Wool

Wool is often perceived as a harmless textile because it is not obtained through the death of animals. However, is this actually the case?

Published: July 2016
Last Update: February 2023

Reading Time: 26 minutes

Is wool vegan?

To fully understand the ethics of wool production, it is important to examine the animal sources and methods used to produce it. And whether or not there are alternative textiles that may be more ethical choices.

[Spoiler: There are.]

This guide examines these issues and provides practical tips for vegans, including identifying different types of wool on labels and a list of alternative fabrics. For vegan crafters, there's also a section on yarn alternatives.

And so much more. Let's begin.

1. What is wool?

A definition and look at who we collect it from.

The basics

Wool is a textile fiber similar to the hair or fur grown by other animals but with several distinguishing qualities.

First, it is naturally crimped. The amount of crimping varies, corresponding to the diameter or fineness of the different types of wool fibers. A finer variety may have as many as 100 crimps per inch, while coarser fibers may have as little as one or two.

Next, it's elastic. In other words, wool can resist distortion and easily return to its original size and shape. It grows in staples or clusters.

Chemically, wool consists of the protein keratin and a few percent lipids. (1) This makeup makes it distinctly different from other fibers like cotton, which is mainly cellulose.

Animals need their fur

Fur serves several important functions for animals. It helps to keep them warm and protect them from the elements, such as cold weather and rain. Fur can also help animals to blend in with their surroundings, providing camouflage and helping them to avoid predators.

In some cases, fur may also be used for display, as a way for animals to communicate with one another or attract mates. Generally, fur is an important adaptation for many animals and plays a vital role in their survival and reproductive success.

Wool animals

Generally speaking, most people know that wool can come from sheep, but that isn’t the only animal involved in wool production. We take it from other animals, too, like goats and rabbits. But they aren't the only ones.

Let's take a closer look at who wool comes from.

A grey and brown angora rabbit sitting on a grey couch with blue pillows.

Angora rabbit / Source

Angora

Angora is wool obtained from angora rabbits, a breed of long-haired domestic rabbit. Often called luxury wool, it's very soft to the touch.

The rabbits are farmed in China, Chile, France, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, India, Korea, and Hungary. The industry produces an estimated 10000 tons worldwide, with 90% coming from China, a country with few animal protection laws. (2)

"To be frank...the vast majority of angora comes from completely disgusting situations." - Dan Nosowitz, Modern Farmer

Much like other animals raised for meat, angora rabbits face a lifetime of terrible conditions. But unlike those raised for meat, angora rabbits produce wool their entire lives, which means they're trapped in the cycle of fear and pain much longer.

Obtaining wool from angora rabbits

Generally speaking, wool comes from rabbits in three ways:

  • Brushing. This is the lesser stressful option for rabbits, but slow and tedious for breeders. It's also the option least used.
  • Shearing. Another option is shearing. It's a less precise option; it removes the long, soft fur and the shorter guard hairs. Blending the two creates wool that is less soft and less desirable. Anxious rabbits don't enjoy shearing either; their kicking can lead to clipper injuries or, worse, the loss of a toe.
  • Live plucking. Sadly, this method is the most commonly used on fur farms because it assures the breeder that they're removing the most substantial, longest wool possible. A series of undercover footage from nine separate Chinese fur farms produced by a well-known animal rights organization shows this horrible process. Angora rabbits are tied to boards while workers rip out the fur to the root. All the while, rabbits, a mammal who rarely vocalizes, screams out in extreme fear or pain. Once stripped, the rabbits return to their wire cages to grow more hair. It's a terrible, violent process. (3)
Kashmir goats in beautiful India landscape with snow peaks background.

Cashmere goats / Source

Cashmere

It might surprise you that cashmere doesn't come from sheep but from the cashmere goat.

These goats have traditionally come from the nomadic herders in remote mountains and deserts of Jammu & Kashmir, China, and Mongolia, where temperatures can drop to -30°C. The cold habitat led them to grow a double fleece. One that consists of a soft undercoat and one straighter, coarse outer coating called guard hair to keep them warm in high altitudes. (4)

Related Reading: How Your Cashmere Sweater Is Decimating Mongolia's Grasslands

Pashmina

Pashmina is a type of cashmere wool. The wool comes from the cashmere goat breed, Changthangi. The difference between Pashmina and generic cashmere is the fiber diameter. Pashmina is much thinner than cashmere and used for making lightweight wool apparel. (5)

Breeding programs & genetic mingling

While it's true that all goats (except angora goats) produce a small amount of cashmere, typically, it isn't long enough to be cut and sold. Cashmere goats are goats bred for higher volume production. In the 1970s, scientists in Australia started a breeding program for feral goats to produce cashmere. It worked. Soon, other countries noticed and began breeding programs of their own.

