Washing wool: a neglected but crucial step
When one thinks of wool processing, the imagination almost always turns to spinning—that romantic image of the spinning wheel turning, the thread forming between the fingers. Less often do people think of washing, yet it is one of the most decisive steps, both for the quality of the yarn obtained and for the actual cost of a processing project.
Here's a fact that often surprises people who discover the "behind the scenes" of spinning: raw wool, as it comes off the sheep, loses about 28% of its weight during the washing process. This loss is due to the removal of lanolin—the natural grease that protects the sheep's fleece—as well as the removal of dirt, dust, and vegetable matter accumulated during months spent grazing. Concretely, this means that to obtain one kilogram of clean, ready-to-spin wool, a significantly larger amount of raw wool is needed.
Why should this information interest you, even if you never wash raw wool yourself? Because it largely explains why the price of a skein of local, artisan-processed wool can differ from that of imported, mass-produced wool. Washing requires water, energy, time, and expertise to properly dose each step without damaging the fiber or wasting resources unnecessarily. Understanding this loss factor means understanding a significant part of the real value behind each skein.
At Makeloo Studio, we have carefully documented this step, in collaboration with financial experts, to establish fair prices—both for the partner farms that supply us with raw materials, and for you, who buy the finished product. A batch that is too small, sent for washing in isolation, can quickly become economically difficult to justify; that's why we encourage our partner farms to group their shipments whenever possible, a practice that benefits the entire chain, from the farmer to you.
This transparency about the real processing costs is part of our commitment to a truly sustainable circular economy, where every link in the chain—the farmer, the mill, and you, the artisan—receives fair recognition for the value they bring.
Source: Wool Cost Calculation Methodology, Makeloo Studio Laine Québec inc. (2026).