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Valuing Norwegian Wool
Abstract and Figures
Wool has been called the white gold and has warmed and brought joy to the Norwegian population throughout history. It is also a textile fibre with many unused features. The starting point of the project Valuing Norwegian Wool is a desire to help Norwegian agriculture, wool based industry, and design to exploit the potential inherent in Norwegian wool as raw material, and in the Norwegian textile tradition. Norway has a thriving textile industry and several strong companies that produce products made of wool. The marketing of the origin of the raw material these products are produced from is however rather inadequate and sometimes misleading. While fewer and fewer of the products are made of Norwegian wool, consumers - not without reason - take it for granted that Norwegian producers use Norwegian wool. The project is funded by the Norwegian Research Council and led by SIFO. The project partners include representatives from the entire value chain - from agricultural organizations, industry and commerce, and design and consumption. This report is one of many publications in the project and makes visible the challenges that exist in the value chain, but also the great potential that is there.
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... For many years, Norway had a thriving textile industry based on wool, but this industry has undergone a decline since the 1950s (Espeli 1997). While the nation concentrated on building an oil-focused economy with high wages, many textile manufacturers were forced to outsource or shut down, leading to loss of jobs and industry knowledge (Hebrok et al. 2012). Consequently, the current industry situation can be characterised as incomplete from a supply chain perspective, and compared to other OECD-countries, the nation's textile and fashion industry has had little industrial importance for many decades (Espeli 1997). ...
... The geographic proximity shortens the feedback loops, increases the chances of being aware of issues in the local community, and reduces transport emissions. Company 4, which started to produce outerwear, learned that most of the woollen clothes worn by Norwegians are made of imported wool, while Norwegian farmers get little value, and even discard some of the wool from local sheep breeds (Hebrok et al. 2012). Since the local wool has distinct qualities such as lustre, long durability, and little moisture absorption, they started, in collaboration with the local suppliers, to develop woollen fabrics to be used in their outerwear collection. ...
This chapter explores localism as a strategy for business model innovation for sustainability through a case study of four small Norwegian fashion companies that try to establish a local value chain in Norway. The study shows that their localism pursuit leads to step-by-step changes in how the companies create, deliver, and capture value which over time leads to considerable business model redesign. As a strategy, localism can generate shared value of various forms. The geographic proximity seems to enable reconnections between resources, people, place, community, and environment that correlate with sustainability. However, this entails that the company has a sensitivity to place and a broad range of stakeholders.
... Knowledge about this property of wool is not especially good. On the one hand the informants know that wool must be washed properly (Hebrok et al 2012). However, it is the heat that is given the blame when something goes wrong. ...
... And he is probably right. Norway has several large spinning mills that supply, and have supplied knitting yarn to the domestic market (Hebrok et al., 2012) and hand knitted sweaters are in daily use in Norway, as we have several examples of in the report. ...
We have studied Norwegian and Swedish consumers’ experiences and perceptions related to using wool in bedlinen and sleepwear. We have used a variety of research methods including a web-based survey, qualitative interviews, a material test where informants commented various fabric samples, as well as user trials where informants tested sleeping in merino bedlinen and sleepwear. Informants were positively curious about bedding in wool. It appears that the change in use of wool follows a pattern where one context or setting is used as a springboard into a new setting. Important springboards among informants are; dressing their own babies in wool, next to skin underwear in sports, and tradition and handicrafts related to wool. Differences between Norway and Sweden are apparent in a different relationship to wool and to bedlinen. The market for woollen underwear is growing in Sweden and the differences between the two countries can thus be expected to decrease. Barriers related to hygiene, heat regulation, structure and softness are important in consumers' thoughts about a woolbed.
The Norwegian research project KRUS has rebooted local wool value chains, and changed the focus on raw materials, fuelled an interest in local yarns and contributed with innovation and value creation. In addition, KRUS aimed to shift the discussion around sustainable fashion. This chapter is based on the KRUS report and the project’s PhD and Master’s thesis findings, adding some recent developments. The chapter explains how the project results were brought about and how media-interest was leveraged, thus mushrooming even more activity after the project ended. However, first and foremost the chapter discusses how cooperation has dwarfed the focus on competitiveness—challenging the market economy’s main purpose and ‘raison d’être’.KeywordsLocal clothingWoolIndigenous sheep breedsArtisan knowledgeTextile industry
This paper addresses a main challenge for natural fibres; falling prices and increased focus on quantity versus quality. This is a challenge not only related to economic issues and profit, but is also unsustainable in an environmental perspective and in light of the challenges the textile sector and the world face. The paper uses wool as an example and in a surprising approach links the history and century-old traditions of natural fibers to an environmental thinking which supplements the traditional thinking around circular economy and LCA. Fabrics with a long life are the ones that have the lowest environmental impact (Fletcher and Tham 2015; Laitala 2014). Longevity or lifespan is a complex phenomenon in which both technical and social, or aesthetic aspects, are intertwined.
This general textbook for students, new and intermediate level employees in the textile industry, consumers and home economists, teachers, and specialists has six sections on: fibres to yarns; yarns to fabrics; fabric preparation for consumer goods; natural fibres; man-made fibres; and consumer information. Updating and expansion since the fifth edition (1975, see abstract 1975/5899) include innovations in man-made fibres, newer spinning and weaving methods, compound fabric constructions, and division of finishing into aesthetic and functional treatments. The book has a glossary of fabric terms and a subject index.
Fabric softeners are mainly used to reduce roughness and static electricity of textiles, as well as adding a scent to them. In this paper we study how fabric softeners are related to odour properties on clothing. We combine a Norwegian consumer survey with a sensory test on odour development on four different materials used in sports clothing. Samples went through several cycles of use with sweating, washing, and airing and the odour was evaluated at 11 stages. Washing was performed either with or without a fragrance-free domestic rinse cycle softener. Sensory test showed that use of softener increased odour on polyester garments. Survey results showed that a larger number of respondents who used softeners experienced problematic odours in laundry compared to those who did not use softeners.