High-tech fibre from nature:

Everything you need to know about virgin sheep's wool

Is wool the same as wool? Not quite - here we explain the difference between sheep's wool and virgin sheep's wool and much more. We explain what we at Lehner Wolle pay attention to when buying wool and how we process the valuable raw material wool into sustainable products.

What exactly is pure new sheep's wool?

Anyone who thinks that all wool is the same and that there won't be such big differences is mistaken. There are between 900 and 1,000 breeds of sheep and here again there are small sub-genera. This alone inevitably results in countless different types of sheep's wool. Added to this is the fact that between eight and 14 types of wool grow on a single sheep alone. This results in a total of over 30,000 different types of wool worldwide.

Structure of the sheep's wool fibre

Sheep's wool is a natural animal fibrewhich mainly consist of Protein proteins consists of. Proteins are large molecules, so-called Macromolecules. These are made of Amino acids are structured. A distinction is made between globular proteins, which tend to be spherical and easily soluble in water, and fibrillar proteins. These are mainly found in Keratin as in hair or fingernails. They tend to be elongated and thread-like and do not dissolve in water. Sheep's wool consists mainly of keratin.

In more detail, sheep's wool can be divided into two areas in terms of structure: the outer cuticle and the inner spindle cells.

Like roof tiles, the Cuticle their core. The individual bricks are coated in wax, water rolls off them and this layer gives the wool its natural lustre. This wool wax is also known as wool grease or Lanolin called. Sun and weather cause this layer to oxidise, resulting in the typical sheepskin odour. This wax is produced by the sheep's sebaceous glands and serves as a Natural protective shield. It is now also used in the cosmetics industry.

The Spindle cells inside consist of two cell typeswhich wrap around each other and have different degrees of elongation. This causes the sheep's wool to curl. The spindle cells consist of Macrofibrilsthese in turn from Microfibrilswhich will continue until the Protein molecule chains can be further subdivided.

What makes sheep's wool so popular

Sheep's wool is so popular because it has amazing abilities and properties in all areas. Sheep's wool is a renewable raw materialwhich Ignition temperature is about twice as high as with wood (560 - 600° C) and the Positive influence on the indoor climate speaks for itself.

As measurements by the German Wool Institute have shown, sheep's wool has been proven to be able to minimise the Improve indoor air. You Eliminates unpleasant odours and, thanks to its basic building block keratin, can even Toxic pollutants such as formaldehyde (link text neutralise formaldehyde) neutralise. Sheep's wool also ensures pleasant room acoustics thanks to its different fibre finenesses.

But that's not all: sheep's wool has a hygroscopic. This means that it can ideally regulate the humidity in a room by absorbing excess moisture and releasing it again when the room air is dry. Up to 33 % of its own weight, wool can absorb and store moisture. and with heat return without suffering any damage. Manufacturers of sports textiles as well as mattresses, duvets and pillows utilise these properties. We also rely on this special feature in our ISOLENA natural insulating materials. A further advantage of this versatile natural raw material is that sheep's wool, thanks to its protein fibres, can be No breeding ground for mould spores offers.

Sheep's wool vs. new wool

What is the difference between sheep's wool and new wool? The answer is very simple. The two terms are often used interchangeably, but Sheep's wool is simply the generic term for woolwhich is obtained from sheep in different ways and whiteness. Pure new wool comes from live sheep, i.e. the wool is fresh. As the wool comes "new" from the sheep directly after shearing, it is of high quality. Sheep's wool, on the other hand, can also be made from textile scraps. In general, the following subtypes can be distinguished:

Virgin wool: comes from the living animal
Tearing wool: Used textiles are recycled
Gerber wool: Wool that comes from the slaughtered animal
Dying wool: comes from animals that have died of natural causes

Lehner Wolle only uses virgin sheep's wool. The reasons for this are quickly explained:

Tanner wool has already been chemically treatedwhich destroys the natural properties of the sheep's wool. In the tannery, this is a necessary process to protect the animal's skin from rotting. The wool is therefore often chemically removed from the skin.
A chemically pre-treated wool reacts differently in the dye bath than an untreated. It is therefore given a completely different colour.
Also in relation to Moisture the behaviour of the wool would change.

Sheep and greenhouse gases

Nature can absorb a high proportion of greenhouse gases, but the bottom line is that far too much of them are released into our atmosphere every year. We need to adopt practices that minimise the emission of greenhouse gases as low as possible.

