British Wool
Collect, Grade and Market British Wool.
British Wool works to drive sustainable demand for British sheep farmers wool in order to maximise returns for our members. We are owned by approximately 35,000 sheep farmers in the UK, and we collect, grade, market and auction British wool on behalf of our members. British Wool has a network of 100 drop off locations which provides a service to all farmers regardless of type and quality of wool produced, volume or location. These depots are open 12 months of the year and we are constantly evaluating these locations as new members join and volumes change.
In the UK we have the most diverse range of sheep in the world with over 60 different breeds. At British Wool we grade all of the wool we receive into approximately 120 different grades, these unique grades allow buyers to ensure the wool they are purchasing and using in their products is fit for the end application. Sheep farms in the UK are on average much smaller than those in other major wool growing nations with an average flock size of 250 sheep with an average greasy fleece weight of 2 kgs per sheep. Within an average flock the farmer could have 10-20 different grades of wool, this is unique to the UK as many other major wool growing nations would only have a handful of different grades. It is crucial to understand how different farming in the UK is to other major wool growing nations when looking at the different frameworks that are available as many are simply not feasible or indeed practical in the UK due to these differences. As the approved training provider for shearing and wool handling courses in the UK, British Wool also has a training program in place to support the next generation of shearers and wool handlers in learning and developing vital and traditional rural skills. Every year British Wool trains up to 800 shearers.
The British Wool grading system categorises wool based upon both its style and characteristics. In doing so we seek to maximise the value for our members by increasing the value of your wool to manufacturers.
The style of wool is generally determined by its staple length, crimp, fineness, handle and lustre. There are six main styles of British Wool:
Fine with Southdown as a sub category
Medium with Romney as a sub category
Mule otherwise known as Crossbred
Lustre with Bluefaced Leicester and Devon as the two main sub categories
Hill with Cheviot, Fine / Medium Hill and Lonk as the three main sub categories
Mountain with Welsh Mountain, Swaledale and Blackface as the three main sub categories.
In addition, British Wool produces a number of speciality wools which have distinctive characteristics and are usually specific to a particular breed. These speciality types are Dorset, Jacob, Masham, Teeswater / Wensleydale, Lincoln, Shetland, Exmoor Horn, Hebridean and Herdwick.
Within each style of wool, fleeces are graded by quality with judgements made across a range of characteristics. These characteristics include:
Whether the wool comes from a Hogg or a Ewe
Colour
Staple strength
Uniformity
Kemp
Grey fibre
Cotts
First / Second shear
In total British Wool produces almost 120 grades of fleece wool. Each of these are identified with a grade number and short description. British Wool also produces Organic and Winter Shorn variants of these fleece grades where appropriate.
In addition British Wool produces more than 20 grades of lambs wool.
Auctions The auction system is a tried and tested method of selling products off the farm. British wool is sold across 18 auctions throughout the year, which enables us to feed wool onto the market in a controlled way to maximise its value and reduce the risk around price volatility in the global market.
Wool auctions are held at our Bradford head office, with all wool offered for sale through our electronic auction system. Before each sale, a product catalogue is produced and sent to all buyers.
Twenty sales are rostered over a twelve month period, with between 1.5 and 2 million kgs of wool offered each sale. Sales are attended by registered buyers, most of whom are merchants trading internationally and supplying end-users. They buy in lots of approximately 8,000 kgs in order to fulfil orders to manufacturers.
The Iconic Shepherds Crook Mark The British Wool licensee scheme confirms that a product is made with genuine British wool grown by British sheep farmers so consumers know they are buying a sustainable, ethical and responsibly sourced product. Brands and Manufacturers have to register and undergo a supply chain verification to ensure the wool can be traced back to a British Wool auction. This is done by a third party data warehousing platform so brands can keep their manufacturing confidential if they wish to do so.
British Wool licenses these logos for 100%, Blend (minimum 50% BW content) and Traceable British Wool certifications. There is an annual invoice associated with the license to use the logo as well as other marketing opportunities available to the brands once verified.
Traceability In 2022 British Wool invested in a traceability system in each of its 8 depots to allow farm provenance to be kept on every single bale of wool now sold. The Traceable scheme charges brands for this farm data allowing the farmer to receive an additional payment for their wool.
Being able to offer full traceability makes British wool unique in the world of wool which gives our buyers the confidence that British Wool is leading the way in supplying one of the most sustainable fibres available that can easily be sourced back to its origin of production.
Do you find a lot of push back in the industry in terms of working with British wool? Like any industry, we encounter some pushback when introducing British wool, often due to outdated perceptions about its quality and cost. However recently, there has been increased interest from consumers and brands in verifying wool's origin, ensuring high production standards, and sharing stories about the sheep, farmers, and landscapes involved. As the industry has shifted towards cheaper wools from the northern hemisphere, some knowledge of locally available wool has been lost. To address this, we collaborate with all interested industry stakeholders to introduce the wool qualities available locally and develop British wool ranges.
To make sourcing easier for brands and designers, we have launched official British Wool sourcing guides for cloth and yarns and a Shepherd’s Crook mark verification scheme to ensure both industry and end consumers can buy with confidence, knowing they are supporting local British sheep farmers.
Do you find that customers are becoming more interested in British wool? We have been seeing a real resurgence of brands specifying British wool in their sourcing with our licensing scheme growing year on year. British wool can offer brands superior sustainable credentials and valuable marketing collateral. A shift towards responsible, local and slow fashion has the potential for British wool to thrive in this contemporary landscape. This has also been noticed when speaking to consumers- now more than ever are they interested in supporting local and want to shop from brands with a local, ethical ethos.
Do you have any hero farmers or people in your supply chain you would like to highlight? All 35,000! Our farmers do such incredible work growing our local wool, they are all heroes to us.