But if I'm going to invest so much time, work, and love into a project, I want the raw material—in this case, the wool—to reflect that. That's why we place such great emphasis on organic wool in our collection. Because that, too, is slow fashion: the appreciation of the material and the work that goes into it.
GOTS certified wool
From sheep to finished yarn in our warehouse, there are quite a few steps involved, as you can imagine. The sheep grows its wool for a whole year, during which time it needs to be fed and herded. Then comes shearing, washing, combing, spinning, and dyeing the wool, and finally winding it into balls or skeins. All of this happens before the wool is stored with us.
Shelves with GOTS-certified yarns in the Soul Wool warehouseAnd that's why we're such big fans of the GOTS label . GOTS stands for Global Organic Textile Standard and is rightly considered the gold standard among eco-labels. With GOTS-certified yarns, you can be sure that the wool was produced fairly, sustainably, and ecologically. Because with GOTS, all of this is strictly controlled! Yes, that's right, every single stage the wool goes through is inspected, must be certified, and regularly recertified. We in the warehouse do too, by the way.
That sounds like a lot of work, doesn't it? Yes, it is. That's why it's not feasible for many sheep farms, dye works, or spinning mills to get certified, even though they would actually meet the standards. For some fibers, it's difficult or even impossible to obtain a GOTS seal: alpacas and llamas are a good example. Since they usually roam freely and uncontrolled in the South American highlands between shearings, certification cannot be granted due to the lack of necessary monitoring.
Semilla Pura GOTS by BC GarnFor alpacas and mohair goats, there is therefore the RAS/RMS “Responsible Alpaca Standard” or “Responsible Mohair Standard”: fibers with this seal of approval come from animals that are kept responsibly and sheared gently.
Fair Trade projects at Soul Wool
The Fair Trade label doesn't focus on how ecologically the wool is produced or dyed, but "only" on ensuring that the producers and everyone involved in the supply chain are paid and treated fairly. GOTS, therefore, goes a step further ecologically than Fair Trade. Fair Trade projects at Soul Wool include Manos del Uruguay and Nomadnoos .
Recycled yarns for even more slow fashion
Another contribution to slow fashion is our recycled yarns . We think they're simply brilliant because they give discarded textiles a second life. Most of our recycled yarns are post-consumer products; they are already worn garments that are transformed into beautiful yarns instead of being burned in landfills.
Used textiles, sorted by color, are processed into new yarns.Recycled yarns have many advantages:
- Only a fraction of the water is needed to produce recycled wool compared to the production of premium yarns.
- Our recycled yarns are neither bleached nor dyed: the color comes solely from the thorough pre-sorting of the textiles. This also saves water, raw materials, and pollutants. Environmental protection and occupational safety go hand in hand here.
- New, beautiful yarns are made from old clothes or offcuts and remnants from textile factories.
Reborn Jeans Recycled by Kremke Soul WoolAs you can see, sustainability is a major focus at Soul Wool. That's why we're working on getting even more yarns GOTS certified, expanding our recycling line, and obtaining certifications for other organic labels such as Oeko-Tex.
