Merino Beanie

For the most part, the organic merino wool for our shirt comes from South America. A smaller part comes from Australia. The South American wool is washed and combed on-site close to the farms. Only then the wool is shipped to our partner Schoeller-Wool in Hard (close to the Swiss boarder). The Australian wool is firstly shipped to China to be washed and combed before being sent to the Schoeller-Wool site. We are not happy about this fact. We try to receive only South American wool for our clothing from Schoeller-Wool. Unfortunately this is not easy to accomplish. Organic merino wool is extremely rare, only a few farmers around the globe comply with those strict guidelines. To prevent material shortages for our shirts we are obliged to buy Australian wool in addition. Arrived on the company site in Hard, the organic merino wool is finished in a complex process. This step is very important so that the shirt is machine washable and doesn’t need to be hand washed after use. Normally the finishing process uses a lot of chlorine, which is harmful for the employees as well as for the environment. This is for us a no-go. To our knowledge Schoeller-Wool is the only company which has the know-how of finishing without chlorine and undertakes all process steps in Europe.    

After the finishing, the wool is shipped to Kresice in the Czech Republic near the Elb. There the wool is spun to a fine thread. Afterwards the product is transported to the Nägeli AG in Ermattingen for the knitting. At this point the wool has already travelled a long way. So the question can arise, is this still in terms with an organic product? Yes, it is organic. We don’t want that our sheep are prophylactically treated with antibiotics or to be feed with minor quality feed pellets and eventually slaughtered miles and miles away from the farm. Our organically kept sheep are only treated with antibiotics if an infection could be determined and only fed with grass. At the end of their life they are brought to slaughterhouses near the farm. Organic products are for the protection of animal welfare, so the location of the raw material production is secondary for us. The emitted CO2 from the transport is compensated to 100% with projects from our partner MyClimate. Unfortunately, there is no possibility to receive organic merino wool with the desired quality from farmers in Switzerland or Europe.

The production process in Switzerland starts with the dyeing of the merino wool at the dyeworks Kohnbühl in Wittenbach. Afterwards it is send to the knitting mill Traxler AG in Bichelsee. There each beanie is knitted under Norbert’s watchful eyes.

Finally the industrious hands of the employees sew in the wind proofing band, fold over the end and sew on the ROTAUF-logo. After a meticulous check and trimming the last threads the beanie is ready for the world.