I’ve applied for a British Wool license! Exciting!
British Wool (also known as the British Wool Marketing Board) is a farmer-operated non-profit organization that collects, grades, sells and promotes fleece wool. Actually, let me correct that: it is THE farmer-operated non-profit organization that collects, grades, sells and promotes fleece wool. The only one in the world.
They’ve operated since 1950, and have been integral in maintaining the quality & authenticity of the UK’s wool products.
Why be bothered with this sort of license? Well, for starters, I’m really proud of my heritage and want to celebrate that heritage as part of my business. I also want my customers to have certainty about what they are buying – that this is genuine UK-sourced wool sheared from sheep on local farms rather than ‘British wool’ of dubious origin & blend.
Why should you care if our wool is genuinely sourced from the UK or not? Well... I can’t answer that for you. I can say that there is plenty of beautiful fibre on the market produced outside of the UK – Uruguay & Italy immediately spring to mind – that also source their material from local farms & take great pride in their craft.
I can also say that for people like myself, who are interested in natural fibre sheared from well cared for animals that are raised on traditional farms, it is a horrible experience to one day discover that a product you had bought had misleading branding. It’s fine if this is not the kind of thing that matters to you, but it matters to me & I want my customers to have full confidence in what they’re buying.
You can find more information on British Wool here:
Wish me luck on my application!