Tennis legend Venus Williams turned heads at this yr’s U.S. Open, carrying a high-fluff shearling tennis racket case by small Venice Seaside model ERL. She flashed extra sheep-forward vogue whereas enjoying with John McEnroe in a black Merino wool gown by Brooklyn designer Luar.
For greater than 10,000 years, wool was an OG outside fiber. Like Merino sheep, individuals profit from wool’s temperature-regulating properties in excessive chilly and warmth. Athletes like its moisture-deflecting, odor-resistant properties.
In a number of brief many years, although, stretchy artificial blends grew to become the supplies to beat in sports activities. Professional leagues play in extremely engineered polyester, nylon, spandex and elastane. Light-weight, fast-drying and extremely specialised blends endure friction, torque and frequent washings. Adidas, Nike, Puma and Below Armour are persevering with their commitments to synthetics for uniforms, but in addition investing in recycling techniques and startups to slim the virgin petro-fibers from their local weather footprints.
And with these synthetics making up two-thirds of all fashions, many youthful adults have little expertise with wool, considering of the itch issue of rougher fibers relatively than pliable, cushiony Merino.
A ‘breakout’ for wool?
However now, sustainability specialists see the pendulum swinging again.
“Something that one of many Williams sisters is selling might be a breakout second in tennis merchandise,” stated Cynthia Energy, a former Eileen Fisher director who co-hosts the Untangling Circularity podcast.
Wool makes up simply lower than 1 % of the worldwide fiber combine, in line with the Worldwide Wool Textile Group (IWTO). That was about 1,000,000 metric tons’ value in 2023, based mostly on a depend by the Textile Alternate.
Nonetheless, the demand for pure textiles will nudge the annual wool market from $43.9 billion in 2025 to $52.6 billion by 2030, with annual progress just below 4 %, in line with Mordor Intelligence.
And whereas model giants are usually not but championing wool, quite a few small corporations are utilizing the fabric, casting it as freed from the chemical and carbon burdens of oil-based fibers. The listing of those makers consists of Mons Royale, Ibex, Devold, Woolx, Woolly, Wool&, Ryker, Röjk Superwear, Ridge Merino and Duckworth.
“We’re excited to see Merino on a world stage,” stated VF Company’s Alicia Chin, director of sustainability and social affect for rising manufacturers. VF, the mother or father of The North Face and Vans, snapped up wool labels Icebreaker in 2018 and Smartwool in 2011. Chin predicted that wool will attain the mainstream as corporations additional improve its quick-dry time, moisture-wicking and cooling properties.
Smartwool, launched by ski instructors in 1994, helped to popularize fantastic Merino. The label’s formulation blends in recycled polyester and Tencel fiber. VF doesn’t get away gross sales of sub-brands or fibers, however Smartwool took in $31 million in 2024, in line with ECDB analytics.
Since 1965, Woolmark of Australia has represented wool producers. To raise the fiber, it has collaborated with a large spectrum of designers. Among the many examples of wool in high-sweat settings:
“Wool actually is a perfect fiber” for sports activities and recreation, stated Nica Rabinowitz, who manages model engagement and provide chain efforts on the nonprofit Fibershed. “A number of these artificial fibers are attempting to recreate what wool does, however are usually not in a position to do it as effectively and certain by no means will.”
Wool’s edge
Merino base layers outperformed synthetics for regulating physique temperatures in mountain climbing, biking and golf, in line with a research by North Carolina State College (which was funded by Woolmark).
“Wool already has a significant share in base layers and multi-sport, next-to-skin functions,” stated John Roberts, the managing director of Woolmark in London. He foresees wool serving to manufacturers to section out PFAS without end chemical substances and fight microplastics.
Engineering wool to create outerwear with out poisonous water-proof coatings additionally aligns with regulatory strain, Roberts added. Anti-PFAS legal guidelines are already on the books in New York and California, and spreading all through Europe. As proof builds in regards to the well being harms and prevalence of microfiber air pollution, plastic textiles pose future dangers to manufacturers and retailers.
The sustainability query
Australia, China and New Zealand are wool manufacturing hotspots, and industrial transparency is scant. Nonetheless, sustainability-driven manufacturers emphasize their vetting of smallholder suppliers. Smartwool, for one, sources 85 % from ZQRX-approved “regenerative” farms in New Zealand. Wool assembly the Accountable Wool Normal (RWS) for animal and land welfare practices, grew in market share barely in 2023, to 4.8 % over 4.2 % a yr earlier.
The sustainability image for wool is difficult. Not least, sheep require ample land for grazing and emit plenty of methane.
Wool boosters complain, nonetheless, that lifecycle analyses unfairly depict polyester and its ilk as much less impactful. They level out orange-to-apples equations of the emissions of petrochemical fiber manufacturing towards these from wool, which stay inside the pure carbon cycle.
“One problem is that pure fibers are sometimes assessed on the incorrect phrases utilizing fashions that don’t account for his or her capacity to regenerate land or to biodegrade,” stated Roberts of Woolmark. “Regenerative grazing sheep, for instance, can enhance biodiversity, retailer carbon and construct soil well being, so the farm itself turns into a part of the round system.”
The recycling charge for wool is simply 6 %, however that’s a lot larger than for different fibers. Only one % of materials total had been recycled from waste textiles. And though 12.5 % of polyester comes from recycled sources, most derives from issues like plastic bottles or fishing nets relatively than vogue waste.
Recycling 100% wool typically outcomes extra in stuffing than sweaters. (The phrase “shoddy” initially described rags recycled from wool 200 years in the past.) Blended fibers are typically inconceivable to recycle to their unique integrity, and wool blends are not any exception.
Nonetheless, when wool waste naturally biodegrades, it could repair nitrogen and feed the soil, in line with Rabinowitz of Fibershed. “As a result of it’s so nice for soil well being it’s a great renewable useful resource.”
Can wool scale in athletic put on?
There’s a bottom-line cause why polyester fleece, which Patagonia delivered to market in 1979, has eclipsed the sheep-based unique.
“Synthetics for essentially the most half could be 20 % cheaper,” stated Tsui Pappas of the consultancy Pappas Inventive in New York. “There may be strain from the C-suite at each model to have larger margins.”
However attire companies can and may alter value or margins to prioritize pure fibers, in line with Pappas, the previous director of sustainability at Alice + Olivia. She factors to the meals trade: Client messaging in regards to the worth of natural produce finally led to its mass adoption, and costs dropped when demand scaled.
And with sufficient growth and assist, biobased synthetics might tackle plastic shedding and lack of compostability in material blends. Superior knitting applied sciences for wool, in addition to blends with algae and different next-gen fibers, can also elevate sustainability and efficiency.
“We’ll proceed our dedication to wool as a result of we see its strengths: tech, versatility and legacy,” stated Raul Lopez, founding father of the Luar label, in a press release. “It’s why Venus selected wool for her U.S. Open equipment.”