During the 1980s, Scotland and the United States started breeding cashmere goats using genetics imported from Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania, and other areas. Today, the variations in the appearance of Cashmere goats in different countries result from their unique genetic makeup. One trait they all share; they all produce a higher quality and quantity of cashmere. (6)

Even with all that genetic mingling, there are limited cashmere supplies because each goat produces a limited amount. Plus, the cashmere can only be collected once per year. Finally, after harvest, the usable weight of the fibers is cut in half once it goes through the de-greasing and removal of the thick guard hairs. As a result, cashmere makes up 0.5% of the world's wool production. (7)

Obtaining wool from cashmere goats

Acquiring the cashmere from the goat happens either by hand (using a coarse comb that pulls tufts of fiber when raked through the wool) or sheared, typically during molting season. Sheared goat fleece will contain more guard hair compared to combed wool.

Regions such as Iran, Afghanistan, New Zealand, and Australia favor shearing goats. (8)

A young karakul sheep feeding on hay.

Karakul lamb / Source

Karakul aka Persian Wool

Karakul wool is the pelt from fetal (unborn) or newborn lambs.

If karakul wool doesn't sound familiar to you, it might be because karakul has many names. And to make things more confusing, the names of fetal lamb and newborn karakul sheep pelts will sometimes be used interchangeably.

Here are other common names:

  • Fetal karakul lambs: Broadtail, Brietschwanz (German), Karakulcha, or Cha (Russian).
  • Newborn karakul sheep: Karakul (also spelled Caracul), Sakara (from South West Africa), Namikara or Nakara (from Namibian), Astrakhan (often used in high fashion), Persian lamb, Agnello di Persia (Italian), and Krimmer (Russian)
Not a by-product

Karakul fur is not a by-product of the food industry. Karakul lambs are specifically raised for their wool and pelts. In many cases, karakul lambs are killed at a young age before they have had a chance to grow and produce wool to obtain the "best" pelts.

Related Reading: The Lamb on the Runway

Obtaining wool from karakul lamb

Fetal karakul fur skin, often called broadtail in the fashion industry, is highly sought after and prized for its exceptional glossy, flat, wavy "moire" look. It is the highest-valued type of lamb fur. Obtaining fur skin requires removing the developing lamb from the pregnant ewe before birth. (9)

First, the sheep undergo artificial insemination. Next, they give birth, typically around three times. Then, she'll get inseminated one more time before being slaughtered along with her fourth fetus (about 15 to 30 days before the lamb's due date).

As many as four million karakul lambs are slaughtered annually for their fur. (10)

A brown and cream Chiru standing on the plains with their young.

Tibetan antelope (Chiru) / Source

Shahtoosh

Persian for "king of fine wools," shahtoosh is a particular type of shawl woven with the down hair of the endangered Tibetan antelope, or Chiru. It is the world's finest wool. Because Chiru cannot be domesticated, they must be killed to obtain it.

It takes four Chiru to provide enough wool for just one shahtoosh shawl or scarf. (11)

Chiru is an endangered species

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), global demand for shahtoosh wiped out 90 percent of the antelope population during the previous century.

Now shahtoosh is illegal to sell or possess due to the Chiru endangered species status with The Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). But due to high demand by western buyers willing to pay up to $20,000 for a single shawl, the weaving of shahtoosh continues in secret in Kashmir, India. (12)

Young lambs several days after birth at a regional sheep farm in Poland. The animals are slaughtered for meat at a young age or reared for wool production / Source

Shearling

You might think that "shearling" is merely sheared wool, but it isn't.

While the term 'shearling' is somewhat fluid, typically, it's used to describe garments made from sheepskin. The pelt is tanned, processed, and dyed with the wool intact. Because the wool is still attached to the skin, shearling is considered a fur product.

Shearling is unlike other furs. According to the industry, shearling is a by-product of raising animals for food.

Lambskin

Lambskin is a type of leather made from a lamb's skin, a young sheep that is usually less than one year old. It's often used to make a wide range of products, including clothing, shoes, handbags, gloves, hats, and upholstery.