In principle, a large proportion of greenhouse gas emissions are attributable to the Combustion of fossil fuels can be traced back to this. But it is also important to take a look at the influence of animal husbandry and, of course, sheep farming.

There are a total of six Greenhouse gasesof which three in agriculture occur:

Carbon dioxide
Methane and
Nitrous oxide.

So let's take a closer look at the three relevant greenhouse gases.

1. Carbon dioxide

The biggest problem with carbon dioxide (CO2) is the Deforestationbecause trees in particular bind large quantities of CO2. Especially through Fire clearingsThe emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere, which occur mainly in the tropics for agricultural use, are very high.

In sheep farming, the ecological Grazing meadows and mountain pastures with practices that do not require deforestation, serve to maintain the landscape in many places and make a valuable contribution to good soil health.

Also the Rotation systemThe carbon footprint is positively impacted by the use of a system in which land is used alternately for grazing and for growing cereals.

2. Methane

Methane is produced during the digestive process of ruminants, whereby in Germany, for example, 95% is produced on the Cattle and dairy cow husbandry and other animal species such as poultry, sheep or horses are almost negligible.

In addition, more research is being carried out into optimising nutrition in agricultural animal husbandry in order to reduce methane emissions from animals.

3. Nitrous oxide N2O

Nitrous oxide is mainly produced by emissions from agricultural soils as a result of overdosed nitrogenous fertilisationespecially with artificial fertilisers.

By determining the Fertiliser requirements of plants and the nutrient content of fertilisers, excess nitrogen can be reduced. If organic fertilisers are used instead of chemical fertilisers, there are common Methods for avoiding over-fertilisation with nitrogen. The excrement from livestock farming undergoes pre-treatment (e.g. drying, composting or fermentation). This helps to prevent too much farmyard manure from reaching agricultural land.

The Livestock farming itself does not cause an increase in nitrous oxide in the atmosphere. On the contrary: research shows that areas not used for livestock farming release larger quantities of nitrous oxide over the course of a year than grazed areas because the animals also improve soil health. The nitrous oxide savings clearly exceed the emissions from the animals' excrement.

Greenhouse gas emissions are therefore also offset by the Savings in greenhouse gases in contrast. The factor of Soil health and Landscape conservationThis has a positive impact, especially in regions where neither machines nor other animals would be able to do so.

If you look at the end of the production chain, you can see further advantages: Because the processed virgin sheep's wool can also be used to Reduction of the CO2 footprint contribute. Because that is exactly what makes our Sheep's wool insulation compared with other insulation materials. There is also the fact that the wool contains other harmful substances such as the Irreversibly binds indoor toxin formaldehyde and renders them harmless.

Wool shopping at Lehner Wolle

Wool is a sustainable, environmentally friendly and naturally renewable raw material. The ideal basic requirements for a truly "green" and "good" product. Nevertheless, you should always take a closer look here too: Even if wool is an exemplary raw material in itself, this only applies if animal welfare is ensured and no chemicals are used in further processing.

In addition to animal and environmentally friendly aspects, other criteria are also important for us to be able to produce high-quality products from virgin sheep's wool.

Purchase criterion: Quality of the wool fibre

Roughly speaking, there are three main points to look out for in wool fibres: fineness, crimp and length. Let's take a closer look at these three points:

The fineness of the wool fibre

The finer, the more precious - This is the basic principle when it comes to quality. The fineness of the fibres also determines for which subsequent product the new sheep's wool is best suited. The finer the fibre, the softer it feels, but the more brittle it becomes. If the fibre coarserit is also more robust. Here you move on a scale between super fine (15 micron) and super coarse (42 micron).

Several factors influence the fineness of the wool: climate, age, rearing, sex, diet and breed, but also where exactly the sheep's wool comes from. Because one sheep alone can several quality levels have. The finest comes from the Shoulder (1), side (2) and back area (3).

The crimping of the wool fibre

The fineness and crimp of the wool are directly related. The finer, the more curled is the wool, as more "bows" are contained in a short section. The crimp also provides information about how elastic and stretchable is the wool.

In the illustration you can see different crimps from very fine wool (1) (2) to medium-fine wool (4) to coarse wool (6) (7) (8).

Sheep's wool that has been industrially processed can lose its crimp. If you wet it, you can more or less get it back again.

