A History Of Wool

Wool has been used in the creation of clothing and other items since sheep and goats were first domesticated by mankind, and archaeological evidence has demonstrated how some of the most ancient civilisations have utilised wool even before tools such as sheers were invented where the wool would have to be plucked by hand. Astonishingly a piece of wool textile was discovered preserved in Danish marshland and has been carbon dated to 1500 BCE. From as far back as when the Roman Empire spanned across Europe the majority of the population will have used wool to create their clothing, at this point in history cotton was an expensive import from India and silk a luxury, and particularly across Northern Europe both lacked the insulating properties required of a material that would be used to protect people from the harsh winters.

One of the first written records about wool is in Natural History by Pliny the Elder. He wrote that Tarentum, a coastal city in what we now know as Southern Italy produced sheep with a superior fleece that required extra special care when shearing and crafting. Wool continued to be a staple material for the creation of clothes and bindings with people rearing their own sheep and goats for both food and wool, and by the mediaeval period many trade routes were often dominated by wool caravans travelling across Europe. Many trade fairs were established on locations where caravans would stop and these areas gradually turned into centres for wool that produced wool cloth for trade.

At one point the economy of the central reaches of Italy was focused solely on the wool trade with Italy itself dominating the industry well into the 16th century when production began to gradually shift to silk. This resulted in a shortage of wool cloth and English exporters stepped in and increased their own production resulting in the focus of the industry shifting and a significant portion of England's income coming from wool. From 1275 England had actually levied an export tax on all locally produced wool resulting in a major boom to the English economy, a fact paid tribute to by the realisation that the presiding officer of the House of Lords sits on a ceremonial "woolsack" and has done since the 1500's.

Because England relied so much on the wool trade and they had placed so many rules and regulations on the export of cloth smuggling and piracy were rife. Smuggling wool was colloquially referred to as "owling" and was an offence punishable by the cutting off of a hand. Post restoration the English wool export trade actually began to compete with the silk trade that was dominating globally thanks to careful legislation preventing new colonies from trading wool with anyone but England. Obviously a large number of secondary and tertiary industries had grown up around the wool trade such as dyeing and finishing and this saw the birth of what we now know as the "cottage industry" market.

This market centred around centres of the textile industry with all different aspects of an industry living and working in close proximity, many working under contract to one another. By the Renaissance many other countries had created from scratch or re-vitalised their own wool industries. Germany based their industry around imported Spanish sheep and the Australian wool trade produced wool for export that quickly overtook the German market and actually began to provide wool for Britain. A newly unified Spain meant that the landscape gradually began to be shaped by the rearing of sheep for export, some of which were considered so valuable that they were only to leave the country with royal decree.

The 1900's saw a decline in demand for wool thanks to modern trends focusing around synthetics that in many instances were not as hard wearing or insulating as wool. In 1966 the industry saw a major decline and the price for wool began to drop year after year and many sheep rearers switched to meat production as they could not sell their wool. Fortunately modern technology was applied to wool and it saw something of a slight resurgence in the 70's when super-wash wool that was treated allowing it to be machine washed without shrinking was introduced. Thanks to increased interest in sustainable and environmentally friendly natural materials wool is on the rise again and 2009 has been declared the "International Year of Natural Fibres" by the United Nations in an effort to raise awareness about natural materials such as wool.