Making lambskin involves several steps, including selecting and preparing the raw skins, tanning and conditioning the skins to preserve and soften them, and cutting and sewing the skins into the desired shape and size. Lambskin is typically tanned using a process called chrome tanning, which involves the use of chromium salts to preserve and soften the skin. (13)

Brown and white Vicuna standing in a greenspace with their young.

Vicuna / Source

Vicuña

Vicunas are wild South American camelids native to the Andean highlands of Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. They are closely related to llamas and alpacas and are known for their extremely fine wool. It is the second smallest fiber diameter of all animal hair, after shahtoosh wool, and is the most expensive legal wool in the world. (14)

They're small animals, have a slender, agile build, and are adapted to living at high altitudes, where they roam the Andean mountain slopes and plateaus in large herds. Herbivores, their diet consists primarily of grasses, herbs, and other vegetation found in their high-altitude habitat. Vicuñas can survive in harsh, dry environments and go for long periods without water by obtaining moisture from their food. (15)

Poached into near extinction

Vicuña wool is one of the most sought-after natural fibers in the world. For much of its history, merciless poaching has led to the animal's near extinction as the price for its fur skyrockets. Black market prices approach $1,000 per kilo, which requires the wool from five adult animals.

The vicuñas in the Andes in Northern Chile are threatened by gangs who use infrared binoculars for hunting them at night with high-powered rifles. Then they skin the animal for the pelts instead of herding and shearing them, as indigenous people have done for centuries. (16)

More than 5,000 animals have been found dead over the past five years, but vicuñas inhabit areas that are difficult to patrol, meaning that official poaching figures are "just the tip of the iceberg." (17)

Obtaining wool from vicuña

Unlike other fur-bearing animals, Vicuñas can only be shorn every two to three years and has to be caught from the wild each time. Each shearing yields about 200 grams of fiber, meaning it takes five adult vicunas to produce one kilo of wool. (18)

To obtain their wool, wild vicuñas are typically herded via several methods. The simplest capture method involves people slowly herding groups into a wire-fenced corral. An alternative method uses motorbikes and pick-up trucks to chase animals into a fenced corral. This last method is the most common system used in Chile. Other methods combine vehicles and people. Once the animals are enclosed, they are tied up by ropes in sternal recumbency or held down for shearing.

This process is terrifying for these shy animals. Since these wild animals are driven into human-made facilities, restrained, handled, and sheared, they likely experience suffering and other animal welfare problems like extreme stress. (19)

2. How is wool harvested?

The processing of animals.

Foreword

If you've never spent time considering where wool comes from, you're not alone; many people don't.

For this guide, there are two styles of raising sheep: commercial and small, local farms. Instead of oversimplifying and making sweeping statements about each, this section will focus on the practices that regularly occur in raising sheep as a commodity.

It's not as gentle of a process as you might think.

The Process of Processing Wool

It's unfortunate but true; wool often tends to be overlooked as an exploitative practice.

One reason may be that people have little idea of what must happen to obtain it. From start to finished product, a lot goes into getting wool, and none of it is enjoyable for the animals.

Smaller, family sheep farmers hate when I say that. They believe the care given to the animals makes up for their eventual slaughter. But while it's true that the attention given to animals is essential, it doesn't negate killing an animal who doesn't want to die.

Raising sheep or other animals for wool in a commercial setting or the perfect small farm environment requires some of the same practices.

Standard Sheep Farming Practices

The following practices occur regularly in managed sheep flocks, both on commercial and small family farms. Whether a large or small operation, each struggles with the same issues.

Before we begin, let me ask you this: Even if there were a farmer out there who does none of these practices, is fair treatment during the lifetime confinement of the animal until they are no longer profitable and then culled from the operation enough? Fair treatment, whatever that means, cannot replace freedom and autonomy.

Not every farmer will use every method listed, but every procedure is conventional within the industry.

Antibiotics

The use of antibiotics in raising sheep has been a controversial issue for a long time. There's a large body of evidence that demonstrates the negative impacts of antibiotic use.

One study found that it can contribute to the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the environment. Certain antibiotics, such as tetracyclines and sulfonamides, were frequently detected in the soil and water surrounding sheep farms. (20)

Another study found that the widespread use of antibiotics can lead to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can transfer from animals to humans through the food supply. (21) Antibiotic-resistant bacteria contribute to over two million illnesses and 23,000 deaths annually. (22, 23)

Then, there's this study. It investigated the impact of antibiotic use in livestock on the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in humans. They found that using antibiotics in animals can lead to the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can be transferred to humans, making it more difficult to treat infections. (24)

Finally, antibiotics used in livestock production can also interact with human medications, reducing their efficacy and making it more difficult to treat infections. Yes, really. (25)

Body Mutilations 

Keep in mind that anesthesia during these procedures is not always universal. Often, animals don't receive any.

