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There are several German brands selling fleece jackets made of boiled wool. They are quite nice to be honest, and the price is not very different from decent s
by nextos 2y ago
There are several German brands selling fleece jackets made of boiled wool.
They are quite nice to be honest, and the price is not very different from decent synthetics.
Also boiled wool is not tricky to wash. Even regular wool is not hard to wash. If you have a washing machine with a wool program and you use soap specific for wool, things are straightforward.
We should favor natural fabrics. Synthetics are polluting during manufacturing and wear, plus they are hard to recycle. Externalities that turn into future debt.
- germinalphrase 2y agoAre they comparable in weight? My experience is that wool tends to be quite a bit heavier (though I am thinking of felt rarer than ‘fleece’)
- davidw 2y agoAnd it gets even heavier when wet.
- sveme 2y agoCan you give some brand names? Really interested in this.
- eatonphil 2y agoHere, perhaps. (Just from a quick Google search.) I'm curious too. https://www.littlespruceorganics.com/disana-organic-boiled-wool-mens-jacket/ https://www.littlespruceorganics.com/disana-organic-boiled-w...
- jwjohnson314 2y ago66north from Iceland has some excellent wool fleeces.
- secondcoming 2y agoThe annoying part of about wool is remembering to use the wool-specific washing mode and the wool-specific detergent. And one you've done that you have to reshape it when drying, which invariably must be done flat.
- Maxion 2y agoYou don't really need a wool specific detergent, you can just switch completely to a detergent that doesn't have enzymes, specifically protease that's the main problem for wool.
- nextos 2y agoWool-specific detergents usually have lanolin or other equivalent lipids added into the mix. These are really helpful to maintain wool properties.
- jijijijij 2y agoThis really depends on the type, quality and post processing of the wool. Also a small addition of synthetic fibers can drastically improve performance. I got merino base layer clothing with non of the downsides you mentioned, while maintaining the positives. I also got a thick 100% wool pullover, which was intensely post-processed, to the point of losing some wool qualities, but you can wash it at 60°C without any problem.
- sweetheart 2y agoThere has got to be an option for a fleece-like material that doesn't involve significant pollution or significant animal suffering. At some point, fleece has just gotta be phased out if we can't produce it without enormous downsides.
- ruined 2y agolivestock are not killed to collect wool. hardline vegans may not accept it, but it's certainly not comparable to leather or fur.
- Maxion 2y agoLivestock are also necessary for regenerative farms that do not require outside sources of fertilizer. Hardline veganism requires petrochemical fertilizer.
- djhn 2y agoIf I understand correctly, cow hides are largely a by-product of beef production, and reducing leather use would not have an effect on animal suffering. Apple stopped using leather and was criticised for environmental damage at least in the short-to-medium term (underutilisation of existing materials, new demand for plastics and synthetics).
- hedora 2y agoWool farming is pretty humane. The sheep generally live outside ib large pastures and are sheared once a year. I wonder if it’s possible to make fleece from hemp.
- ruined 2y agowool fiber is used because its protein nanostructure is impermeable to water. it is an effective insulator even when the fabric is wet. plant fibers can't replicate this. polymer fibers can replicate this because they are solid extrusions.
- illwrks 2y ago
- jwells89 2y agoAt least in the US, synthetics can be difficult to avoid. While 100% cotton/linen/wool/etc articles can be found, blends like ~70%/~30% or ~95%/~5% natural/synthetic are much more common. That’s for men’s stuff though. From my understanding the situation is much worse for women’s clothing, where form-fitting designs are preferred which makes stretchy synthetics ubiquitous.
- FredPret 2y agoNatural fabrics are nice until it gets cold. Then duck or goose down works well, but only when encased in waterproof plastic. You even get plastic “down” that doesn’t work as well but is more weatherproof. The only natural thing that might work in cold weather is maybe fur. When it’s -40, you will have to pry my plastic + feather jacket from my frozen hands
- mtalantikite 2y agoWow where do you live that it gets to be -40! I live in NYC, where it gets cold sometimes, and my merino wool base layers from REI work great. I've never owned a heavy duty winter jacket in my years here.
- FredPret 2y agoAlberta, Canada. You could layer up for mild cold, say down to -5C / 23 F. But after a certain point you need a large volume of warm dry feathers around you. The worst is probably actually freezing rain, which happens around 0C / 32 F. It’s not as cold, but the water and ice is more efficient than Alberta’s thin, usually dry mountain air at taking your precious heat away. You really want to be waterproof when that happens.
- jwjohnson314 2y agoUnfortunately a rain/sleet/ice/wet snow mix is now more common than 'dry' snow in my part of the northeast US, necessitating waterproof gear if you want to be outside in the winter.
- Maxion 2y agoWhen it's -40, you will have to pry my wool an down jacket from me. No way you're getting me to wear plastic in those temperatures.
- FredPret 2y agoInteresting - I’ve never had a wool / down combo. Is the wool waterproof?