Biodegradable: wool returns to the earth

There's something deeply reassuring about knowing that the material you work with, day after day, will never become eternal waste. Yet, this is exactly the promise wool holds, thanks to a property too often overlooked in discussions about sustainable fashion: its remarkably rapid biodegradability.

Under favorable conditions, a wool product can decompose almost entirely in just six months when buried in soil. This process is simple to explain: wool is made of keratin, a protein that soil microorganisms recognize and break down, just as they would with any other organic matter. And decomposition doesn't stop there—it's even beneficial. As it decomposes, wool gradually releases nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium into the soil, acting as a true natural fertilizer.

Compare this to a synthetic fiber, which can persist for hundreds of years in the environment, fragmenting without ever truly disappearing. The difference isn't a matter of degree: it's a fundamental difference in nature between a living material, designed by evolution to return to the cycle of life, and a material manufactured to last artificially long, well beyond its actual usefulness.

For you, this information makes perfect sense when you think about the remnants of your own practice—the trimmings, felt scraps, small pieces of wool that are no longer useful in your workshop. Instead of throwing them away with a feeling of guilt, you can compost them without worry, or even use them directly as mulch for your own flowerbeds.

This is precisely the principle that Makeloo Studio applies on a larger scale with its circular products: our felted plant protectors, for example, are designed to offer horticultural protection during their use, then to biodegrade naturally once their role is complete—without leaving plastic residue in your garden soil.

Source: International Wool Textile Organisation, Wool Notes, Issue 3 (2024).