For two years now (planning started at the end of 2019) I would like to offer my own loden made from new wool from Lower Saxony. As you may know, soft, mulesing-free merino wool is very popular. But hardly anyone wants local wool. The local wool also has advantages. Yes, it is not as fluffy and soft as merino wool from South America, for example, because the sheep here - which are mostly used to maintain dykes - need it to be cozy and warm and, above all, need resistance to rain and wind. They are therefore perfectly equipped against what we also want to arm ourselves against in the cold season. However, the wool from the shearing is sold - if at all - for an apple and an egg. Hardly anyone can use the new wool and "brown" wool in particular is extremely unpopular. Why "brown" in quotation marks? The shepherds sort according to "white" and "brown" because wool buyers pay more for the pure white wool. Our new favorite shepherds from the Elbe river landscape biosphere reserve south-east of Hamburg are now sorted by "lamb", "white", "black", "brown", "curls/belly wool" and "can go/fertilizer". Whereby "brown" is anything that doesn't fit into the other categories, such as spotted sheep; Sheep that were once black, but whose wool fades to brown more quickly with age, or white sheep that have black guard hair. So there is a colorful mix that looks different every year, depending on who sorted. And it is very difficult to estimate in advance what the mixture will look like later. This is actually the wool that nobody else wants because you can't overdye it so well. But I find it particularly beautiful. Why should I take local natural wool and then overdye it brightly? Pure white, on the other hand, doesn't suit me either, because I'm looking for something robust. Something that you can use for children's mud pants and great jackets. This is how a gray-brown mottled loden was created in cooperation with Elbwolle. They call it backpack loden because the loden is so heavily milled and treated that even wool has become incredibly abrasion-resistant. My test seamstresses were totally amazed at how thin the fabric actually is and how heavy at the same time. There is an incredible amount of material per square centimeter in the fabric, which makes it very stable and windproof, but at the same time easy to sew because it is not many centimeters thick. The wool is of course kbt. The shepherd not only pays attention to kbt, but has imposed extra rules of conduct on himself. For example, he pays particular attention to the clipping being extra gentle. Every clipper has to take a breathalyzer test every day to make sure they can grab their hands well and carefully. If you do it right, shearing a sheep is really relaxing, almost like a wellness treatment. I was at a shearing event myself and was amazed at how calm and relaxed the sheep hung there when they were treated properly. Now you might be wondering what kind of breed it is? It's a mixed bag here too. Ute von Elbwolle affectionately calls it "the common dike sheep". In the picture with the lambs you can see sheep from which exactly this loden was made. In this shepherd they are not bred for purity, but for their usefulness and there is - as with the wool - a colorful mixture. The wool itself is not expensive. However, the loden is still quite expensive, as there are a few extra steps in the processing. The laundries, in particular, charge extra for small quantities (which we just turn over) and especially for wool of this type, since they have to clean the entire washing system afterwards. Because if a large amount of merino wool arrives afterwards, it would thank you if fibers from North German Deichschaf suddenly hide in it. Therefore, the washing costs alone are easily 5 times what large suppliers have to pay for their wool laundry. We also have to find extra weavers for weaving who can and want to handle this type of wool, and so one thing leads to another, so that the price of the wool is actually of secondary importance afterwards. But still offers the shepherds a good additional income. Win-win for everyone.