The length of the wool fibres

The length of the individual wool fibres also has an influence on the softness of the wool. The following applies here: the shorter the fibre, the softer the wool. The term Fibre length the length of the fibre in the tensioned state. The Stack length on the other hand, describes the length of the sheep's wool in the relaxed statethe wool in its crimped state. The wool length can be roughly divided into three sizes:

short staple (20-40mm)
medium staple (40-90mm)
long staple (90-550mm)

Why does wool actually scratch?

Whether wool scratches or not depends mainly on its colour. Fibre thickness together. Thick and robust fibres do not bend easily, the ends can protrude and thus prick and irritate the skin.

Scratch behaviour is not relevant for rugs, insulation or craft materials. However, it is for clothing that comes into direct and prolonged contact with the skin. Therefore, pay attention to fine fibres such as merino or cashmere wool and be sure to wash textiles made from virgin sheep's wool with a detergent before wearing them for the first time.

Purchase criterion: Origin of wool

There are now domestic sheep Worldwide. Whether steppe or heathland, mountains or tropics, sheep feel at home everywhere and adapt ideally to the conditions. Wild sheep have only survived in Corsica and Sardinia.

New Zealand is known for its large number of sheep. It is often joked that there are more sheep than inhabitants - and it is true: in 2020, New Zealand had around 5 million inhabitants and almost five times that number of sheep. There are around 200,000 sheep for every farmer. By comparison, Austria has around 20 sheep.

New Zealand is more for Coarse to medium coarse Wool known. Superfine wool originates from Australia and Argentina. Here you can find special cultivarswhose wool is mainly used for fabrics for suits or sportswear. To the Main wool producers also include China, Uruguay, Argentina and South Africa.

Where does new wool come from at Lehner-Wool?

Wherever possible, wool from the DACH region is used. This wool is particularly suitable for insulation and garden wool.

Unfortunately, too little virgin sheep's wool is produced in Austria, so some of Lehner Wolle's wool also comes from abroad. Depending on the intended use (production of insulation, acoustic products, floristry products, rugs, garden wool), we also have to use wool from different countries due to the quality of the wool. But where exactly does it come from?

Crimped wool from Upper Austria: We only call this wool this internally at Lehner Wolle due to its strong crimp. It has a merino wool content and is therefore ideal for felt production and dyeing.
East Tyrolean Steinschaf: The wool naturally has different shades of grey, brown and white, which makes it something very special. We have been buying this wool for over 20 years because of these unique colour nuances.
Tyrolean mountain sheep: It is one of the most industrialised wools of almost all European wools. Tyrolean mountain sheep are completely white, the wool is medium-fine. It has a wide range in terms of length and crimp. It should be noted that the autumn shearing is lighter than the slightly more yellowish early shearing due to more sunlight.
Turkmen wool: The sheep have a natural and intense brown colour. Sheep are the livelihood of nomads, but for their meat and milk. The wool is just a by-product that they get money from as a "gift". There are therefore many burrs, wire etc. in it.
New Zealand wool: It is the most industrial wool in the world and has a so-called type number, which provides information about fibre fineness, fibre crimp and colour. At Lehner Wolle, we buy this wool at auctions in New Zealand.
Argentinian lambswool: Lamb's wool is the first shearing of a lamb. The wool is very short, finer, crimpier and very soft to the touch. Lamb's wool is relatively more expensive due to the lower weight. We use it for rug yarns and the associated felts for borders.

Muelsing: A no-go!

Regardless of where the wool comes from, we pay particular attention to the quality and the Correct keeping of the animals. In Australia in particular, the so-called Mulesing very common for a long time. This involves cutting off palm-sized pieces of skin around the tail of young lambs. This is to prevent fly maggot infestation. Proper treatment with medication to alleviate pain and prevent infection is not usually provided. The aim behind this is to extract as much profit as possible. We clearly distance ourselves from such methods.

Shearing the sheep

Sheep are usually shorn twice a year. Once a Springto remove the sheep's thick "winter coat" and to prevent them from sweating too much in the summer heat. And the second time before the Winterso that they don't sweat too much in the stable when they snuggle up together. The reason why you want to prevent sweating is that the sweat would otherwise mix with the lanolin, i.e. the wool grease, and could therefore reduce the quality of the wool.

The sheep must be dry during the shearing process itself, the coat is shorn down in one piece in just three minutes. Per sheep this is between two and five kilos. This is referred to as "wool in sweat". This means that the wool grease and dirt, such as grass or straw, are still present.

