Dear friends, we are back for a new materials guide!
Today we're talking about wool, that is, fibers that grow on animals. The ones that end up in your knitwear, scarves, suits, and coats. And this time, I want to shine a spotlight on one of the most talked about points when we talk about the quality of wool: the fineness of the fibers. It is often said that the finer the fiber, the greater the quality.
So, the goal of this article is not to say EVERYTHING there is to say about these fibers and their quality, because we could cut corners hairs hair in fours for days on end.
But to sort through all the names (whether they are common or purely commercial), I have put together this list which lists a large number of species and quality grades. And I have even made a small classification...
Classification by fineness and by family of species
Camelids
Camel, alpaca, llama and all their ilk. These are not the most common wools in the West, but in some parts of the world like South America, they are commonplace.
You only have to look at this beautiful beast to understand why its wool is so prized...
- Vicuña: 10 to 12 microns.
- Baby* Camel: 16 to 18 microns.
- Royal Alpaca: less than 18 microns.
- Superfine/Baby* Alpaca: 18 to 22 microns.
- Guanaco: 18 to 24 microns, no grade that I know of. This is another camelid, very similar in appearance to the llama, whose fibers are less widespread.
- Camel: 17 to 26 microns.
- Lama: 20 to 40 microns.
- Fine Alpaca: 22.1 to 26.9 microns.
- Medium Alpaca: 27 to 30 microns.
- Coarse Alpaca: greater than 30 microns. At this stage, whether it is alpaca does not matter: it will itch when in contact with the skin.
*Contrary to popular belief, the term "Baby" does not necessarily imply that the fiber comes from a baby, but rather that it is the animal's first shearing/combing .
Goats
Goats and their cousins. The star of the ranking is obviously the hircus goat, or cashmere goat.
The Hircus goat, from which cashmere is obtained! Even before being combed, we can already see the silky and luminous aspect of its hair.
- Baby Cashmere : approximately 13.5 microns.
- Grade A cashmere: approximately 15 microns.
- Cashmere grade B: 16 to 19 microns.
- Mohair / Angora: 25 to 40 microns, no grade to my knowledge. A very puffy fiber that gives a rather "cloudy" appearance to your knits.
- Grade C cashmere: approximately 19 to 30 microns. This is the famous "cheap cashmere" that you find everywhere at the entry level.
*Contrary to popular belief, the term "Baby" does not necessarily imply that it comes from a baby, but rather that it is the animal's first shearing .
Sheep
And not UFOs.
It is the sheep family, the first species that comes to mind when we say the word "wool".
The merino sheep, king among sheep.
Merino sheep
Yes, we make a small separate category for the most popular subspecies (it deserves it). You will note that the merino actually produces finer wool than that of other species.
- Ultrafine merino: less than 15 microns.
- Superfine merino: 15 to 18.5 microns.
- Fine merino: 18.6 to 19.5 microns.
- Standard Merino: around 21.5 microns.
Known commercial names : “Extrafine” Merino (average of 19.5 microns)
Other species of sheep
- Lamb / Lambswool: grade of variable fineness, several species of possible origin. Refers primarily to the origin of a lamb, a young sheep.
- Wool: Well, it can be anything in terms of fineness. It just tells you that it comes from a sheep. But it can also be recycled wool, lower quality wool... Or not.
- Shetland wool: on average 23 microns. Quite thick and robust therefore. Refers to a breed of sheep from the Shetland Islands. Very well known for the brushed-looking sweaters made from it.
- Virgin Wool / Pure Virgin Wool: These labels refer to the purity of the wool. A 100% "virgin wool" tolerates a minimum purity of 93%, while a 100% Pure Virgin Wool tolerates 99.7%. The other fibers can be synthetic, or simple residues. These are the labels of the Woolmark Company, which seeks to certify products that contain " virgin wool" from the shearing of healthy and living animals, as opposed to wool recovered from the fleeces of slaughtered animals and recycled wool. However, the absence of Woolmark certification is not a mark of poor quality. Just as there are many agricultural products that are not "certified organic", but very good!
Known trade names: "Geelong Wool". A particularly soft and fine lamb's wool, normally from Australia. It is difficult to find reliable data on the fineness of this one, but it would be around 19.5 microns.
Cattle
The ones that go "moo" and look like cows. The main person in this family is the yak, since to my knowledge it is the only one from which textile fibers are extracted today.
Who would have believed it? Behind these shaggy tufts hides down almost as precious as the best cashmere!
The Yak
- The "down": 16 to 20 microns. Buried as close as possible to the animal's body, under the kilos of coarser hair.
- Mid-fiber: 20-50 microns. Often way too thick for something that will be in direct contact with the skin.
- Outer fiber: very thick, 79-90 microns. In Mongolia, they make fibers from it. Besides, we can clearly see that the yak does not look very soft from the outside.
