Spanish outdoor clothing and sportswear firm Ternua Group has developed a circular initiative to reuse the wool from Latxa sheep – currently managed almost entirely as waste – as thermal insulation for high-quality jackets.
There are around 1m Latxa sheep in the Basque Country, but their wool is an environmental problem as it has no commercial value and cannot be disposed of. Through the ‘Latxa Artile’ (Latxa wool in Basque) project, Ternua has collaborated with the Muturbeltz association, the village of Lamariako Azpikoa in Antzuola, and Iletegia, which specialises in wool processing and is based in Lapurdi. It also has support from the Department of Environment of the Provincial Government of Gipuzkoa.
The objective is to demonstrate the potential of Latxa wool to be reintroduced into the market as thermal insulation for high-quality jackets. The project aims to provide value to the wool from the Latxa sheep farms at an environmental, economic, and cultural level. The launch of the initiative is intended to provide a stable outlet for the continuous volume of wool with these characteristics, and to create a circular economy market that involves the entire value chain.
“We have created Artileshell technology to highlight our commitment to innovation, the environment, and the community, looking for alternatives to reuse waste, which is also a local problem, as a raw material for clothing and to raise user awareness of the importance of an environmentally and socially responsible purchase,” says Edu Uribesalgo, innovation and sustainability director for Ternua.
The rise of synthetic fibres in the textile sector and the hegemony of Merino sheep wool as a first-layer material have made Latxa sheep wool practically irrelevant, turning the fleece of the sheared herd into an environmental problem. These sheep have been converted to dairy use, and their wool has become rougher, harsher, and harder to work with. Currently, the raw wool produced by these herds has become difficult to manage, resulting in expenses for both production and administration, says Ternua.
According to data from Iletegia, there is an average of 2.5 kg of wool per sheep; 2,000 tonnes for the entire Basque Country.
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By GlobalDataEnvironmental delegate, José Ignacio Asensio, explains: “Latxa Artile is the best example of collaboration between the government, the commodities sector, and the industry. Thanks to this project, high-performance clothing acquires a dimension of co-responsibility and a boost for circular economy and the regional economy.”
Since 2009, Ternua has been carrying out R&D testing for the use of this raw material due to its “interesting technical characteristics”. The wool has many properties, it says: antibacterial, thermal insulation, thermoregulatory, air retention, and it functions well when wet and as a flame retardant.
Through the project, the sheep are professionally sheared with each fleece cut as one piece so as not to break the fibres and to maintain all the properties of the wool. In order to achieve a viable production process, Muturbeltz, an agroecological, artistic, and cultural association located in Carranza, aimed at promoting Carranza sheep and the occupation of shepherd, will help Ternua in the selection of wool to obtain the ideal quality for subsequent development of the textile. The resulting insulation will be sent to Ternua for the jacket design process.
Also to be taken into account is the ease of the jackets for repair, and disassembly for recycling once they reach the end of their useful life.
The solution proposed by Latxa Artile will reduce the amount of waste while adding value to a by-product that has a high potential for use. In addition, use for thermal insulation from a regional product will reduce the environmental impact resulting from the import of technical materials for the jackets. The use of a biodegradable and easily generated material such as sheep’s wool will become an alternative to the use of oil-based insulating materials with their associated environmental impact during extraction (GHG emissions, water and soil pollution, etc.) and manufacture, since they require the use of chemicals.
The first jackets designed by the firm with the new Artileshell technology is the Artile Jacket, which will be part of the autumn-winter collection 2020-2021 and will be in stores in October with an approximate retail price of EUR229.95. Each jacket will contain 400 grams of wool.
Following its roadmap, Ternua has implemented sustainability criteria when choosing the fabrics for the garment. Specifically, it has designed a jacket that protects against wind and rain using recycled fabrics (outer fabric from recycled post-consumption plastic bottles, biodegradable membrane made from corn sugar, and inner fabric made from recycled post-consumption plastic bottles). It is a light and thermal jacket, due to the natural ecological wool filling, and is treated with a toxic-free water repellent (free of PFCs).
