Wool has a scaly surface, these wool scales get caught during machine washing and the wool felts.

To make natural wool machine washable, it must be specially treated.

There are cheaper and more sustainable solutions for making wool fibers washable.

The outdoor industry almost exclusively prefers the chemical-intensive Hercoset process. ROTAUF relies on the environmentally friendly EXP process.

The Hercoset/Superwash finish is used worldwide as a standard process for the industrial treatment of merino wool. This process is simple, economical and extremely effective - but not suitable for ROTAUF's sustainable and natural merino garments.

1. plasticized - no thanks
When customers buy Merino products, they rightly expect pure wool to lie against their skin. But with the Hercosett process, this is not the case, as the wool fibers are completely encased in plastic.

2. Hazardous chemicals - No thanks
Customers are led to believe that with Merino products they are getting a product that is as environmentally friendly as possible. Unfortunately, this is not the whole truth. The Hercosett process cannot meet these requirements because chemicals that are harmful to health and the environment are used in the pretreatment of the wool and the plasticizing process.

Concerns about this process have been noted elsewhere as well. The chlorine-based Hercosett process is now banned in the EU area and is only used in countries with less stringent environmental laws.

The Merino standard practiced worldwide is not enough for us and our community!

We renounce the cheap Hercoset process, rely instead on the Austrian EXP process and offer the expected Merino experience with our maximum natural and environmentally friendly Merino collection.

1. wool instead of plastic on the skin
The merino fiber is not wrapped with plastic! Instead, tiny micro-pages are used that interact with the wool scales to prevent matting.

2. Environmentally and resource friendly:
The innovative EXP process eliminates the pollutants produced by conventional wool finishing. In addition, the EXP process is characterized by a lower use of resources and the European production site at Lake Constance.

These ecological advantages are recognized by the leading environmental standards in the textile industry such as GOTS , bluesign and Oeko-Tex. EXP is one of the first wool finishing processes in the world to meet the criteria of these three standards.