WOOL Wool is the original, easy care fiber. Each wool fiber is made up of millions of "coiled springs" that stretch during use but coil back to their original positions. It features inherent qualities such as wrinkle resistance, colorfastness, shape recovery (resiliency), and it breathes with your body. It can be knit in various weights to provide increasing levels of insulation for every temperature. Wool yarn, when knitted into a thicker sock, tends to be bulky and lofty. Air becomes entrapped and it becomes an ideal insulator. Wool socks also keep feet drier because wool absorbs as much as 30% of its own weight before it begins to feel damp. And even wet wool is warm. Wool is a natural protein fiber that grows from the follicles of the sheeps skin. It is like human hair in that it is composed of keratin-type protein. Chemically these proteins contain 5 elements: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur. These 5 elements are combined into 19 amino acids linked together in ladder-like polypeptide chains.
BENEFITS
Resists wrinkles, wool springs back quickly
Resists soiling, because the fiber is complex
Is durable, multi-part fiber resists wear
Repels moisture, fiber sheds water
Retains shape, resilient fibers return to size
Resists flames, fibers will not support combustion
Is comfortable in all seasons, keeps layer of air next to skin
Insulates very well, even if wet
DURABILITY AND RESILIENCE: Each wool fiber is a molecular coil-spring making the fiber remarkably elastic. Nature has folded the chemical polypeptide chains back upon themselves in such a way that they act like a coiled spring which elongates when it is extended and retracts when it is released. This molecular crimp, along with the 3-dimensional fiber, allows wool fibers to be stretched up to 50% when wet and 30% when dry, and still bounce back to their original shape when stress is released. But be careful: When wool is wet the fibers are weaker. Recovery from stress takes place faster when the fiber is in a humid environment; thats why steaming a wool garment will freshen the fabric and why a steam iron is recommended for pressing wool.
The flexibility of the wool fiber also makes it more durable. A wool fiber can be bent back on itself more than 20,000 times without breaking, compared to about 3,000 times for cotton and 2,000 times for silk. The natural elasticity of wool also makes woolen fabrics resistant to tearing. In addition, the outer skin of the wool fiber acts as a protective film, giving wool cloth improved resistance to abrasion.
FIBER ABSORBENCY: Wool is a hygroscopic fiber, it takes up moisture in vapor form. Tiny pores in the epicuticle make the fiber semi-permeable, allowing vapor to pass through to the heart of the fiber. Wool can easily absorb up to 30% of its weight in moisture without feeling damp or clammy.
The capacity to absorb makes wool a "temperature regulator" because it can protect the body in both cold and warm conditions. Wool always absorbs moisture from the atmosphere of greater humidity and releases it to the drier environment as it creates a balance in moisture conditions. This characteristic makes wool a versatile all-season fabric.
Wool absorbs perspiration; thus it keeps a layer of dry air next to the skin which, in turn, helps to hold in body heat. As wool absorbs atmospheric moisture, the hydrogen bond of water is broken and chemically reacts with molecules of the wool to generate heat.
Wool garments are therefore regarded as good protection against hypothermia
a condition that occurs when sudden drastic lowering of body temperature causes the body to lose heat faster than it can be produced.
The same principle of moisture contact on the skin acts to protect against hot weather as well. The body cools itself naturally with the evaporation of perspiration. Wool expedites this process by absorbing perspiration and keeping the same dry air next to the skin. This is why wool clothing is worn throughout the desert regions of the world where its hot during the day and cool at night.
RESISTANCE TO FLAME: Because wool contains moisture in each fiber, it resists flame without chemical treatment. Instead of burning freely when touched by flame, wool chars and stops burning when it is removed from the source of fire. Wool is self-extinguishing. It will not support combustion; this is why wool blankets are recommended for use in extinguishing small fires.
RESISTANCE TO COMPRESSION: Resistance-to-compression values are useful in assessing the suitability of wool for specific end uses. Resistance to compression (R to C) is the force per unit area required to compress a fixed mass of wool to a fixed volume. Resistance to compression is related to fiber diameter and the form and frequency of crimp.
For instance, low and medium R to C wools tend to be softer, more lustrous, more susceptible to felting, easier to process and produce strong fabrics. On the other hand, high R to C wools have a harsher handle, are resistant to felting and are bulkier.
Two resistance-to-compression studies conducted by Texas A&M University prove American wool is well-suited to produce the finest of fabrics as well as wool batting for the production of futons and other bedding materials. These studies confirmed that there is a good variety of wools available in the U.S. with low, medium, and high resistance to compression. The majority of the wool finer than 28 micron in this test was analyzed as being in the middle resistance-to-compression range (53%). On the other hand, some 73 percent of the wool coarser than 28 micron was evaluated to be highly resistant to compression.
MERINO WOOL is the finest wool of all. It's average diameter is 15 - 25 microns and staple lengths are 2 - 4 inches. Merino has a very close crimp, and can be spun into a very fine yarn, suitable for underwear, light sweaters and shirts.
100% VIRGIN WOOL has thick sturdy fibers for rugged durability and warmth. It is proven to provide greater resilience, more natural insulating qualities and superior water repellency than other natural fabrics and many synthetic fabrics.
DOWN The combination of lightweight, high heat-insulating characteristics, small transportation volume, and long service life makes goose down superior to synthetic insulators. These properties of down can be explained by the structure of down. Down consists of a thin column and a large fan of almost indistinguishable from the column tuft. Thin and flexible tuft forms chaotic elastic accumulation - down clusters.
The quality of down is measured by the quality of primary products. Special breeds of geese with white coat such as Italian, Rhone, Lind, Vishtines, North German, Hungarian (Magyar) are considered the best to gather down of. The quality of feather is greatly influenced by the natural conditions of breeding of the birds. In the cold climate down clusters are bigger. That is why raw materials gathered in the cold Russia are greatly appreciated around the World.
The best raw material is the down which was hand picked from live adult birds, as there is no practically any nap, which says on the elastic qualities of down. Only the best down products uses down of such raw materials for manufacturing down jackets and clothing for custom orders. However such raw materials are rare and expensive. It is much more real to find raw materials by machine pluck.
At competent usage goose down products can serve for 20 years, duck down products - for 5 years. As with goose down, pure eiderdown for is exceptional for clothing. Not more than 30 grams of eiderdown can be gathered from one nest. This explains why eiderdown exists in very limited quantity and is extremely expensive. The eiderdown is light, does not absorb moisture, does not crumple and according to shamans it heals.
After the raw material is gathered it needs to be washed. It is necessary to separate down from feather and make a necessary mixture. Full technological process consists of 19 operations and is possible only at large plants with special equipment. Some manufacturers process raw materials to produce 4 kinds of mixtures with different down/feather ratio: 80%, 85%, 90% and 93%. Then the down is washed with special soaps such as liquid soap "Down Proof" or "Down Wash" by Nikwax. The Nikwax products contain special additives that improve the flexible characteristics of down and give to it additional water repellent features.
The flexibility of down is the key characteristic for evaluation of down quality. The method for measuring this characteristic is: take one ounce of down, then clip it, then take pressure away and gage the volume in cubic inches in 5 minutes. The resulting parameter is called - "Fill Power" (F.P).
If you can keep it dry it will keep you warmer than anything else.
