Bavarian wool is a matter of heart
Today merino wool is traded at the large wool exchanges and mostly comes from Australia, New Zealand or China. Why not from our Bavarian homeland anymore? After all, sheep have shaped our landscape for centuries. They even carry out a valuable contribution to landscape maintenance. They are much more than “organic lawnmowers” – they wear over 300 kinds of pollen, seed parts and grass seeds in their woolen robe and thus ensure an extensive vegetation. On slopes and terrains difficult to walk on, they maintain our soil more effectively than any machine.
Nowadays, however, it is no longer worthwhile for shepherds to sell their wool. The prices of a kilogram wool from Bavaria are not competitive on the international wool exchange. Therefore, many shepherds resign their elaborate craft or just keep the sheep for slaughter. Insane, from our perspective. So, we simply asked the shepherds about the price they’d have to earn in order to gain Bavarian wool for us. And that of course, we pay. In accordance with the seasons we furthermore decided to grow the wool longer to create a strong yet light yarn form it. And thus, our own Bavarian Wool Yarn originating from Bavarian shepherds is born. That to us is not only a major step “backwards”- into the future but also a major step to a lot more transparency. By working with the local shepherds, we can document each individual production step and directly retrace the keeping of the sheep and the humans behind them. We want to encourage small and local shepherds. We want to support personalities who are passionate about our home. And we want to focus on animal welfare.
Man and beast in harmony
The manufacturing of our Mähdusa Yarn entirely depends on our Bavarian Merino Sheep. Currently 1400 sheep managed by 3 shepherds »produce« for us. Quirin from Chiemgau is one of them. Not only does he have a class A family business, he also respects the proper keeping of the animals as well as their housing. That is a trait of all our shepherds. That includes being outdoors from spring till fall. That’s why Quirin moves from meadow to meadow with his herd. That way the animals can graze in places hard to reach with devices, if not impossible. With their soft and light feet, they are a thousand times more heedful and gentler to our soils than any heavy machinery.
The future is transparent
For us, the fabrication of our own Bavarian Yarn is not only innovative, it also allows an important, transparent look behind the scenes. We know our sheep. We know where they live. We know how they live. And we know when and how they’re being shorn. We take care that our wool is not being washed chemically. For spinning we bring it to a befriended family business in Austria. Presumably quite soon CO2 neutral. There we can stand next to those beautiful old machines and watch how our yarn is spun. You can see the shearing and spinning very lucent in the two clips below.
Shearing the sheep
In the yarn spinning mill
It only works together
To us, beside the production, the linked processes are crucial till the end of the chain. Without our great business partners who invest in this idea as well as our customers who are paying the fair price for Bavarian Wool, we couldn’t go that route. Everyone is needed. For our home Bavaria, the preservation of our natural heritage, honest clothing, animal wellbeing and the support of small family businesses. That’s why we want to say, “Thank you!” to all our customers and our business partners.
Become a partner
If you have any questions regarding prices, conditions or details about our Bavarian Wool just contact us via:info@bavarian-wool.de