In Praise of Wool

Old wool

I've still got a red Pendleton flannel wool shirt and an L.L. Bean black and white Norwegian sweater that I have worn regularly in winter for almost 40 years. Most fleece items are shot after a season of heavy wear. I'm not saying they lose their insulation but they do lose their shape.
Winter wear: VFTT undershirt, silk long-sleeve undershirt, Pendleton shirt, Hershey Bears zip-up fleece and waterproof shell. Insulated parka instead of rain shell, if needed. Polypro long underwear, wool pants, waterproof, fleece-lined ski pants. Smartwool socks over very thin nylon socks.
Can't feel the wind or the cold and can strip off layers or replace them in seconds.
I went through thin ice in a brook in the Taconics in January with Merrell boots over smartwool socks and nylon liners and my foot stayed warm on the hourlong walk back to the trailhead.

It's not all I use but I use selected items all the time ... namely socks, mittens, hat and sometimes sweater.

jjmcgo said:

I've still got a red Pendleton flannel wool shirt and an L.L. Bean black and white Norwegian sweater that I have worn regularly in winter for almost 40 years.

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I've also had very good success with LL Bean clothing. Both outdoor and dress wear. Good stuff.

Wool must be good. It was all we had in the 70's when we winter camped at severely cold temps. Wool hats, shirts, sweaters, knickers, socks, and mitts augmented with something called 60-40 and down vests and of course down sleeping bags was the cutting edge.

Nowadays, in the modern era (ha!), I still carry boiled wool mitts and I guess there's some real wool in my socks, o/wise I'm a synthetic hiker from stem to stern.
Oh yeah, my digital camera has a wool memory chip.

Also, my brain seems to made of wool some of these days.

Woolrich is my favorite clothing store! Love the stuff. I like socks and hats to be about 80% wool/20% synthetic. Wool cannot justify a hefty price tag at a gear store.

The only wool on me when hiking is SmartWool socks; however, for camp or while downhill skiing I have an LL Bean wool sweater that is incredibly warm. As long as it was above 14° this winter I wore that over a polypro turtleneck and under a shell and was warm on the slopes. And with a good layer underneath was toasty warm at several huts and cabins. I now swear by that sweater.

I also bring big heavy wool socks for camp; combined with down booties they keep my feet very happy.

Barbarossa had it right. Wool can be inexpensive. You can probably outfit yourself for $10 at a Goodwill store. Only problem is that our colors may clash.

I have some yak-wool clothes (socks, sweater, hat ) that my son brought back from Nepal. I love the stuff! Itchy as all hell, but it's a good-feeling itchy. I also have a beautiful merino wool shirt hat I picked up at MEC (discontinued) for $19 CDN. Now that's luxurious wool.

Ditto on the green pants (never knew they were "Johnsons"), the mitts (under a GT shell) and the wool shirts, both the thin Pendletons and the thicker ones. Only problem with wool outerwear is that snow tends to ball up on it, then melt and soak into the wool. Wet wool is heavier than wet fleece, and it doesn't wring out as completely. Wool is particularly good on canoe trips, where its wind stopping qualities are far superior to fleece (unless it's Windstopper®).

Favorite wool garment: wonderfully thick socks my mom knitted for me many years ago (she's 82). Great combination of wicking, padding, warmth when needed and durability.

wool

I always use a wool hat and socks when hiking but otherwise I've found most of the wool I own too hot to hike in. I do love it around camp though and would carry it more often if it didn't weigh so much! I have a favorite ratty Norwegian sweater that I take for sedentary winter camping. It is great for those raw March and April camp outs.

JackH said:

... otherwise I've found most of the wool I own too hot to hike in.

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Go ahead and sweat away. The reason wool has been used for so long (since the beginning of time) is because it is the only natural fiber that still retains a large amount of it insulative properties even when wet. That the reason it has been used for so long. Try keeping warm in cotton or down when it is wet.

I would sweat my arf off doing dismounted patrols in the winter on the Czech border. My wool shirt, pants, socks, long underwear and scarf would be soaked. My boots would be so soaked that they would freeze solid overnight and I would have to crack them to put my foot in the next morning. But, my wool shirt, long underwear and pants would still keep me warm even as wet as they were sometimes.

Keith

Why praise just wool...lets praise the entire sheep. After all it is lambing season. They gives us clothing, meat and cheese. They even star in mattress comercials.

Pete_Hickey said:

Barbarossa had it right. Wool can be inexpensive. You can probably outfit yourself for $10 at a Goodwill store. Only problem is that our colors may clash.

I have some yak-wool clothes (socks, sweater, hat ) that my son brought back from Nepal. I love the stuff! Itchy as all hell, but it's a good-feeling itchy. I also have a beautiful merino wool shirt hat I picked up at MEC (discontinued) for $19 CDN. Now that's luxurious wool.

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How is that a problem? Loud and garish can be cheap, too. ;]

I dislike the itch, but I have found I can wear merino or lamb's wool next to my skin without discomfort.

I have found my wool clothing to be much more durable and abrasion resistant than today’s synthetic materials. Especially the outer layer, it takes a beating and keeps me warm but I could never take the stuff next to my skin unless it was brutally cold. The down side of wool is it doesn’t dry as fast or wick as well with heavy exertion, and seems to hold more moisture. I would much rather put on a frozen synthetic shirt in the morning while camping if I had to.

That said, the first “pile jacket” I used and still have has a heavier or thicker pile outside and has taken a lot more abuse than anything I have bought since. It was made by a company in RI called North by Northeast. I wish they still made the stuff, but my guess is it was hard to market because it’s not as soft as today’s material and probably doesn’t look as good in the color glossy adds…


H.

Puck said:

They even star in mattress comercials.

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I am very tempted to run with this but will refrain.

H.

We used to wear wool pants when in the woods working because not only were they warm when wet, but supposedly they were safer because they would fill up the teeth on a saw before they cut you. Now they use kevlar chaps.

No wool for me!

I do not wear wool ever. I am vegan!