Victor Boyhan on Reviving Irish Wool: Design, Processing, Traceability
Victor Boyhan set out the case for reviving the Irish wool sector, arguing that design, processing and a rebuilt supply chain are essential to make Irish wool wearable and marketable. He criticised the lack of domestic processing capacity and described how identical Irish wool spun in the UK produced superior garments.
NCAD demonstration and provenance
He described driving sheep and lambs to the National College of Art and Design to show students where wool comes from, saying many students had not known its origin. The demonstration was intended to challenge the accepted idea that Irish wool is not wearable.
Merino versus strong wool
He drew a clear distinction between merino wool — tender and often from the southern hemisphere or large industrial farms — and strong wool produced in Northern Europe. He argued that strong wool, including wool from mountain sheep, can be used for outerwear and jumpers if it is processed correctly.
Processing challenges in Ireland
He highlighted a shortage of processing facilities and noted there are only three spinning mills left in Ireland. One large Irish spinning mill processed his wool for four years but reported it could not sell the product; he said he himself would not buy what they produced.
Supply chain work and UK comparison
He said he created a supply chain following advice from the Design and Craft Council of Ireland to encourage textile houses to take Irish wool. He contrasted that with the UK, where fashion houses and mills have brought heritage tweed and outerwear production closer to farm level and are successfully making jumpers from strong mountain wool.
Product comparison and audience outreach
He prepared physical samples to pass around so the audience could compare the same wool processed in Ireland and in the UK. The exercise was used to demonstrate how processing quality and design determine marketability and farmer returns.
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I met you in Brussels quite recently and we had a day's engagement and I was blown away by your enthusiasm and your commitment and I take it that the top you have on you is Irish wool and you're a great advertisement for the fashion, sorry, the fashion wool sector. You might just touch on that in a minute because you made a very strong case in Brussels. So Blana, just two or three things we've all had, your statement was circulated to us, we all read it. I suppose I'm particularly interested in the best practice internationally and you mentioned in relation, you mentioned Great Britain, you mentioned the wool revival and that issue, of course you mentioned Wales, you mentioned Sweden and you mentioned New Zealand. So you might share with us in a few moments just the experiences there and the unique differences between each of those jurisdictions and what was the positive out of it, I don't want to hear about the negative, I want to hear what can we apply from their experience to the Irish experience. You also touched on the issue of scouring the wool because we don't have a facility in the Republic whatsoever and you mentioned Bradford and of course the whole industry's got there in terms of the knowledge and the workforce traditionally back, certainly in the northern counties they all went to Bradford. So I just think that was particularly interesting and finally I'd like you to ask, because I think key to all of this and the key message in what you're telling us is certification, its transparency and its traceability and if it's uniquely Irish, because I think that is the product and the international market in terms of it is an Irish product of quality. It's also a biofibre and you illustrate that and you talk about that very well, so just there, just some of the issues, the best international practice and also the scope for in terms of wool in terms of fashion and Ireland, we have people at the cutting edge of design and you go over to the Grafton Academy, I know people who are in Spain, Seville at the moment, lecturing in wool in terms of design for clothes and what's the market there. So you might just share some thoughts on all of that, thanks. Thank you very much Senator, so part of this journey that I've been on, I took sheep, I think it's four years ago now, up to the National College of Art and Design and it was a pretty hairy experience if you've ever seen that curve, that archway going in, driving a trailer with sheep and lambs in the back of it, but the reason why I did that was I wanted the students in the National College of Art and Design to actually know where wool came from and they didn't, let's be honest, most of them hadn't a clue where it actually came from and I don't mean that in any disrespectful way, but it's not on their agenda. They've been told, it's been bet into them almost that Irish wool is just not wearable and I think what's really fascinating is our neighbours next door have practically proved that categorically, absolutely wrong because in the UK what they've done over the last three years is that they have encouraged the fashion houses to bring their heritage tweed products and their outerwear products right back to farm level. I'm going around begging weaving mills here in Ireland to take our wool. I was told that if by the National, I was told by Design and Craft Council of Ireland, if I created a supply chain, the textile houses here in Ireland would have no choice. I created a supply chain and I'll just give you an example of what happened to our wool for four years when it was processed here in Ireland. So I'm going to send around the wool, the room, and I'm going to go that way so I can ensure that they come back to me if that's all right. And there is not one for the audience. So go back Senator to your question on design. Design and innovation and creativity is the difference between me being able to wear this and me not. But also what we have here in Ireland is we have a lack of processing facilities. So strong wool, so what's the difference? You have two types of wool. You've got merino wool, which is tenderly soft. If there's anybody here wearing a jumper, there's a chance that it's made from merino wool and either came from the southern hemisphere or more seriously alarming, it came from a huge industrial sheep farm in China. Strong wool is what we produce in Northern Europe. And the beauty of that is it can be used in both strong applications and it can also be used in outerwear. But that all depends on how it's processed. So we were supported by one of the largest spinning mills, one of the few spinning mills. Remember, there's only three spinning mills left in Ireland. We were supported by them. And they took the wool for four years. And for four years, they consistently told us they couldn't sell it. And for four years, my nerves, my nerves would be in bits wondering, how am I going to find a market for this wool for these farmers? So I couldn't understand, how could they not sell it? And yet over in the UK, they were making the most incredible, incredible garments out of strong wool. They're actually able to make jumpers out of mountain wool. So anybody here who has constituency that has mountain sheep or that strong, horny sheep. That's fantastic. I'm delighted for you. But how is it in the UK they can make strong wool jumpers and they can't do it here? How is it they have mills over there that are only dying to start to see the farmers getting paid again? So I'll go back to the processing. So we had wool processed for four years in Ireland here. And it was spun here in Ireland by one of Ireland's most reputable and largest spinning companies. This is what they produced. And I now know why they couldn't sell it, because I wouldn't buy it. We then had this same wool, same sheep, same micron produced in the UK. And I'll pass them around and you can see if you had two Christmas stockings to open, which would you prefer to get? The one that was processed here in Ireland, which I dare to say, but I think in my opinion, my personal opinion, it was without due respect to the farmer and to the sheep. Or you have this one, same product, produced differently, and they tell us you can't wear wool. That's why you can't wear wool. Because there's nobody here in Ireland willing to process our strong wool so that it can be worn. Because they're addicted to merino and they're addicted to the price and the supply chain with which that merino is coming into the spinning mills here in Ireland and then being churned out as Irish wool.
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