PureFleece® is made purely in Britain, from Merino wool woven at one of the world's finest mills, in Yorkshire. The wool itself is mulesing-free, and the fabric carries Official Woolmark Certification - independently verified, not just claimed. Here's exactly what that means, and why each part of it matters.
What does 'made purely in Britain' actually mean?
Plenty of brands attach a British-made claim after only the final step - a label, a press, a fold - happens on home soil, while the fabric and construction happen elsewhere. PureFleece® fabric is woven at one of the world's finest mills, in Yorkshire, and every garment is cut and sewn in Britain too. It's the whole process, not just the last step.
Read more: What does "made purely in Britain" actually mean?
Yorkshire's expertise in merino
Most people assume Australia is the undisputed home of merino wool. Historically, it was Yorkshire that built the industry Australia is now known for. In 1807, Reverend Samuel Marsden - an Anglican priest from Farsley, near Bradford - shipped the first consignment of Australian wool back to Yorkshire; in 1811 he sent the first shipment specifically of merino, launching what became Britain's Colonial Wool Sales. Over the following decades Bradford grew into "Worstedopolis," the worsted-weaving capital of the world, built almost entirely on imported merino - by the 1880s, two-thirds of Britain's wool was processed there, employing a third of Bradford's working men and two-thirds of its working women. That scale of demand from Yorkshire mills is what actually drove the commercial expansion of Australia's merino flocks into the industry people know today. The wool didn't just end up in Yorkshire. Yorkshire built the market that made growing it commercially viable in the first place.
Why Woolmark certification matters
Anyone can write "100% wool" on a swing tag. Official Woolmark Certification means that claim has been independently and stringently tested and verified by The Woolmark Company, the global authority for wool since 1964 - not just asserted by the brand selling it.
Read more: What Woolmark certification actually means
Why we insist on mulesing-free Merino
Mulesing is a surgical procedure used on some Merino sheep to prevent flystrike, typically performed without anaesthetic. It isn't the only way to manage that risk. PureFleece® uses only mulesing-free Merino, sourced from farms that prevent flystrike through breeding and land management instead.
Read more: Mulesing-free Merino: what it means and why we insist on it
One supply chain, start to finish
Mulesing-free Merino, woven at a specialist Yorkshire mill with over 160 years of expertise behind it, cut and sewn in Britain, and independently certified by Woolmark along the way. It's a supply chain we can describe specifically, step by step, rather than in the vague terms most "ethically sourced" claims settle for.