ABOUT HD WOOL

• HD Wool was founded in 2014 and is the innovations division of H. Dawson, a British Wool trading company established in 1888 which specialises in both wool and raw biodegradable fibres, sourcing from 35 countries.
• HD Wool is headquartered in Salts Mill, a former textile mill in Saltaire, England, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
• The company was initially conceived as a separate brand to create wool bedding products such as duvets, pillows and mattresses. A customer request to use the wool in a jacket sparked its central application, HD Wool Apparel Insulation.
• Its hero product is naturally temperature-regulating, antibacterial, odour-resistant and breathable, as well as biodegradable.
• HD Wool sells two products under the umbrella of HD Wool Apparel Insulation. Pure is, as the name suggests, made from 100% wool, while Active is made from a blend of wool and PLA, making it machine washable. While better than a fossil fuel-based plastic, PLA is still a plastic, and we’d always recommend the 100% plastic-free option. Both come in weights from 75 to 200 grams per square metre.
• The company has partnered with brands including The North Face, Finisterre, Isobaa, Purdey, HAJK and 7L to create outdoor apparel such as coats, jackets, smocks and gilets, insulated with traceable, regenerative wool instead of polyester.
• As the company focuses on serving people who are conscious of their environmental impact, it has two key partners to ensure traceability and quality: Woolkeepers and Land to Market.
• The Woolkeepers Initiative records the movement of materials from “farm gate to the shop front.” It guarantees farmers are paid a fair price for their products, and verifies animal welfare and The Five Freedoms: freedom from hunger and thirst, freedom from discomfort, freedom from pain, injury, or disease, freedom to express normal behaviour, and freedom from fear and distress. 600 farmers are part of the initiative and 863,140 kilograms of traceable wool has been supplied to date.
• Land to Market is a programme run by the Savory Institute. It’s the first outcomes-based, verified, regenerative sourcing solution, and requires participating farms to undergo an Ecological Outcome Verification (EOV) process. The EOV measures regeneration via indicators including ground cover, water infiltration, biodiversity, soil carbon and soil health.
• HD Wool’s partnership with Land to Market is the first model of regenerative British wool supporting producers with a new route to market.
• The company is a member of the 250 Club, run by Surfers Against Sewage, which asks businesses to support its mission by pledging GBP 250 (USD 305) each year.
• In 2019, HD Wool received investment from Sky Ocean Ventures, a GBP 25 million (USD 30.5 million) impact fund launched to tackle ocean plastics.
• In March 2022, HD Wool partnered with the Rudholm Group, a global producer of garment accessories and packaging. The partnership will expand HD Wool’s reach in the European and Scandinavian market.
• Finisterre won a Gold ISPO Outstanding Award in the Insulation Apparel Category for the use of HD Wool Apparel Insulation in its Biosmock.