Shearer’s Twist
Now for something a little different. What I’m writing for isn’t personal narrative but industry narrative. The world of wool has some problems and we’re trying to fix at least some of them on a very small scale and only within the Northeast. Still, it’s a big mission. Since we began Yankee Clippers Shearing, Colin and I have been working with clients to sell their wool. Most of the time this looks like batches of a few hundred pounds sold at a time for large runs of specialty roving, yarn, rugs, or to enter the commodity market. No big buyer wants to deal with individual fleeces or a dozen different farms at a time and can we really blame them for that? What we bring into this ragged supply chain is evaluation and the network to match the producers to the makers. From our position we’re able to group similar types of wool together to create large quantities from small flocks. Our original mission for Yankee Rock Farm – to serve sheep, land, and community – was settled on before this new project took form. However, it extends to all parts of that mission perfectly. Now we’re taking it one step further.
People ask me all the time, “What is wool worth?” and I still don’t have an easy answer for them. The answer really is, “It depends,” without a concise explanation for “on what?” to follow. During the shearing demonstrations at the fair last week I sheared our Border Leicester brood ewes and explained that the long, lustrous curls hitting the board were nearly worthless in big markets. When they scoffed, I’d ask how many of them are wearing wool. While they looked around with silent embarrassment, there’d be one or two hopefuls who mentioned their stash of winter wool socks. This is when I’d ask, “What kind of wool are they made from?” and one individual excited to share a seemingly useless tidbit picked up from a sock label that they never thought they’d use will exclaim, “Merino!” It doesn’t take long for them to make the connection and then sink back into the mood of the saddened crowd. I’d lighten things up at that point and pull out a skein of our yarn and handful of roving to explain how breed-specific wool has found a position in the locavore movement. The important detail I was trying to tease out is that imported Merino wool dominates the market because that’s all the consumer thinks they want. Merino is the finest wool in terms of fiber diameter which means it feels the least itchy on your skin. As we look at commodity prices, Merino tops the charts at just over $5 per pound (go here for the exact prices from this week) and for every grade coarser the price lessens. Does that mean everything other than Merino is no good for clothing? Absolutely not but, the larger consumer base doesn’t know that and so the demand needed to increase the value isn’t there.
There is some light at the end of the tunnel. Let me break it down a bit more for you. The least valuable wool by commodity standards is off sorts and ungraded. Off sorts are truly low quality – that’s belly wool, top knots, and what we remove at skirting. Ungraded wool could be the good stuff, but it hasn’t been sorted and labeled by a certified classer. You might think if we know the breed of sheep we can know the grade, right? Sure, but then there’s stain, vegetable matter, staple length, color, paint, strength, yield, and more than determines what wool is good for. Classed or not, commodity prices are still low. Classing isn’t so important when we step into the realm of closer-to-the-farm fiber. This is the wool that has seen few or even no middlemen on its route to the farm stand or small yarn shop you purchase it from. We can split this wool into two categories in terms of value: the casual comparison and the named skein.
I’ll put this disclaimer forward now. I have no real data or research compiled to back this up. These are only my conclusions drawn after two years of being eyeballs deep in shearing and market exploration working towards this, right here, the special project I’m announcing today! So, take it with a grain of salt.
The casual comparison pricing strategy isn’t a concept I came up with on my own. It’s something an agricultural business professor exposed me too that I keep in the back of my head every time I look at direct-to-consumer prices. The value of this wool is probably better than what it’s worth sold at commodity markets, but we don’t know for certain because it’s based on what everyone else is charging at retail. I’m not trying to pick on farmers with this and admit I’ve been guilty of it myself. We walk around the farmer’s market or search the internet for farm fiber retailers and look at what they’re charging then set our price so it’s near that. You can still feel good about spending your money on this wool because it all goes back to the farmer or small shop and supports local mills, small farm, etc. but it’s not based on real costs behind the product.
This next tier is what I call the named skein. Here’s the wool with the biggest price tag bringing all the added value. These are the farmers who do small batch yarns, so small there’s one or two sheep who contribute the fiber and you know their names. It was probably hand-dyed with natural dyes, maybe even handspun too. This wool comes with a story you can feel close to. The final product is high quality, one-of-a-kind and with the price tag to match. We should all applaud the farmers who achieve this level of wool marketing and accept that their products are worth every penny they’re asking for. It should go without saying this amount of wool working is not achievable for most farmers. There are some producers who seem to fall somewhere in between these two groups but there is one single commonality among them that I have found time and time again. They’re all knitters.
I’m generalizing a bit, but the fact remains that most farmers successfully creating above average value for their wool are also spinners, knitters, crocheters, weavers and or some sort of wool craft enthusiast. Whether they use their skills to create products or not, they do have the insider knowledge of their consumer’s perspective. I say good for them but that leaves out a whole lot of good farmers who can’t find their way into the value-added market because they don’t have the crafter’s bug. Good wool is grown by good farmers each year while there’s a growing demand for traceable and local wool. The problem is connecting all the dots. That’s where we come in.
Most farmers know wool quality “on the hoof” but after shearing, it’s a whole new ballgame. Finding a mill and coming up with the capital is the next expensive hurdle. And marketing! Woolen versus worsted, lace and sport and aran and bulky, ply’s, gauges, yardage, grams, blends, tonals, and the vocabulary goes on. I’m not about to claim expert status on any of this but what I do have is a network. Since our first adventure into yarn making two years ago, we have been compiling the dots so we can help interested parties connect them. A dyer wants worsted weight medium grade yarn from a family farm. We’ll get the proper wool to the mill. A felter needs long staple grey locks? We can find it. A retailer wants local fine wool for yarn and we can get it. We figure out what a batch of wool will work for based on all the factors beyond grade and connect it with the creator who wants it, taking into consideration what the farmer needs. More on that last part later.
Finally, let me introduce to you the Shearer’s Twist. Working with mills and makers was the first step but now we’re ready to offer some of this wool under its own label. Our collaborations will continue to help move large quantities into the right projects and with the Shearer’s Twist, we can make it directly available to you too! Wool and wool products from the Shearer’s Twist can be found alongside our own flock’s goods. Except this line will include wool exclusively sourced from sheep we have shorn. You can still trust that the wool comes from sheep cared for on small farms around our shearing region. Working directly with farmers means we can take into consideration their needs to bring our mission full circle. For many farmers, wool is one piece of a broader business that isn’t meant to be maintained solely by the price of their wool. By understanding each flock’s unique position, we can take our mission to serve the community a step further and offer certain wool at a more accessible price point for makers on a budget. We serve thousands of sheep by careful harvest of their fleece. We help the land by promoting a sustainable, renewable resource grown all over our region. With the Shearer’s Twists we can serve our whole community of producers and creators by bridging the gap between them. You’ll find our first edition of Shearer’s Twist in next week’s shop update with raw fleeces and roving.
Cheers,
Siri