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Getting to know... HD® Wool Apparel Insulation

In tune with our Getting to Know Wool series, we thought you might like to get to know the talented folks who make up our HD® Wool Apparel Insulation Team!

Since wool consumes much of our daily lives here at our office in Salts Mill, it’s hard for us not to share our collective knowledge about the many benefits of this miraculous fibre, which you may have read about in our previous blog posts. If you haven’t, we encourage you to do so!  

We realized, however, that we’ve not spoken much about why and how we decided to develop HD® Wool Apparel Insulation, a business built on the expertise of four generations - from farming in Yorkshire to international wool trading - through our sister company, H.Dawson. Please read on to discover…   

H. Dawson to HD® Wool Apparel Insulation 

It all began with a vision and a call.    

Jo Dawson, the fourth-generation leader of the H. Dawson Wool family business, had the vision of adding more value to wool than merely trading it as previous generations had. He wanted to create wool products with added performance that fit the modern consumer.   

“I got to a point where I could see we were not adding enough value to our wool,” said Dawson. “I wanted to create a product that was more fit for today’s discerning consumer. So we started by developing wool bedding, such as duvets, quilts, pillows, mattresses and those sorts of things - and created a business in that area. That’s how the HD® Wool brand began.”    

According to Dawson, one of the company’s customers heard about the bedding product story and called to ask if we could put the wool into jackets. Dawson responded bysaying, “Yes, okay, fine!” And then, HD® Wool Apparel Insulation was born.    

“It was a just a series of coincidences,” explained Dawson. “In response to the increased demand for natural, renewable and traceable materials, we basically used all of our expertise in the wool industry over the last 130 years to make a unique value-added product that communicates a sustainable story from the farm all the way to the consumer.”   

Fitting with its historic heritage, the business is headquartered in Salts Mill, a former British textile mill located in Saltaire, England that is now a UNESCO World Heritage site – and on the bucket list for many to visit, especially given the large collection of works by David Hockney on display in the gallery.    

Why HD® Wool Apparel Insulation? 

The great all-rounder, it's natural, renewable and durable.   

HD® Wool Apparel Insulation brings energy, well-being and comfort by working with nature to produce technical wool insulation, helping to remove plastic from the ocean and reverse climate change - a cause we are committed to and passionate about.   

Made from hand-selected, traceable British wool, which is known for its greater physical durability, HD®Wool Apparel Insulation is inherently breathable, odor-inhibiting, and provides unmatched moisture management in a variety of machine washable weights from 75gsm to 200gsm.    

Be it a commute or exploring the great outdoors, the unique structure of HD® Wool Apparel Insulation enables excess moisture to escape, keeping you comfortable and drier for longer no matter the season.   

We are proud to have built award-winning adoptions from partners such as Finisterre and The North Face, among others, due to the increased interest in the benefits of natural performance fibres and the ReGenerative Agriculture movement. We are excited to share new brand adoptions in the coming months!   

The world of HD®Wool Apparel Insultation   

We are all Woolkeepers® 

Given our 130 year experience in wool, HD® WoolApparel Insulation is perfectly positioned to identify ethically grown wool and provide guaranteed traceability through The Woolkeepers® quality assurance platform, developed to provide a sustainable route to market for wool growers whilst giving consumers and brands confidence in their buying choices through QR code verification and candid storytelling. 

HD® Wool Apparel Insulation is actively supporting farmers to start the ReGenerative Agricultural process by having their land subjected to an annual Ecological Outcome Verification setforth by the Savory Institute to show progress in Land to Market objectives. HD® Wool is the first Land to Market supply chain partner that has committed to supporting producers with a new route to market, whilst providing brands with regenerative sourcing solutions and consumers with dynamic buying choices.   

If you happened to be near Salts Mill, please drop us an email or give us call! We’d love to meet, talk more about wool, and how we might be ableto help your product development needs!   

Stay tuned for more information on our Woolkeepers® program and ReGenerative Agriculture initiative, which will be posted on the blog soon!

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