Mention Merino yarn and knitters think about how soft and warm the wool is. We know Merino wool comes from sheep, but what else do we know?
Merino is the oldest established sheep breed in the world and is also the most numerous. Their origin can be traced back to North Africa, but it was in Spain that the sheep and their wool became highly prized and valuable. Exportation of Merino sheep from Spain was outlawed and punishable by death until the fall of the Spanish empire in the 1700s. The first Merino sheep were exported to North America from Spain starting around 1793. The largest lot of Merino sheep came to the United States in 1809 when a Vermont native, William Jarvis, brought in a ship full of sheep from Portugal, which provided the foundation for Merino sheep in America.
The wool from Merino sheep is one of the most popular wools for knitters, spinners and other fiber artists. It is also one of the most recognizable wools in ready to wear clothing, from socks to underwear to outerwear.
Benefits of Merino wool include:
- Softness and comfort due to the exceptionally fine fibers
- Breathability and temperature regulation because the natural crimp of the wool fibers create small air pockets that trap body heat when it is cold and allows heat to escape when it is warm
- Moisture management, Merino wool can absorb moisture and wick sweat away from the skin, keeping you dry
- Odor resistance, Merino wool naturally resists odor-causing bacteria
- Durability because the fibers are strong and elastic
- Sustainability, it is a natural, renewable fiber
When you see Merino on a yarn or clothing label, the fiber is likely from one of the several different strains of sheep. The Oklahoma State University Breeds of Livestock website (Breeds of Merino Sheep | Oklahoma State University (okstate.edu) identifies ten breeds of Merino, including Delaine Merino and Rambouillet which are both found across the United States.
Merino lambs
The Dark Side of Merino Wool
A customer recently asked me where my Merino yarn came from. My answer was vague and not satisfactory. She was really asking if the Merino fiber in the yarn came from producers who practiced mulesing.
A brutal “surgical” procedure, mulesing is performed on sheep to prevent a condition called flystrike, a serious condition caused by blowflies laying eggs in the folds of skin around the sheep’s tail. It involves cutting away folds of skin around the sheep’s tail, often performed on days old lambs, without anesthesia. It is painful and distressing for the sheep. I will not post a photo of a lamb following mulesing here, when I was doing the research for this post, I saw photos and cannot un-see them.
Merino sheep, historically, have been bred to maximize their productivity, especially for wool. The most productive sheep have numerous skin folds which increase the overall surface area to grow wool. Breeders around the world have been cross breeding sheep to minimize the skin folds. The smoother skin is not only easier to shear but does not have the deep folds that allow blowflies to lay eggs around the sheep’s tail making mulesing unnecessary.
The Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) was developed by the Textile Exchange in 2017 and aims to ensure that high animal welfare and sustainability practices are met within wool production. The RWS bans mulesing. “Textile Exchange exists to make sure the fibers and raw materials used in the fashion and textile industries are produced in a way that supports the planet, its ecosystems and its communities” (www.testileexchange.org).
The largest producer and exporter of Merino wool is Australia, the only place that the practice of mulesing is defended. The procedure is strictly forbidden in the US, Europe and UK, it was banned in New Zealand in 2018. The procedure is not banned in South America but is not practiced widely because fly-strike is not a problem there.
Nightingale Fibers Margaret
Yarns Made with Merino Wool
When you see Merino wool on a yarn or clothing label consider where it comes from.
Nightingale Fibers carries several yarns that are either 100% merino or merino blended with another fiber. The wool in our yarn is sourced from producers in South America, mainly Peru, and the United States. We have two 100% Merino yarns that are grown and produced in the United States (Margaret and Nola).
While I can be confident the Merino wool in the yarns carried by Nightingale Fibers is responsibly sourced, I wondered about the clothing I wear. I went to the websites of producers of Merino clothing that I buy, most state their wool is ethically sourced, the importance of RWS and some outright require that mulesing does not occur where their wool is grown.
I encourage readers to consider both the benefits and the ethical considerations associated with their purchasing decisions of yarn and clothing made with Merino wool.
Ultimately, we can never change someone else’s behavior, we can only change our own. – Jennifer Lopez