  • Mulesing. Breeding practices resulted in sheep with more skin folds around their tail, which increases the risk of flystrike. Flystrike is a painful condition caused by flies laying eggs in those folds around the tail. The resulting maggots cause severe damage and even death to sheep. (26) Mulesing involves removing skin and flesh from the hindquarters of sheep, usually around the tail area, to prevent the occurrence of flystrike. According to sources, removing skin can result in open wounds that can take several weeks to heal. Additionally, mulesing can impact the sheep's mobility and ability to graze and interact with other sheep. (27)
  • Castration. Castration is the removal of a male sheep's testicles, often done to prevent aggressive behavior. Castration happens using surgical or chemical methods, but either way, it is considered a painful procedure. (28, 29)
  • Ear Docking. Ear docking involves the removal of a portion of a sheep's ear, typically for cosmetic purposes or to identify the sheep as belonging to a particular farm or flock. (28 , 29)
  • Dehorning. Dehorning is precisely what it sounds like. The dehorning process can be performed in several ways, including using a hot iron to burn the horn buds, chemical dehorning using caustic agents, or physically cutting or sawing the horns off. (28, 29)
Shearing

If you were to ask most people, shearing is little more than a necessary haircut for sheep. But in fact, undomesticated free-living sheep only produce the wool needed to survive their climate.

It's humans who have selectively bred sheep to produce more and more wool. Today's domestic sheep overproduce wool, making shearing necessary.

Shearing can be painful and traumatic to the sheep. Shearers pin down sheep and remove the wool as fast as possible during shearing. Even the most careful shearer can nick and cut the frightened animals.

Typically, sheep will be shorn once a year in the spring. Although, there are some countries where shearing takes place as many as three times a year. This shearing may disrupt the natural insulation the sheep's wool provides, making them more vulnerable to temperature fluctuations and disease.

Wool sweaters / Source

3. Ethically sourced wool

Recycled, second-hand, humanely harvested, traceable, or ethically sourced. Different names for the same fate.

Recycled, second-hand, and vintage wool

Whether or not it is acceptable for vegans to wear or use animal-based clothing or textiles that have been recycled or bought at a second-hand store is common in discussions about vegan fashion. Some organizations argue that reusing or repurposing these textiles is acceptable and falls under the vegan umbrella. However, I strongly disagree.

While it is true that these products have already consumed resources in their manufacturing, wearing them still sends a message that animal-based clothing is fashionable and acceptable. In most cases, people cannot tell if an item is second-hand or recycled. The only thing people will see is wool clothing, reinforcing the deeply embedded belief that we can use animals in any way we deem profitable.

Instead, we should focus on reducing and eliminating the production of these items altogether.

Ethically sourced or sustainable wool

There has been a trend in the wool industry toward promoting something called 'ethically sourced' wool. Similar to humane certification programs within the meat and dairy industries, these programs exist to ease the minds of consumers. The idea these labels are selling is that it's possible to farm animals in a kind, compassionate way. This idea is called The Humane Myth.

In reality, humans have a long history of mistreating and exploiting animals for their benefit, and the humane myth is more of a convenient fiction than a reflection of reality.

Despite standards, certifications, processes, audits, and assurances, the plain truth is that animals are still being bred and killed. If they weren't, these industries wouldn't exist. It's true; vegans want people to treat animals better.

But through freedom and autonomy, not humane deaths.

Clothing tag / Source

4. Reading labels

Know what to look for before heading to the store.

Getting started

It would be great if the labels on our clothing, bedding, and other textiles would list their animal origin, but sadly that isn’t the case. Not only are labels ambiguous in terms of animal origin, but they also use a wide variety of names to describe the textile.

This practice can confuse even the most well-informed consumer.

How is wool listed on labels?

Here are some of the common names you might find listed on a label, but this is not an exhaustive list. When the origin of a textile is in doubt, avoiding it in favor of a plant-based alternative may be the only option.

