Merino wool is something you can only really get in New Zealand. I didn’t know that until I read about this new wool sweater from surfing types Finisterre.What they wanted to do was produce wool as good as merino without having to import from New Zealand. Importing means aeroplanes and all that jazz, which is bad for the environment.
Surfers love wool for its functional base layer properties, its totally natural, keeps you warm in and out of the water and dries very fast. Unfortunately, it can’t be produced in the UK – the sheep just don’t like the weather. What was needed was a special sheep that could make wool as good as Merino but was also tough enough to withstand our climate. This is where the Bowmont comes in.
At the beginning of this project there were only 28 of them in the whole world. Now with the help of Finisterre, the Bowmont sheep are back and proving wool.
Nice story eh? But it’d all be to waste if the sweater was a bit rubbish. Fortunately it’s not, as the pics show.
The fabric is British, it is designed in Britain and manufactured in Britain. Britain. There I said it again.
