 Growers of the world's most comfortable fibers
As if the flock is family, SmartWool’s growers give our New Zealand merino sheep 365 days of constant care and attention. It starts in October when they move the flock down from the high country for spring lambing. Ear tags with bar codes are attached for tracking, and under our growers’ watchful eyes the lambs and adult flock enjoy warm weather and full bellies until February when the lambs stay low and the mature flock heads back up for summer grazing.
In fall, the growers gather for the annual muster, a family affair where they work the high country to bring the adult stock back down to warmer pastures. Selective breeding is then used to ensure the wool meets our exact specifications for comfort and performance. While August in the U.S. might mean back to school, for our growers it means back to wool with the harvesting cycle kicking in full swing. The sheep are sheared, the bar codes copied and attached to each fleece, and the fleece classified, packaged and shipped for quality testing, with experts examining everything from whiteness and brightness to fiber diameter and curvature. While the best of it goes into SmartWool’s award winning socks and base layers, the growers go right back to doing what they love more than anything: readying lambs for yet another batch of the world’s most comfortable fiber. |
