| |
history
raw materials
design
history
People soon began to develop and maintain herds of wool-bearing animals.
The wool of sheep was soon recognized as one of the most practical to
use. During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, wool trade prospered.
The English had become proficient in the raising of sheep, while the
Flemish had developed the skills for processing. As a result, the British
began to sell their wool to the Flemish, who processed the raw material
and then sold it back to the English.
The ambitious British soon realized the advantages of both producing
and processing their own wool. As Britain began to prosper, it sought
to enhance its position by enacting laws and embargoes that would stimulate
its domestic production. Some laws, for example, required that judges,
professors, and students wear robes made of English wool. Another law
required that the dead be buried in native wool. When the American colonies
began to compete with the motherland, the English passed a series of
laws in an attempt to protect their "golden fleece." One law
even threatened the amputation of the hand of any colonist caught trying
to improve the blood line of American sheep.
Today, wool is a global industry, with Australia, Argentina, the United
States, and New Zealand serving as the major suppliers of raw wool.
While the United States is the largest consumer of wool fabric, Australia
is the leading supplier. Australian wool accounts for approximately
one-fourth of the world's production.
What for centuries was a small home-based craft has grown into a major
industry. The annual global output is now estimated at 5.5 billion pounds.
Though cotton is the number one plant used for fabrics and the number
one fiber overall, the number one source for animal fiber is still wool.
top
Raw Materials
While most people picture only sheep when they think of wool, other
animals also produce fine protein fiber. Various camels, goats, and
rabbits produce hair that is also classified as wool.
In scientific terms, wool is considered to be a protein called keratin.
Its length usually ranges from 1.5 to 15 inches (3.8 to 38 centimeters)
depending on the breed of sheep. Each piece is made up of three essential
components: the cuticle, the cortex, and the medulla.
The cuticle is the outer layer. It is a protective layer of scales arranged
like shingles or fish scales. When two fibers come in contact with each
other, these scales tend to cling and stick to each other. It's this
physical clinging and sticking that allows wool fibers to be spun into
thread so easily.
The cortex is the inner structure made up of millions of cigar-shaped
cortical cells. In natural-colored wool, these cells contain melanin.
The arrangement of these cells is also responsible for the natural crimp
unique to wool fiber.
Rarely found in fine wools, the medulla comprises a series of cells
(similar to honeycombs) that provide air spaces, giving wool its thermal
insulation value. Wool, like residential insulation, is effective in
reducing heat transfer.
Wool fiber is hydrophilic-it has a strong affinity for water-and therefore
is easily dyed. While it is a good insulator, it scorches and discolors
under high temperatures. Each fiber is elastic to an extent, allowing
it to be stretched 25 to 30 percent before breaking. Wool does, however,
have a tendency to shrink when wet. top
Design
While some of the characteristics of wool can be altered through genetic
engineering of sheep, most of the modifications of design are implemented
during the manufacturing of the fabric. Wool can be blended with any
number of natural or synthetic fibers, and various finishes and treatments
can also be applied.
Different types of fleece are used in producing wool. Lambs' wool is
fleece that is taken from young sheep before the age of eight months.
Because the fiber has not been cut, it has a natural, tapered end that
gives it a softer feel. Pulled wool is taken from animals originally
slaughtered for meat and is pulled from the pelt using various chemicals.
The fibers of pulled wool are of low quality and produce a low-grade
cloth. Virgin wool is wool that has never been processed in any manner
before it goes into the manufacturing phase. This term is often misunderstood
to mean higher quality, which is not necessarily the case.
These wools and others can be used in the production of two categories
of woolen fabrics: woolens and worsteds. Woolens are made up of short,
curly fibers that tend to be uneven and weak. They are loosely woven
in plain or indistinct patterns. Usually woolens have a low thread count
and are not as durable as worsteds. They do, however, make soft, fuzzy,
and thick fabrics that are generally warmer than their counterparts.
The mechanization of the woolen cloth industry provides a heady example
of the extent of nineteenth-century industrial change. Every step of
the process, except shearing the sheep and sorting the wool into different
grades, was mechanized between 1790 and 1890. Only the organic aspects
of shearing live animals and the value judgments required of human sorters
resisted mechanical replication until the twentieth century.
Growth of the American woolen trade was based on more than mechanical
change, however. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, American
sheep provided wool that was quite satisfactory for "homespun,"
the rough, durable cloth woven by hand on looms owned by professional
weavers who set up shop or moved from town to town with their looms.
But domestic cloth was overshadowed in quality by imported material.
Several varieties of sheep bred in England and Europe produced wool
vastly superior in quality to American-produced wool. The importation
of breeds such as the English Southdowns and Spanish Merinos improved
domestic quality and allowed the American woolen industry to compete
with the best imports.
The Merino sheep, in particular, with their deeply wrinkled folds producing
large quantities of wool, caused a stir among American farmers in the
early part of the century. A few "gentlemen farmers" avoided
Spanish export restrictions and imported some Merinos. As wool prices
rose during the embargo of 1807, a "Merino craze" occurred
that pushed the price of fine wool and purebred animals to record levels.
Then, in 1810, an American diplomat arranged the importation of 20,000
purebred Merinos, and the woolen industry from Vermont to Pennsylvania
to Ohio was changed forever. top
William S. Pretzer
|