Known trade names : "Super Yak" (corresponds to down of 16 to 20 microns), "Baby Yak" (first combing of yak down, average 16 microns or even slightly lower).
And there you have it, your little ranking! No more lies, the next time a salesperson tells you "Sir, we have the best cashmere in the world!" , you can annoy him a little with this list! 😉
And as you can see, a very good merino is clearly better than a bad cashmere!
Bonus to learn more
I have prepared some anecdotes, additional information and considerations that will allow you to understand wool even better. Because a classification is good, but it is better when you understand what it really means.
Alpaca, Alpaca, Alpawhat...?
Some names are spelled in several ways in this article. This is not a mistake: the textile sector is often governed by English in its names.
When a name only exists in English, it is therefore appropriate to use the correct spelling. (And obviously, when there is a commonly used French version, that is the one chosen).
Alpaca fibers in their raw state. Note their wavy appearance.
We therefore write:
- "Alpaca" in French and "alpaca" in English
- "Cachemire" in French and "cashmere" in English
- "Mérinos" in French and "merino" in English
- "Chameau" in French and "camel" in English
- "Laine" in French and "wool" in English
"Hey but... we could make sweaters with hair, right?"
Be honest, I know some of you are secretly wondering this. Well sorry, but the answer is no.
All questions of ethics and hygiene aside, human hair is far too thick to create a fiber that is comfortable to wear.
To give an element of comparison, a human hair is between 50 and 100 microns fine.
Sorry, it's not possible to put them aside at the hairdresser to save money...
The essential image when talking about fibers: once you see it, everything seems clearer. Here you have the visual comparison, taken under a microscope, between fibers of coarse wool, fine wool, alpaca, cashmere, silk, linen, cotton and... polyester?
Super-extra-mega-giga-fine Merino Wool™
No, I'm kidding. It's not a real name, don't worry.
But manufacturers can have different trade names for all these grades. For example, one of our mills that produces our 19.5 micron merino calls it "extrafine". This is the trade name for its yarn quality, which implies a fiber quality, but does not directly designate it.
So be careful with that. Tomorrow you could very well set up your spinning mill, take 20 micron merino fibers and call your yarn " Hyperfine Merino ". That would be completely legal. And not misleading, since it is still finer than an average merino.
However, let's not throw stones at the spinners: it is normal that each of them wants to create a way to distinguish and legitimize their work on their different qualities of yarn. Since, as I explain below, it is not only the fineness that counts.
The most famous manufacturer when it comes to breaking records: Loro Piana. Every year, it tries to break the record for micron fineness on the finest fibers of all its merino wool. I have never been able to see or even touch a fabric made from such a fiber in real life, it is so rare.
Handsome doesn't mean strong
The finer the fiber, the better its drape, softness and light absorption. It is therefore considered to be of higher quality, especially since it is much rarer.
However, it also becomes less resistant to abrasion: pilling on the stitches in the case of repeated friction and holes, in the case of woven suiting wool.
By the way, for the suit, we have the same reasoning but we are not talking about microns, but about Super 100's, 110's, 120's... For regular uses, from 130's, we have something silky and fine but which is not too fragile when faced with abrasion. The higher you go, the rarer, more splendid, expensive... and fragile it will be.
Don't be obsessive
The finer it is, the more luxurious it is, you understand that.
However, we must also be realistic: it is absurd to demand an entire coat in Superfine Merino as a minimum quality. On the one hand because it is not in direct contact with the skin, on the other because it would become a luxury product. Less soft wools therefore have a great role to play, in outerwear for example.
And finally, rougher wools also have a different visual character that will bring richness and variety to your wardrobe.
Would you spit on this double-breasted wool coat from SEH Kelly? No? Well, neither would I. However, it is very likely that the wool used for this Donegal yarn is quite coarse compared to that of your knits... Everything has its purpose, you see!
“Softness”, a false friend
"I like cashmere because it's so soft. And the softer it is, the better quality it is...
We agree, right? You're not going to tell us otherwise, are you?"
Well... No. Wrong.
Okay. More like "not exactly true."
In fact, from a material and physical point of view, the word "softness" means everything and nothing at the same time. And besides, the almost automatic amalgamation between "softness" and "quality" makes the fortune of the smartest manufacturers...
In my experience, there are three types of "softness" that combine in the feel of a fiber:
1. First, the first, the most obvious, is the one due to the fineness of a fiber. Since its diameter is smaller, the roughness is less pronounced. Under your fingers, this translates into less friction and therefore more softness.
Yum yum, how soft and beautiful these little cashmeres look! It is well presented, the appearance is puffy and bright... However, a good feeling when buying new does not guarantee quality over time.
2. The second is due to the swelling of this fiber: it's a bit the same principle, when you touch a material that traps more air on its surface, there is less friction.
