Wool production entails a staggering degree of cruelty and animal suffering.
Sheep produce more than 90 percent of the world’s wool supply. Goats provide another 5 percent, and alpacas, and rabbits contribute the rest. Angora and cashmere are premium varieties of wool taken from rabbits and goats. As with virtually all other animals raised commercially, both angora rabbits and cashmere goats suffer deplorable treatment.
The crinkly nature of the hair shorn from these animals makes it easily spun into thread and yarn. Annual wool production worldwide totals about well over a million metric tons, taken from nearly 2 billion domesticated sheep and goats. The top wool producing nations are Australia and China, both of which have pathetically weak animal welfare laws protecting sheep.
Products that May Contain Wool
As a textile fiber in widespread use for thousands of years, wool appears in all sorts of garments:
- Sweaters
- Scarves
- Business Suits
- Jackets
- Socks
Additionally, blankets and oriental rugs are commonly made from wool.
Animal Cruelty in the Wool Industry
Sheep were domesticated from Asiatic mouflon, who grow only as much hair as they need to stay warm. Unlike mouflons, sheep grow extremely thick coats, and their coats are woolly rather than hairy.
Once a year, sheep farmers clip these thick coats down to bare skin. Limiting shearing to once a year minimizes labor costs but causes substantial suffering. It results in sheep being exposed to temperature extremes while either having thick insulating coats or no protection at all.
Most sheep are subjected to a barbaric procedure—often performed without anesthetic—called mulesing. Using a knife, workers slice off strips of the wrinkly flesh near a lamb’s hindquarters. The resultant scarring inhibits hair regrowth and thereby prevents parasitic flies from laying eggs. Australian sheep also have their tails cut off, again in order to reduce the prevalence of these parasitic flies.
Australia is the world’s #1 live export country. Each year, producers ship upwards of a million sheep to the Middle East for slaughter. While live export allows for fresher meat for consumers, the practice inflicts misery onto animals who must live aboard terribly crowded ships for weeks at a time. The largest boats carry 85,000 sheep!
Animal protection organizations have released numerous undercover videos exposing the wool industry’s appalling animal welfare standards.
Campaigns to Protect Sheep
Thanks to animal welfare campaigns, live export has diminished significantly, and mulesing is now sometimes performed with anesthetic. These developments offer reason for encouragement, but the wool industry’s cruel farming practices remain widespread. Both Animals Australia and Compassion in World Farming run ongoing campaigns to improve welfare standards and to discourage the purchase of wool.
Vegan Wool Alternatives
Although vegan leather and suede products are widely available, no comparable R&D effort has gone into creating vegan wool substitutes. But excellent wool alternatives nevertheless exist.
Fleece jackets, made from microfiber textiles, are among the most popular types of winter outerwear. These garments are warm and attractive, but bear little resemblance to wool. Other jacket styles feature a fleece-like interior made from coarse polyester that looks strikingly similar to wool.
What’s great about these sorts of synthetic fleece materials is they offer plenty of warmth, without wool’s uncomfortable scratchiness. I’ve always found wool garments, especially turtlenecks, uncomfortable so it’s especially nice that vegan alternatives feel good against the skin. Plus, unlike wool, these vegan fabrics are water resistant and they don’t produce a foul odor when damp.
Other wool alternatives include cotton or polyester textiles. Some of these fabrics look and feel remarkably similar to wool, minus the scratchiness. In particular, cotton flannel shirts are hard to tell apart from garments made from woolen fabrics, but they unfortunately don’t offer comparable warmth.
If you object to needless animal suffering, you’ve got strong reasons to avoid wool. While seeking out alternatives may require a little extra shopping, warm and stylish vegan textiles and garments are easily obtainable.
