We love natural materials because they are honest: a cowhide, a sheepskin or a wool blanket is exactly what it looks like, and with a little care it stays beautiful for a very long time. Here is what we can tell you about ours, fact by fact.
A by-product of the meat industry
Every hide and sheepskin we sell comes from an animal raised for meat; no animal is raised for its skin. A hide is worth only one to two per cent of the animal’s value, and more than 99% of the world’s leather comes from animals raised for meat. Turning the skin into a rug means it is used instead of wasted.
Where it comes from
Our cowhides come from Brazil, where most cattle graze outdoors on pasture: only around 7.5% are finished in feedlots. The hides are tanned in Brazil, at a tannery with its own water treatment facility on site. Our sheepskins are produced in Europe, and our wool blankets and wool clothing are made in Europe too.
Made to last
Leather and wool are naturally tough. A wool fibre can bend more than 20,000 times without breaking, which is why a good wool blanket or sheepskin keeps its bounce for years. A shake, a brush and some fresh air are usually all the care they need.
What wool can do
Wool can take up to about 30% of its own weight in moisture before it feels damp, which is why it is so comfortable to sleep under. It needs around 570 to 600 °C to ignite, where cotton ignites at about 255 °C, and it does not melt or drip.
Mulesing-free and certified wool
The maker of our wool products confirms in a signed statement that all the wool it uses is 100% mulesing-free. Many of our wool products are certified to STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX® in product class I, the class set for baby articles. Each product page shows its certificate number, with a link to check it on oeko-tex.com.
Questions about a material or a piece? Just ask us: we are happy to tell you what we know.