See the full interview – https://shop.britishwool.org.uk/rooted-in-the-city/
Can you share the story behind the London City Farm Project? What sparked the idea and how did it all begin?
While I was researching British sheep breeds and their fleece during my MA in 2020, I discovered that many of the rare breeds I was interested in were actually on my doorstep — right here in West London. On visiting them to collect fleece to spin up and add to my swatch library I noticed much of the fleece was being wasted, this seemed such a shame that this valuable fibre was not being used. The reason? I was given was the farms were simply too small to process or transport their fleeces economically.
It felt like such a shame — and that’s when the idea came to me: if we could work as a community and pooled all the fleece together, we could create something useful and truly local.
What sets your yarn apart from others, and why is having a fully traceable supply chain so important?
The sustainable fashion market is full of companies greenwashing their products, a 100% wool garment does not make it sustainable, as it may be processed on the other side of the world – and in farms that do not have the same animal welfare standards as we do in the UK
For me, traceability is non-negotiable. I want to know where the fleece comes from. I do not want wool that has a high carbon footprint, and I want the highest possible provenance. The traceable system means everyone can be confident that the wool meets these high standards.
What have been some of the biggest challenges getting the project off the ground — and how did you overcome them?
There have been many challenges during this project, one of the first hurdles was the logistics of transporting fleece around central London — anyone who’s ever tried to drive through the city will understand. We set up three collection hubs in North, Southeast, and West London, and thanks to the support of two fantastic city farmers (and their trailers), plus my own car, we managed to move all the fleece to the British Wool grading depot in Ashford.
This brings me to the second challenge, quality, as these sheep are kept for educational purposes and there is a full mixture of different wool types from fine to hill and mountain. Also, many are also kept in straw bedding, which is difficult to remove and process. this problem was dealt with by the very capable Spencer from the BW Ashford depot who went through all the fleeces and separating the coarser wool onto other applications, like carpets, insulation and hardwearing textiles so nothing went to waste. We began with one tonne of fleece and ended with 500kgs of high-quality wool for hand and machine knitting, this went to processing in Yorkshire.