I don't need to tell anyone here that merino wool is cool. It is comfortable to wear, transports moisture to the outside, warms and cools at the same time and the best argument for why so many outdoor sports enthusiasts love products made from merino is that it doesn't stink. Really not at all. A T-shirt for several days on the bike or on a ski tour - perfectly adequate if it is made of merino. Even for going up and downhill!
In the past, I never wanted to believe it: wearing a wool shirt for sport? No way! Why else would they have invented quick-drying polyester? Until I went on my very first press trip ever about merino wool in the Stubai Alps in 2013. I was equipped with an Ortovox longsleeve. This was to accompany us on the hut tour. As a student at the time, it was my first merino shirt. In terms of price, I simply couldn't afford it in my student life. But once I put it on, I was pretty hooked for the reasons mentioned above.
Wool yes - but from happy sheep
In the run-up to the trip, I did a lot of research into the fine fiber and noticed that the image I associate with merino wool of happy sheep on green pastures is not always true. More often, the wool comes from large farms, for example in Australia, where the animals live in far too confined spaces and the controversial practice of mulesing is still practiced today. Mulesing is the removal of skin around the tail and anus of sheep without anesthesia. It is often used in Australia and New Zealand to prevent the infestation of fly maggots in these folds of the sheep's skin.
This shocked me and somehow didn't fit in with my idea of an environmentally friendly and sustainable lifestyle. However, there are also companies that are not completely indifferent to animal welfare. Similar to down, there are various cross-company standards, such as the Responsible Wool Standard (RWS) or ZQ Merino. But there are also company-specific standards. For example from Ortovox.
Merino wool from under down under
The Taufkirchen-based company has been using wool since 1988. It started with merino wool in 1995 and added Swisswool in 2011. Since 2012, Ortovox has exclusively used merino wool from Tasmania. According to the company, the wool from there is particularly fine because the island south of Australia is so green, no dust gets caught in the wool, the sheep have enough to eat and the wool fibers grow evenly. Ortovox also chose Tasmania because the farmers share the same values and independently spoke out against mulesing years ago and looked for alternatives. This is why, for example, sheep are now bred to have fewer folds of skin around the tail and anus, or a second shearing of the wool around the tail is carried out - this prevents the flies from nesting so quickly.