Interesting facts about wool

Natural wool is one of the most demanded materials for the manufacture of textiles. It perfectly retains heat and is highly durable, although, of course, it all depends on its specific type. Humanity has been making woolen clothes for many millennia, and even now, with the advent of many synthetic materials, it has not lost its relevance.

Wool facts

• World wool production is 2 million tons per year.
• Merino wool is the most expensive of all its types. So, for example, in 2004 about 100 kilograms of high-class raw materials were sold at an auction by one of the fashion houses for 420 thousand dollars.
• China is considered the leader in wool production; it produces 400 thousand tons of raw materials per year. The second place belongs to Australia - more than 360 thousand tons. New Zealand closes the top three with an indicator of about 165 thousand tons.
• 10 kilograms of sheep's wool makes a thread about 6,000 kilometers long. 
• Woolen breeds make up 90 percent of the world's total sheep population.
• Some types of wool (the most expensive and high quality) are several times softer than silk and more elastic than cotton
• From sheep of the merino breed of the Australian variety of Peppin, up to 15-18 kilograms of wool are sheared annually.
• Merino wool is one of the few natural materials, the quality of which scientists still cannot reproduce using synthetic analogs. 
• Retail sales of wool-containing consumer products are the US $ 80,000,000,000 per year.
• Sheep wool is a flame retardant material. That is why merino wool is part of professional fireproof clothing.
• The warmest socks are woolen.
• Camel wool is unique in that it does not accumulate static electricity.
• The most ancient type of woolen product is felt. Historians believe that primitive people learned to make it about 8000 years ago 
• The oldest woolen clothing ever discovered by archaeologists is 3,500 years old. She was found in Denmark.
• The most expensive woolen products are socks made from the wool of the vicuña, an artiodactyl animal that lives in the Andes. One pair costs $ 1000-1200.
• The thinnest types of wool are less than 16 micrometers thick.
• Natural wool, due to its special scaly structure of fibers, can repel dirt and stay clean for a long time.
• Each wool fiber can be bent about 20,000 times without losing flexibility, and its structure will not be damaged.
• Contrary to popular belief, woolen clothes are eaten not by the moth itself, but by its larvae.
• It was from wool that the most ancient soft toy found was made. It was a woolen bear cub made by an unknown craftsman about 4600 years ago.