Golden Fleece 100% Australian Eco-Wool - 50g Ball, 16ply Assorted Colours

Mulesing was developed in 1931 by Mr John Mules to protect sheep against ‘fly strike’. ‘Fly strike’ is a serious condition where flies do what flies do, and lay eggs in the folds of skin on a sheep’s bottom. Mulesing is the procedure developed to surgically remove these folds of skin, leaving a smooth bottom and nowhere for the flies to lay their eggs.

A complex issue, developed to avoid a serious condition, all too common in the heat of Australia, mulesing remains a common practice on Australian sheep farms. In 2019, the Government estimated approximately 70% of Merino wool-producing sheep in Australia are mulesed.

Around the world, mulesing has come under increased scrutiny especially around the question of animal welfare. This has led to alternatives being trialled and adapted in many parts of the world. While mulesing is still wide-spread in Australia, it is now banned by many countries.

To avoid the serious condition of 'fly-strike', less severe and more humane alternatives to mulesing is possible. Breeding to encourage ‘smooth bottomed’ sheep is one such alternative, as is douching with blowfly growth deterrent chemicals.

Golden Fleece Australian Eco-Wool is committed to supporting farmers to develop humane and practical alternatives to mulesing by securing certified, non-mulesed wool as our raw fleece.

All Golden Fleece wool comes from non-mulesed sheep, grown and raised on Australian farms.

Before spinning and dying, raw fleece must travel the globe to be scoured and washed to remove excess grease, dirt and plant matter.

We used to be able to do this here in Australia, but now ALL Australian wool undergoes this process overseas - most in China with little regulation or care for the environment.

We needed to go to great lengths to ensure the process of 'scouring' or 'washing' the raw fleece met our high environmental standards.

To meet our standards, Golden Fleece leaves our Australian farms to travel to Egypt, where it is scoured and washed with certified eco-friendly detergents to the highest standards in the world.

No chemicals, no harm to the environment or water-ways, and beautiful soft wool for you to enjoy!

In our age of busy lifestyles, we often look for ways to reduce some of the tasks of daily life and our growing workload.

In its natural state, wool is water repellent, fire retardant, maintains warmth, is anti-bacterial and breathable. These are some of the properties you hear advertised by the 'fans' of wool. The properties that make merino wool a fave amongst sports people – it keeps you warm, keeps you cool, wicks sweat from your body and keeps those smelly bacteria at bay!

In other words, wool provides a layer of insulation and protection without sealing us in. It lets us breathe with the world – keeping us warm when needed and allowing air to circulate.

As with all natural products, the more we process it, the further we take it away from its natural properties, and the more impact we have on the environment.

One of the final steps in Wool production is a process called 'Super Washing'. Super Washing is the process that has turned 'Hand-Wash with Care Wool' into 'Machine Washable Wool' - in other words, the process our busy lives have demanded!

Super Washing is completed as one of the last steps in wool processing. There are two main methods of super washing:

• Either immersing or washing the spun wool in a chlorine acid solution to flatten the barbs that would normally catch and felt the wool together, or
• or, the more common second method, (which is often combined with the first), to add a resin polymer coating to the wool – effectively sealing the wool in a plastic coating.

When you read machine washable on a wool label, this means it has undergone special processing to stop or reduce wool felting and/or shrinkage, and will most likely be coated in an invisible polymer coating to seal the fibres.

While this may be great news for our busy lifestyles, with the growing concerns around micro-plastics and our environment, the question needs to be posed as to the real environmental impact of the resulting plastic coated wool.

Golden Fleece Australian Eco-Wool is 100% natural, hand washable wool – please follow all old-fashioned, tried and tested, wool care instructions.

And if you are seeking wool as a natural fibre, wish to make use of it's feltability, or just want truly breathable clothing, stick with wool that has the 'Hand Wash with Care' on the label!