Here too, virgin sheep's wool can be divided into different categories:

Lambswool: This is the name given to the wool after the first shearing after about 6 months.
Yearling woolThis wool comes from the first or second shearing after 10-12 months.
Pure new woolSheep are sheared here once a year.
Two-ply woolThe sheep are shorn twice a year.
8-month woolSheep are shorn every eight months.

New wool processing

Depending on the end product, the sheep's wool undergoes various processing steps.

After the Shearing the raw wool is pressed into bales weighing around 450kg and taken to the laundry.
Here the new sheep's wool is washed with curd soap. It must be brought to a certain slightly acidic pH value of 6.5 to 6.9, as it would dissolve in the alkaline range.
This is followed by drying.
If it is wool for the production of our ISOLENA insulation materialsThe raw material is then pressed into bales and delivered to us in Waizenkirchen for further processing.
For our coloured products of the brand STYLIT, FELICE and Silentum The majority of the wool is processed before being coloured.
In our house the wool is combed and to a Fleece which forms the basis for further products.

Colouring according to REACH regulation

Unfortunately, if the end product is to be colourful, we cannot work with pure natural dyes because there is no method of dyeing the wool yarn in such a way that it is colourfast, washable and lightfast is. That's why we leave the wool within the EU according to the REACH Regulation colouring. This EU regulation has a High level of protection The aim is to protect human health and the environment when handling chemicals. This enables us to produce high-quality yarns and still Pay attention to health and the environment.

Production of STYLIT products

STYLIT is our creative brand, for Floristry, craft and decorative products. For STYLIT, the coloured raw wools of different types of wool are Wool cords processed in various thicknesses, lengths and inner life (jute/wire). Also Felt with different widths and finishes or other decorative products are made from the coloured raw wool.

The first step in STYLIT production is the Wool weigheddepending on the desired Colour tone after a Recipe and then prepared in large bags for further processing.
Our Wool team fills these bags in the Card wolf (also picker). One or two large hooked rollers are at the heart of the carding machine. The disorganised wool is fed to the rollers and is thus completely "brushed through". The distance between the hooks is initially around 1 mm and decreases to 0.1 mm towards the end. The tufts are then no longer tufts, but a single fleece. This can be further processed into other products.
Now the loosened wool is processed into various felts or cords. This is done by needling or spinning. With the Spiders a uniform thread is produced by twisting and twisting together individual short fibres. The base is usually a jute core, sometimes also a wire core - the wool fibres are wound around the core to form a cord. The felts are produced in a special Needling machine made. Several layers of woollen fleece are placed on top of each other and then needled.
Now our Sheepworld team is taking over the Assembling and packaging of the goods. Felt is cut, wound and finished. Cords are wound up - whether on spools or in boxes. At the end, all goods are carefully packed and checked.

Production of ISOLENA insulation materials

At ISOLENA, we don't need coloured or fine wools and, unlike in the textile industry, we can use many different types of wool for production.

The raw wool is transported directly into the machine via the baling press and also passes through the Carding machine for loosening up and sorting out vegetables.
The individual wool flocks are then rolled over a roller into a thin fleece processed.
This fleece is then covered with the Wool protection Ionic Protect© activated. With immediate effect, these fibres no longer provide food for keratin-digesting insects as long as they are alive.
Finally, the lengths of wool are joined together needled by a needling machine.

Production of Silentum acoustic products

For the Silentum acoustic felts, the process is a mixture between ISOLENA and STYLIT, as coloured wools are also used here, which are then run over a card and later needled into a strong wool felt.

Production of FELICE rugs

For rug production, most spun wool yarns are milled by our Allround team to give them a firm and closed surface, make them more resistant and prevent linting.
To do this, the woollen yarn is first washed and then placed in a Drying chamber dried. This felts the yarn in a targeted manner and makes the virgin sheep's wool more resistant.
Only after these many processing steps do the colourful wool yarns enter the weaving mill, the pivotal point in the production of our pure new wool rugs: here, the warp yarn made from linen thread is pulled through the numerous heddles of the loom shafts and the colourful wool yarn is prepared for the so-called "weft": Through constant back and forth on our historic looms, the new sheep's wool is processed into the rug you want.

More wool knowledge

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For more than 50 years, we have been producing customised hand-woven rugs with heart and hand in Upper Austria. We weave, warp and spin! In our FELICE magazine, we tell you more about living with rugs.

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