Click to view our Accessibility Statement or contact us with accessibility-related questions
AwesomeTom
52
Nov 16, 2016
Don't buy wool products guys. The sheep are mutilated and abused in the vast majority of farms. You have the power to stop cruelty with each purchase. http://www.animalsaustralia.org/issues/stop-sheep-cruelty.php
Buy cozy cotton or strong hemp! :)
DannyMilks
4557
Nov 16, 2016
AwesomeTom@AwesomeTom - Thanks for bringing up an important issue Tom. However, you do not know where WoolPro gets their wool and therefore the result is you're smearing their name without evidence (and this is not the first time you've done this).
Please keep in mind that this is a community of active people who want to enjoy nature. I think you'd have more success in promoting ethical animal treatment for wool production rather than all out banning it and switching to cotton or hemp (neither of which can match wool's desirable qualities such as odor, thermoregulation, and performance when wet). Usually our choice is wool or synthetic apparel, of which wool is much better environmentally than synthetic under most metrics, if not all.
AwesomeTom
52
Nov 16, 2016
DannyMilksWould you like to then reveal where the wool is from then?
You make it sound like people can't enjoy nature without wearing wool. With the irony being that wool production destroys these natural habitats which people are trying to enjoy.
There is no such thing as ethical or environmentally friendly animal farming, and you're only concerned about my posts because it might affect your income, as is made obvious by your Laramie Cigarettes salesperson speak.
baesex
220
Nov 16, 2016
DannyMilksWhere does woolpro get its wool from?
Jbar
60
Nov 17, 2016
AwesomeTomMaybe Massdrop could take a pledge to deal with companies that only dealt in humane ways of gathering both wool and down, instead of leaving its customers to investigate. You would probably increase your business. I certainly drop out of products, especially down, if there is no mention of meeting the 100% traceable or RDS standard. It can certainly hurt your business (montcler) to be linked with a vendor selling down from live-plucked geese. You do offer some great deals here but most of the ultralight stuff is still very expensive. Would it affect your business model that much to ensure your customers only support the vendors who adhere to humane practices?
AwesomeTomWe appreciate your passion for animal welfare and WoolPRO is also committed to sheep welfare.  Our Woolmark Certified wool is sourced from free range Merino Sheep that are raised in an environment that safeguards them from thirst, hunger, and mistreatment.  Mulesing is a controversial practice, and our suppliers pledge not to use mulesing on their sheep.
Jbar
60
Nov 17, 2016
AlliMarrierThank you. In for 3!
AwesomeTom
52
Nov 17, 2016
AlliMarrierThank you for the response, I have a few questions which I was not able to find answers to on the Woolmark website: Do your sourced wool sheep breed naturally, or are they forcefully impregnated by humans? Are the sheep constantly impregnated so that they will create more sheep which are then sold as lamb as a secondary form of income? Are most of the sheep female, and what happens to the 50% of male sheep that are born? What happens when the sheep stop producing enough wool, are they slaughtered or allowed to die naturally of old age? Are the sheep just being sheered and taken care of until they mature enough for the mutton industry? What is the average time taken to sheer a sheep, is it 30 seconds of brutalization as in the video? Are all of these sheep specifically bred to grow too much wool and die of heat-exhaustion when not sheered? What kind of measures are put in place to prevent mistreatment? What country are the sheep from, and how do the farmers protected the sheep from native predators? (e.g. are they going around massacring coyotes?) Are these sheep feed GMO soya or grain (like most livestock) which is grown in places that have torn down jungles and other natural habitats?
I appreciate that you are not a representative of Woolmark, and that you won't have the answers. But the reason I'm asking here is because Woolmark will not answer either, so I have to ask publicly - because they also do not know and cannot guarantee what really goes on.
It just doesn't seem likely that a business can be profitable by only sheering sheep, there always seems to be a catch.
ZionHikes1
53
Nov 18, 2016
AwesomeTomAT, you're raising awareness, but I would not want to be in a position of making assertions or else I would think that Massdrop will have to take steps to protect itself. I too have sourcing/chain of custody questions about many things, not just wool specifically. Is there a better venue for such? Reddit?
AwesomeTom
52
Nov 18, 2016
ZionHikes1Fair point :) I'm active on Reddit and elsewhere as well, but of course raising awareness works best where ever products are sold - especially seemingly harmless ones such as clothing. I can empathize that it's an inconvenience for the sellers but unfortunately that is the nature of business - most won't change until it's inconvenient for them and affects their sales - I'm not trying to blame, because it's systemic issue and they're often unaware themselves about what impact their products have, and sometimes they are unable to afford to change, until the market itself changes. Any good business will diversify it's product range to cater for new demand, so the inconvenience is slight, and temporary :)