ANCIENT METHODS AND TECHNOLOGY TO MAKE SOMETHING MAGIC
Øldberg products have something “magic”, because the raw material (Merino wool) is charming. Even the manifacturing is magic because it leads to the creation of an article unique the world for quality and ecological choice.
Our wool knitwear accessories are made throught these working techniques:
Shearing:
May is the ideal month for sheep shearing, because the winter is over and the animals are shorn so they can be outside in the warm weather. “Blown wool” is obtained if the animal has been washed, “dirty wool” if it has not undergone the first phase of shearing.
Sorting:
The wool that the animal has produced hasn’t the same level of quality to become a Øldberg knitwear accessories. We are experts in separating the wool from the shoulders and hips, fine and long, and eliminating that of the animal’s head, paws and belly, whose characteristics aren’t in line with the quality of our products.
Scouring:
After sorting, the wool is washed in large tubs with detergent substances that are used to degrease it because in the wool there is the lanolin. This is a fat that protects the sheep from bad weather, but it isn’t useful to produce high quality yarns.
Drying:
It is carried out with warm air, respecting the eco-sustainability and the environment.
Carding:
Now the fibers need to be free from the impurities and further refined, in order to facilitate the subsequent spinning process. In fact, in the middle of the wool, even after washing it, there are still residues of straw and dust. Øldberg chose to do carding just as it was done once, manually, with the use of tools called “card”. These are brushes with small nails, which, used by expert hands, produce marvelous pure wool flakes, clean and soft.
Combing:
After a series of manual and ancient processes, you arrive at the combing. Thanks to specific machinery equipped with special “combs”, the long wool textile fibers are smoothed, ordered and placed in parallel with each other.
Spinning:
The wool is now ready to be magically transformed into raw material, and to be spun or felted. To spin, you can use the spindle or the spinning wheel. The yarn obtained can be used in knitting as in crochet or loom. To make the felt, you have to wet the carded wool with warm water and soap. After a long process of handling, the fibers are compacted, creating a resistant and waterproof fabric that can be shaped in different forms.
This mix of ancient and modern methods, and above all the production that respects nature and the eco-sustainability, are the values that leave Øldberg in the selection of its raw materials. We’ll nevere give up to this.
To know more, we invite you to read the article: Øldberg products