Can regenerative wool make fashion more sustainable?

Regenerative wool: it’s the new green buzzword in the fashion industry – but can wool ever be fully sustainable?

While building their fledgling fashion brand, environmentally minded Edzard van der Wyck and Michael Wessely confronted a deluge of sustainability claims about different textiles.

They were looking for a fabric with sustainability credentials that stood up to scrutiny, not just in carbon emissions but also in its impact on biodiversity, pollution, recyclability and the communities producing it. They initially suspected the ideal fabric might be found on the more innovative end of the spectrum, exploring materials that were relatively new to fashion.

But in 2018, Van der Wyck and Wessely turned their attention to a much, much older material. They met regenerative sheep farmers who “wanted to bring about radical change” to their industry, Wessely says. Impressed with farmers’ convictions and the technical and environmental benefits they claimed their produce offered, they landed on their raw material of choice: regenerative wool. “The real answer came in the form of an ancient material, albeit sourced and treated in a pioneering way,” says Wessely.

A year later, they established Sheep Inc, which claims to be the world’s first “carbon negative” fashion brand. The London-based brand factors farming (including methane, sheep farming’s main source of emissions), manufacturing, packaging and transport into its analysis, according to a report from independent certifiers, Carbon Footprint. However, this figure doesn’t include home energy emissions from the team’s remote working nor other digital emissions, although these would likely be low compared to emissions from farming wool.

Sheep Inc’s methods to keep its environmental impact low include using solar-powered knitting machines, sorting clothes in a solar-powered warehouse and a plastic-free supply chain. Customers can also return items to Sheep Inc for mending and repair.

Experts in sustainable fashion have praised the company’s efforts. “This is a brand after my own heart: championing regenerative natural fibres, renewable energy, responsible production with a fully traceable supply chain,” says independent sustainable fashion consultant Lucianne Tonti. “They are proof of the concept that it is possible to make beautiful clothes with a positive environmental impact.”

Wool is viewed as somewhat of a wonder-fabric in the fashion industry because it is hardier than most fibres, requires less washing, and is recyclable, Tonti says. “It’s strong, elastic and has a waxy coating so it doesn’t stain easily, and it’s odour resistant.” It is also flame-retardant, has anti-bacterial properties, and can absorb up to 30% of its weight in water, she says. When wool returns to soil or water, it biodegrades, unlike petroleum-based fabrics such as polyester. (Read more about fashion’s colossal waste problem).

In places like South America, New Zealand and Australia, it is more common for sheep to roam but chemical fertilisers are commonplace and without adaptive management practices, conventional sheep farming can lead to the same overgrazing issues as set stock grazing including water pollution, soil erosion and desertification. 

Sheep Inc’s founders say their regenerative farming practice can help make fashion more sustainable, and even help absorb more carbon from the atmosphere than is released during farming, making the practice carbon negative. The firm is part of a small movement of brands such as Stella McCartney and A New Sweden who are adopting these practices for their wool.

Running on renewable energy, the farm claims to have turned itself into a carbon sink by pulling emissions from the atmosphere through native forest restoration. Lake Haweā Station’s most recent report says 4,958 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) were sequestered from 2019 to 2020. With 2,538 tonnes of CO2e per year emitted from the farm (78% of which is methane), it says this results in a net carbon sink figure of 2,420 tonnes CO2e – equivalent to taking over 500 cars off the road. The farm says that additional carbon is also sequestered through soil regeneration, which scientists say has significant carbon sequestration potential, but due to New Zealand’s carbon accounting stipulations, soil does not yet factor into its calculations.

Gwen Grelet, an ecologist and senior researcher at Manaaki Whenua (Landcare Research), a New Zealand government research institute, recently conducted a white paper on regenerative agriculture in New Zealand. She feels the efforts of Lake Hāwea Station are “truly regenerative”. “What is extraordinary is that wool production is done in such a way that it supports the restoration of native biodiversity,” she says. “If all wool was produced regeneratively, it could make a big difference for the climate, because vast areas of land currently support sheep grazing.”  

It’s not the only company making such claims. A 2020 Australian pilot study conducted by the marketing body for the wool industry, Woolmark, says 11 small and medium-sized farms involved in regenerative wool practices sequesters an overall 1,539 tonnes of CO2e per year after other emissions have been taken into account, maintaining 80% ground cover over 13 years.

Alongide the potential for capturing CO2 using regenerative practices, Grelet adds that preliminary evidence suggests they may also reduce the emissions of methane itself from sheep farming, through methane capture in soils or reduction of methane emissions from sheep. However, alone these reductions of methane are “likely not enough to counter methane emissions by sheep”, she adds.

Studies have found regenerative wool has the potential to sequester carbon from the atmosphere, mitigating the effects of climate change. However, more robust scientific research is needed to fully understand the potential of regenerative wool to reduce emissions.

Lake Hāwea Station has planted 20,000 trees and is home to 300 wildlife species, including 10 endemic and eight native birds. “Some of the seed mixes going into our pastures have up to 30 seeds in them,” says farm owner Geoff Ross. “That means more life above ground. The general view is more life above ground means more below it.” On a regenerative wool farm, soil hosts rich communities of microbes resulting in healthier animals (and healthier manure) which means less need for imported feed, says Grelet.

Most adopters, however, remain luxury brands and items come at a price – a Sheep Inc hoodie will set you back £180 ($222) and an Allbirds sweater costs around £108 ($133).

“The mass market is not adopting regenerative wool yet,” says Peter Ackroyd, chief operating officer of the non-profit Campaign For Wool. “It’s buying cheap fibre… and selling at low prices.” This makes it hard to predict whether regenerative wool will stay a luxury, he says, with the fast fashion industry unlikely to adapt in the short or medium term. Though prices may come down if the upper-middle fashion sector embraces regenerative farming, he adds.

Regenerative farming could be used for other products used in the fashion industry – such as cotton or perhaps even pineapple. Yet regenerative farming has downsides which may put off brands or limit its widespread use across the fashion industry. The agricultural practice likely needs more labour and land, and might be more expensive than conventional methods per tonne of products such as wool, meat, milk, grains or vegetables, says Grelet – at least if current standard economic metrics are used that do not account for the financial repercussions of biodiversity and soil losses or water pollution.

Tonti says even where regenerative wool is adopted, fashion companies must ensure their sustainability claims are thoroughly researched and backed up by evidence. In 2022, Allbirds faced a lawsuit that alleged its carbon footprint estimate for shoes made using wool was inaccurate – the lawsuit was dismissed by a New York court. Allbirds tells the BBC it “takes great care in describing our approach to sustainability”.

Woolmark has also faced claims that its advertisements for sustainable wool are misleading.  Woolmark told the BBC it takes allegations about greenwashing very seriously and invests in “robust research to investigate ways for the Australian wool industry to reduce its environmental impact” including by reducing and offsetting methane emissions.

Challenges in traceability and mixing wool with synthetics, as well as the use of chemical dyes make the issue thornier, says Tonti. Sheep Inc currently uses Bluesign certified dyes (which considers factors like water use and air emissions) but says it is launching a new, traceable dyeing method this summer. Yet the company has no plans to alter its method of international shipping, which Tonti questions. Van der Wyck says that overall, shipping regenerative wool from New Zealand leads to lower emissions than if the company sourced regenerative raw materials in Europe.

Wool may make up just 1% of the global fibre market but Tonti calls it, “a great test fibre for the rest of regenerative agriculture, and in proving we can have visibility from garment all the way back to the farm.

“With a bit of extra leg work and asking the right questions of suppliers it is possible for other companies to follow Sheep Inc’s lead,” she says.