Wool Production

[wboydsp]

We hear about Scottish Wool, Pakastani wool, and wool from Austrailia. Is there any quality wool being produced in the USA? It seems to me, that if the wool was produced in the USA, weaved in the USA, and then kilted in the USA then the prices of kilts could become more consumer friendly.

[FossilHunter]

I like the idea. Here’s some info from the Agricultural Marketing Research Center on US wool production.

Demand

The demand for wool has declined since the mid-1940s with the advent of synthetic fibers. Most wool produced in the United States is sold as raw fleece wool. Wool producers use various marketing channels. Private or cooperative wool warehouses are the primary mechanisms, although wool pools within states are becoming more common.

In some cases, wool is pooled in local areas and sold through wool warehouses. The pooling process allows for the marketing of increased wool quantities, sorting by quality and lowering of transactions costs. Most wool is marketed through wool buyers directly to central markets or to mills.

In the eastern United States, wool is typically marketed through wool warehouses or wool pools to compensate for limited production obtained from smaller flocks. Wool produced in the western United States is generally marketed through wool warehouses or wool cooperatives.

Competition

U.S. wool supplies compete with coarser grade wools from New Zealand and finer wools from Australia. Australia is the largest supplier of apparel wool. Two-thirds of the wool sold on the world market originates from Australia. Major markets for Australian wool include China, Italy, India, Taiwan, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, France and Germany.

New Zealand is the world’s second-largest wool producer and exporter. Most of its wool production (90%) is exported as fiber. New Zealand is the leading producer of coarse or strong wool used primarily for interior textiles such as carpets, blankets, upholstery and yarn. China accounts for about 25 percent of New Zealand’s wool exports. Other export markets include the United Kingdom, India, Italy and Australia.

It seems that it would be an uphill battle, if American wool is even suitable for twill production. It would probably be hard for weavers to make it profitable as well since tartan fabric would probably be a niche market.

[The Wizard of BC]

Some of the factors that complicate an answer to this question are -

The vast majority of wool in the world comes from Australia and New Zealand. There is, in comparison, very little wool, in commercial quantities, produced almost any where in the world.
This means that there is not really any such a thing as US wool, or UK wool or Pakistani wool.
Even the Tartan weaving mills in the UK and Pakistan use wool produced by sheep in Australia or NZ.
One kilt worth of Tartan fabric will require the wool from between 2 and 4 sheep.

The raw wool from sheep must then be processed. Sheared, cleaned, picked, carded, spun, and dyed.
Many of these steps require processes that use chemicals or techniques that cannot be done in the UK or N. America.
And it is very un-common for all of these processes to be done at the same place.
This is truly a word-wide market. Usually where labor rates and other overhead costs are lower and regulations not as stringent.
While the sheep are in Australia and NZ the cleaning of fleeces is usually done in places like India, China and Pakistan.
The spinning of the cleaned wool is done in a similar place. Currently most of the spinning of wool for fabrics is done in India, China, SE Asia, and Pakistan.
Cotton is close to 100% Pakistani spun. If you own a pair of blue jeans it is a good bet that the yarn was spun in Pakistan.

The dying of wool is another process that often requires chemicals that the Western world does not like.
The largest UK dying operation for Tartan burned down a few years ago. As far as I know it has not re-opened.
Most of the large Tartan weaving mills buy their yarns that have been grown in Australia, cleaned and processed in India, spun in Pakistan, dyed in S. America and finally delivered to the weavers in the UK.

Then there is the weaving itself. There are very, very few commercial weaving mills left in the Western world. Fraser & Kirkbright, one of the very last N. American Tartan weaving mills closed its doors a few years ago. They simply did not have enough business to pay the bills. The looms went onto a flatbed and to the dump because no one wanted them.

The large weaving mills that produce Tartan in the UK are operating on a shoe string. DC Dalgliesh was bought out over unpaid bills and overdue payments from customers.
Lochcarron is now owned by a Asian Corporation.

It is simply not economical to try to start a wool fabric operation in the West today. The hourly labor rates are far to high, the overhead like insurance taxes and even the electric bills are too high. Tartan is just too much of a niche market.