  • Beaver cloth
  • Botany wool
  • Broadcloth
  • Challis
  • Cheviot
  • Chinchilla cloth
  • Donegal
  • Felt
  • Flannel wool
  • Gabardine
  • Glen checks
  • Harris Tweed
  • Heather mixture wool
  • Herringbone Wool
  • Homespun wool
  • Houndstooth check
  • Jersey
  • Laine (French for "wool")
  • Lambsdown
  • Lindsey-woolsey
  • Loden fabric
  • Mackinaw fabric
  • Melton
  • Merino wool
  • Oatmeal cloth
  • Panama cloth
  • Petersham
  • Pilot cloth
  • Poodle cloth
  • Rabbit hair
  • Sharkskin
  • Tartan
  • Tweed
A bunch of colorful fabrics rolled up and stacked on top of each other.

 Rolls of colorful fabric / Source

5. Wool alternatives

Know what to look for before heading to the store.

Wool free options

There are lots of alternatives to animal-produced wool. Some are natural plant-based fibers, some are a mix between synthetic and plant-based, and some come straight from synthetic fibers. All of them are better for the animals. Luckily, finding alternatives to animal-produced wool has never been simpler.

Finding wool alternatives

  • Acrylic
  • Bamboo
  • Banana silk
  • Cotton
  • Corn
  • Dralon
  • Fiber
  • Fique
  • Ingeo
  • Jute
  • Kenaf
  • Lenpur
  • Modal
  • Nettle
  • Pine Paper
  • Pineapple Fiber
  • Polyamide
  • Polyester
  • Ramie
  • Rayon
  • Soy or Soy Silk
  • Tencel / Lyocell
  • Viscose
  • Washi
Overhead picture of balls of yarn with the colors arranged in a rainbow pattern.

 Colorful yarn / Source

6. Vegan knitting & crafting

Wool-free options for your projects.

Finding wool-free options

Cotton is the most common plant-based yarn, and there are a variety of readily available 100% cotton and cotton/synthetic blends out there. But there's one important factor to note about cotton; conventional cotton crops are some of the most intensively sprayed plants in the world.

By choosing organic cotton yarn, you can eliminate exposure to these pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, and defoliants.

Other Plant Fibers Include:

  • Linen
  • Hemp
  • Bamboo
  • Soy (Soy Silk)
  • Banana Silk
  • Nettle
  • Ramie
  • Jute
  • Kenaf
  • Pineapple Fiber
  • Fique
  • Corn
  • Washi
  • Pine (Pine paper)

Synthetic plant fibers & yarn

Synthetic plant fibers start as plants but go through a transformative chemical process to become yarn. These include Tencel/lyocell (from wood pulp), ingeo (from corn), rayon, viscose, modal, and lenpur (from pine trees).

Synthetic yarns include acrylic, dralon, nylon, polyamide, and polyester. Some synthetic yarns contain a blend of synthetic and plant fibers; others are made to look like animal-based fibers.

Environmental considerations of synthetic fibers

It's worth mentioning environmental considerations when discussing synthetic fibers because some of them—acrylic, nylon, and polyester, for example—are petroleum-based and refined from petroleum byproducts. This fact means there are environmental consequences in their production.

In your research, you'll probably read that the environmental tolls of making synthetic fibers make them undesirable compared to animal-produced ones. Wool is often greenwashed and advertised as the most "natural" choice, which is true, but only if we completely ignore the lifetime of misery and confinement sheep and other animals experience to provide us the raw material, their hair.

The eutrophication of the waterways, the greenhouse gas production, the loss of life, the cost of breeding, raising, and slaughtering "spent" animals, and the cost of transporting animal-based fibers around the globe greatly outweigh the environmental cost of producing synthetic fibers.

And even better for our planet, manufacturers are starting to use recycled materials in their textiles.

Shopping for vegan yarn

You can find natural, organic fair-trade yarn of various types at the following online retailers. Please note that these retailers are not solely vegan companies; some offer animal-derived products and plant-based alternatives.

If you know of a retailer who should be listed and isn't, contact me.

Truth in advertising

I am committed to providing accurate information to the vegan community. Meticulously researched, the topic explored in this guide contains the information available at the time of publishing.

I don’t just say it; I source it too.

Please contact me if you find incorrect data.

Article Sources

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Photo Credits

Angora rabbit / Adobe Stock
Cashmere goats / Adobe Stock
Karakul lamb / Adobe Stock
Tibetan antelope (Chiru) / Xi Zhinong, Nature Picture Library
Young lambs several days after birth at a regional sheep farm in Poland / Andrew Skowron, We Animals Media, 2019
Vicuna / Adobe Stock
Wool sweaters / Cara DeCabra
Clothing tag / Padrinan
Rolls of fabric / Engin Akyurt
Colorful yarn / Adobe Stock