By now, most of us are aware of the situation with sheep farmers having to burn their wool because it was no longer economically viable to sell, but this all looks set to change. Husband and wife team of designers, Hannah and Justin Floyd have come up with a new environmentally friendly product to get wool back in focus.
Justin, who is a product designer has developed Solidwool, which is a sustainable alternative to fibreglass. This is a composite of wool with bio-resin. This is now being used in products from glasses frames to chairs. They used Herdwick fleeces, following advice from the British Wool Marketing Board. The wool fibres in a Herdwick fleece are coarse which is ideal for strength in the Solidwool composite. The strength of Solidwool was tested at Plymouth University and was demonstrated to be stronger than all other natural composites, which includes hemp. Added to that, who can resist the lovely blue grey of a Herdwick fleece!