Wool is produced all over the world with the majority coming from Australia and New Zealand. Wool in its natural state has many constituents ranging from oils to dirt. Some of these are called contaminants. The mixture of these elements of good and bad are mainly from years of evolution in sheep. Mainly these are keratins which is basically proteins. Unlike cotton and some other fibers, wool doesn’t have a homogenous type structure at all. They have complex chemical and physical compositions from which have been advancing in time with climatic changes for protection from heat and cold.
Technology tells us that Wool has over 175 proteins. Each of these proteins is not indigenous to one particular area of the wool fiber. This will give the regions in the wool makeup different chemical workloads. The protein in wool is basically made up of amino acids (-nh2) and acidic carboxyl (-cooh). In wool single polypeptide chains join together to form proteins by a variety of chemical bonds which we call crosslinks in the science world.
Once the growth process (keratinisation) takes effect, it becomes much stronger and insoluble to many attacks from external factors. What this means for finishing wool products is more strength and dye ready for fashion industry, for example.
In addition to the chemical nature of wool, the physical aspect of it is much different than other fibers. For example, Australian Merino wool has internal cells as well as external cuticle cells. This relates to strength and keeping dry when wet. Typically this wool is thicker in diameter than most of its counterparts. These cell structures are very dense and are extra padding for the wool fiber. New Zealand has much of its Merino Wool exported for this reason in retail outlets throughout the world of Fashion. Many of the exquisite men’s designer dress shirts are made from the material.
Much of these fibers are spring-like giving it flexibility and pliability. Another reason for a wonderful finished apparel product. Designer JoeyJ has wool mens dress shirts and some of the finest wool tops for men on the market today for example. Most of these outlets such as ShirtsGoneWild and others are more fashion tuned as to the chemical makeup for an edge in the industry for top notch end result men’s fashion or ladies clothing.
Without doubt Wool is the wonder fabric of the world. It is well known for many millennia to be strong pliable and comfortable. Wool although costly is one of the finest fiber to fashion end products there is on the market today.