3. But the third is less obvious, because it is due to its microscopic structure: is the fiber very smooth? Very flexible? Or on the contrary quite rigid? Even an extremely fine fiber, if it were only very slightly flexible, would ultimately have a rather "crunchy" feel than a soft one.
Finally, we must not forget everything related to fabric, mesh, or even spinning !
If you take a very textured knit, relief will be felt under your fingers. And even the softest cashmere will have a softness that will seem less remarkable. The same goes for knits in very large gauge.
I was able to touch this Hircus sweater in textured knit, 100% grade A cashmere (very beautiful by the way). The fact is that the texture of the knit does not allow a touch as soft as on a knit with classic "flat" knit. On the other hand, you gain in visual richness.
Conversely, a loosely woven cashmere scarf is more supple and breathable... which would make you think it is even softer.
In short, if we do not take all these elements into account, we risk misunderstanding why a particular fabric is soft (or less soft) and therefore misunderstanding its value.
To make things harder for you, some manufacturers make their knits and fabrics softer using chemical treatments (most often at the entry level) or mechanical treatments to create an impression of quality in the store. Obviously, this does not necessarily last over time and over washing...
The thinner, the warmer?
Not quite.
The warmth of the fiber is not directly related to its fineness, but rather to its "puffiness", that is to say its capacity to trap air by taking up a lot of volume in relation to its weight. This actually depends on the fineness but also on the structure and shape of the hair.
A very straight and smooth fiber is "softer" but has less loft. You only have to look at a classic polyester fiber: it is straight as an "i" and that is why it is difficult to compare it to wool in terms of thermal capacity, even if it is very fine.
Even if we go a little further than fibers that can be transformed into thread, goose down is the best example to understand this idea of "puffiness": its structure allows it to trap a maximum of air, which explains its warmth and softness. And for those who are curious, Michel's very nice article on down right here .
It's always more complicated than it seems
Well, and now for the bad news: as with everything in life, nothing is ever as simple as it seems. As a result, this little guide does not allow you to have a definitive, exhaustive and indisputable assessment of the quality of a woolen product.
Because there are other, even more complicated criteria to take into account, some of which you will never be able to check in store. For example...
The length of the fibers
Yes, I know... It wasn't complicated enough to have to talk about microscopic thicknesses, but we also have to talk about lengths expressed in millimeters!
The good news is that a finer fiber is usually longer as well. For some of these, the designations require length standards in addition to fineness standards.
But this is a less widespread criterion, and also less documented, especially on the client side.
Different fibers from different wools compared. Looking closely, we actually notice that the finest ones also tend to be the longest.
It's not just size that matters...
But also what we do with it! (We're still talking about fibers, let's be serious.)
Whether they are long or thin, it's fine.
Note however that the micron fineness measurements correspond to averages in a sample taken from the mass of raw fiber batches intended to become yarn.
Therefore, there is another parameter to take into account: what is this average composed of, exactly? Because the shorter and rougher fibers have a strong impact on the touch , and make it much less soft, even if the average shows a flattering number.
In other words, if you get an average fiber fineness of 19 microns on your merino yarn, it will not have the same feel if it is composed of fibers between 17 and 21 microns than if it is 15 to 22 microns with a large majority of thicker fibers.
I'll take an absurd example to make this even clearer:
Imagine you have two bags of cashmere, bag A , and bag B.
- In bag A you put 100% fibers of an average cashmere.
- In bag B you put 90% of the world's finest cashmere of extreme fineness, but 10% of "big, itchy wool".
Then imagine that both have the same average fiber fineness in microns...
Which one will be softer? Well, it's obviously bag A , because the "itchy wool" of the second one will be much more noticeable to the touch and will take precedence over the "top level" cashmere.
Three bags filled with raw cashmere fibers. If we assumed that all three were of the same average fineness... Nothing would allow you, by sight, to know which one is the most consistent in this fineness, and therefore which one will have the best feel.
And unfortunately, you will never have this data as a customer. In fact, to be completely honest, even as a brand, it is very difficult to question your supplier to obtain such detailed information.
And last anecdote even more complicated: I even heard that for alpaca, it was considered that the wavier fibers were of better quality... So there, good luck measuring that as a customer.
The final word
But wait Nicolò, does that mean that this ranking in the end... It's useless?
No, let's not exaggerate either! I'm not saying that we're going to try to scam you by "cutting" ultraluxe fibers with very bad fibers to end up with a "mid-range" result. Especially because I think that a spinning mill would have little interest in using its best fibers for that...
On the other hand, what you must remember is that between two beautiful wools which display the same figures on the meter, it is possible that one of the two will win your favor, in particular for all these undetectable reasons.
And knowing all this also allows you to understand, in store or on the web, to what extent your interlocutor is informed, and to what extent you can trust them. .
Now you are a little better equipped to decipher the mysteries of fabric and the mysteries of quality.