That leaves small operations. Many small woolen mills processing fleece and spinning the wool into yarn and weaving fabric on one or two looms are doing OK. As long as they keep a sharp eye on their labor costs and all the other overhead expenses. And as long as the customers are willing to pay the price for short run custom work.



I seriously doubt that this statement - "that if the wool was produced in the USA, weaved in the USA, and then kilted in the USA then the prices of kilts could become more consumer friendly." - would prove to be true. If it were even possible to achieve at all, given the labor rates, overhead costs, and regulation compliance.

[wboydsp]

Thank you for the information.

[figheadair]

The spinning of the cleaned wool is done in a similar place. Currently most of the spinning of wool for fabrics is done in India, China, SE Asia, and Pakistan.

The dying of wool is another process that often requires chemicals that the Western world does not like. The largest UK dying operation for Tartan burned down a few years ago. As far as I know it has not re-opened.

Steve,

I'm not sure that this is entirely accurate with regard to worsted yarn. I've always purchased mine from one of the larger spinners in Yorkshire, I think that they supply/supplied some of the major mills too.

Similarly, I've always bought my yarns as ercu and had them dyed by an independent business in the Borders. Lochcarron of course has it's own dye-house.

[Jock Scot]

Steve,

I'm not sure that this is entirely accurate with regard to worsted yarn. I've always purchased mine from one of the larger spinners in Yorkshire, I think that they supply/supplied some of the major mills too.

Similarly, I've always bought my yarns as ercu and had them dyed by an independent business in the Borders. Lochcarron of course has it's own dye-house.

I must admit that I had no idea that those avenues were still open, which is good news.

[OC Richard]

The situation Steve lays out has long been the case, at least in other fields.

Offtopic perhaps but in the 1830s Cornish-manufactured mining machinery was being shipped to Cornish-operated mines in Chile, the Chilean ore was shipped to Swansea for smelting and subsequent shipping to France as refined copper.

In any case, the kilting fabric woven by UK firms has a specific feel to it, and the Pakistani- and Indian-woven cloth I've examined has an equally specific and completely different feel to it. At all our Highland Games there are shops with Pakistani kilts piled high, for very low prices, so these are very familiar to me. Imagine my surprise when I purchased an "ex-hire" kilt from a Scottish firm which proved to be identical to the kilts piled on those tables.

I've seen enough of those to be able to recognise them from photos, in most cases. The tartan, happily, varies from UK tartan visually, and not just in feel. The kilts themselves ditto, they're usually constructed in distinctive ways.

BTW it's the law in the USA that all garments must be sold with intact labels showing the specific percentage of each type of fibre and country of origin. The Pakistani-made kilts violate this, and for whatever reason seem to fly under the radar and not get seized.

https://otexa.trade.gov/us_labeling.htm

You'll see Pakistani kilts that say "wool" while some say "acrylic wool" (whatever that's supposed to be).

[Tobus]

Similarly, I've always bought my yarns as ercu and had them dyed by an independent business in the Borders. Lochcarron of course has it's own dye-house.

Indeed, Andrew Elliot Ltd. often dye their yarns in-house for custom colours. This increases the price, of course, over yarns that they purchase in standard colours. But it does give them the option to do more custom tartan options.

[figheadair]

Indeed, Andrew Elliot Ltd. often dye their yarns in-house for custom colours. This increases the price, of course, over yarns that they purchase in standard colours. But it does give them the option to do more custom tartan options.

Tobus, note quite. Elliot's don't dye any yarn, if they need a special shade they get it dyed by Lochcarron.

[Tobus]

Tobus, note quite. Elliot's don't dye any yarn, if they need a special shade they get it dyed by Lochcarron.

Ah, OK, my apologies. When Robin told me he was dyeing some of the yarn for my custom tartan, I guess I assumed he was doing it there. I went back and looked at our correspondence, and he never actually said he was doing it himself. So that was an (incorrect) assumption on my part.

Tobus, I have had some assumptions on dyeing in my past, too, and Peter has politely corrected me. Some came as a great shock, but were -- still and all -- understood and respected for their intent.