Merinos from Spain and local sheep were used as the foundation of Merino flocks in other countries. In 1723, some were exported to Sweden, but the first major consignment of Escurials was sent by Charles III of Spain to his cousin, Prince Xavier the Elector of Saxony, in 1765. Further exportation of Escurials to Saxony occurred in 1774, to Hungary in 1775 and to Prussia in 1786. Later in 1786, Louis XVI of France received 366 sheep selected from 10 different cañadas; these founded the stud at the Royal Farm at Rambouillet. In addition to the fine wool breeds mentioned, other breeds derived from Merino stocks were developed to produce mutton, including the French Ile de France and Berrichon du Cher breeds. Merino sheep were also sent to Eastern Europe where their breeding began in Hungary in 1774[35]
Two of Eliza Furlong's (sometimes spelt Forlong or Forlonge) children had died from consumption, and she was determined to protect her surviving two sons by living in a warm climate and finding them outdoor occupations. Her husband John, a Scottish businessman, had noticed wool from the Electorate of Saxony sold for much higher prices than wools from New South Wales. The family decided on sheep farming in Australia for their new business. In 1826, Eliza walked over 1,500 miles (2,400 km) through villages in Saxony and Prussia, selecting fine Saxon Merino sheep. Her sons, Andrew and William, studied sheep breeding and wool classing. The selected 100 sheep were driven (herded) to Hamburg and shipped to Hull. Thence, Eliza and her two sons walked them to Scotland for shipment to Australia. In Scotland, the new Australia Company, which was established in Britain, bought the first shipment, so Eliza repeated the journey twice more. Each time, she gathered a flock for her sons. The sons were sent to New South Wales, but were persuaded to stop in Tasmania with the sheep, where Eliza and her husband joined them.[45] 041b061a72