Patagonia Wool discontinued?

This talks a bit about it.

Ah, thanks for that. My Google skills were sub-par, and I didn’t find that page earlier.

I’m confused.  The reports from the link are from 2015.  The link to Pata’s page has a bunch of merino other than socks on it.

I’m confused.  The reports from the link are from 2015.  The link to Pata’s page has a bunch of merino other than socks on it.

The Patagonia post about animal welfare and their Patagonia Wool Standard is from July 2016.

On the page with the wool products I linked to, every single wool product besides the socks is on sale, as if they are selling off all their remaining stock. Beyond that page, they are missing several wool things they used to sell, like the Merino Air Hoody.

They probably have not found a wool supplier that meets their quality and ethical standards yet.

“They probably have not found a wool supplier that meets their quality and ethical standards yet.”

They may never….

Is down next?

Once you go down that slippery slope, there’s no turning back.

I understand the motivations for their efforts but when dealing with industrial scale animal sourced “products” it can be hard to control all aspects of how animals are fed, treated, etc etc

Maybe the answer is to switch entirely to synthetics so no animals are involved in the sourcing of materials.

Until of course the planet’s oil reserves run so low as to make oil derived products too expensive to use for outdoor gear. And of course all that oil was some carbon based life form at some point in history.

It’s all very strange, and I am left wondering whether Patagonia knows very much about the wool industry. They say that

Wool, like down, is a by-product of an animal that is ultimately killed and sold for its meat.

This is simply wrong, at least for the merino industry I know. Merino sheep are bred for wool production and live for many years. The idea of trying to sell them for meat would be greeted with much mirth here in Australia: I doubt you could find buyers. The meat is simply not good eating. And 10 year old mutton … ugh.

Then they carry on about the evils of mulesing. Mulesing is a vetinary procedure used to prevent serious injury and infection to sheep from fly-strike. It’s a management process which costs money, and farmers would not do it if there was an alternative which better protected the sheep. When you have seen an animal crawling with maggots, you might better understand.

It seems that Patagonia have been hoodwinked by extremists in PETA: it would not be the first time PETA has gone overboard. Some of them are a bit rabid at time. Oh well, the marketplace will deal with that.

There is an alternative of course. It may be that Patagonia is finding that merino wool, fine though it may be for suits and knitted jumpers and other fashion wear at home, is not all that good a fibre for outdoors use. The only times professional or Olympic athletes wear wool is during parades; never on the track. Perhaps Patagonia are quietly looking for a glamorous out now that the initial market enthusiasm has died.

Just my biased opinions, based on having spent 27 years in textile research.

Cheers

Interesting points, but I am not sure what Olympic track athletes wear has to do with what market or purpose Patagonia is trying to sell stuff for.

They probably have not found a wool supplier that meets their quality and ethical standards yet.

I don’t know about their other ethical characteristics, but sheep are liars according to every New Zealander I ever heard from.

In the meantime if you want a wool/poly blend, Rab still makes one.