Create your own supply chain
Work backwards - what do you want to make?
Work forwards - do you have access to sheep fleece?
Whichever direction you want to travel, your wool supply should be central.
Firstly, do you want to work directly with a specific farm or would you like to collaborate with British Wool? Partnering with British Wool provides access to wool from over 35,000 farmers across UK. Go to British Wool.
Want to start small and local? Ask Fibreshed or The Wool Library.
Want to find out more about individual sheep breeds? See The Woolist.
How much fleece do you need? Weigh the product you want to make, to work out how many kilos of raw fleece. Remember, you lose up to 50% of the weight of raw fleece in the washing process, so double the raw amount you buy for the amount of spun yarn you need.
What are the lead times? Take into consideration the shearing season normally falls between June-August, so this needs to be noted if working a year in advance.
Once you have your wool source you need to have it washed. Larger scourers have a minimum of 350-500kg, and larger spinning mills will only take washed wool. Smaller spinning facilities can wash your wool for you.
Locate your knit/weaving manufacturer and check lead times with them etc for knitting/weaving and finishing. Also check what types of spun yarn works best with their equipment. Talk to a spinner about the end product and the spec the knitting/weaving facility needs as this will determine how your wool is spun.
If dyeing you need to think about whether you want the wool dyed after washing or when it’s been spun onto cones. There are pros and cons to both.
Once you have your spun yarn in the colour palette you need, it's time to have your products made.
If all of this sounds daunting, you could start by sourcing British wool spun yarn. See British Wool’s Yarn Sourcing guide or contact a yarn agent for more information. Remember that using UK facilities means you can more easily travel to check your order and taking photos of the processes will help with your marketing story. And the story of British wool is a powerful one, helping your brand’s visibility in the marketplace.
1. Farm & shearing
A shearer (or the farmer) comes to shear the sheep and put the fleeces into sacks. If they are being taken to British Wool they are transported to the local depot.
2. Grading Once at British Wool they are sorted by hand to identify the quality, breed and how clean it is before assigning it a grade, the fleece is tested and stored in bales ready to be sold at auction.
3. Scouring The fleeces need to be cleaned to get rid of dirt, grease and excess Lanolin.
4. Carding & combing
The clean fleece then needs to be separated and brushed with huge roller systems, fleece going into woollen spun yarns get carded and worsted spun have the additional step of being combed to align the fibres.
5. Spinning The tops needs to be twisted and plyed into continuous lengths, which give it enough strength to hold together and create a stronger yarn.
6. Dyeing Adding colour can be done at multiple stages, after scouring, at the yarn stage, or piece dyed after garment/fabric stage.
7. Weaving & knitting Once in yarn form it can either be hand/machine knitted into products or hand/machine woven into lengths of fabric/throws etc.
8. Yarn Agencies These specialists can help take you through the process of how to choose a yarn and how to creating end products.
MOQ in your region
We divided the businesses into small, medium and large. The scale represents the number of sheep on a farm, kilos of wool for processing or items you’d like made. This is just a rough idea to help you work out who might be most suitable for your scale of production. Use the filter buttons to find your local area, or use the search function to find a specific supplier.