GreyC2 wants to produce clothing, and to be able to do so we need to source raw material. Where does this material come from? In the following article we are elaborating on the questions and opportunities we came across while exploring the two potential raw materials “wool” and “wood”.
Meet the sheep – commodity or collaboration
We had the great chance to get invited to visit a farm (20’000 acres) close to Laingsburg in the Karoo. This exposure allowed us to see first hand where wool and mohair comes from.
On our day of arrival we got to meet the angora goats straightaway. The farmers shearing the goats seemed to be very skilled in their used technics: a man grabbed a goat’s horns, placed the goat on its back with just one simple move, and then retained it between his legs. While the goat still tried to resist when packed on its horns, the actual shearing passed without any noticeable opposition. After the quick shearing, the goat got released and returned to its herd. Overall, the goats seemed not to be too frightened by the process, and curiously observed their human hairdresser.
On our second day we got to experience the garnering of 30 sheep for slaughter. The sheep on the farm were divided into two different categories: the first one is called the meat masters; as the name implies they are being used for meat purposes. The second category is composed of wool sheep. Surprisingly, the farmers collected not only meat masters but also some of the wool sheep for slaughter. They explained to us that when they bought a batch of 1’200 wool sheep, they already speculated that some of the wool sheep wouldn’t meet the required quality standards, and therefore the farmers planned to use them for meat purposes instead; overall it was still a good business deal as they told us.
Before collecting the sheep, the farmers tested their readiness for the slaughterhouse. If the sheep was fat enough, it got marked with a blue dot on its front head. After the tagging process, the sheep got chased through a gate. There were two directions: one led back to freedom, the other one to the bakkie (pick-up truck) headed to the slaughterhouse. The sheep’s behaviour towards humans differed from the goats. They were more frightened. If we walked one step towards them, they would run away, there was little to no curiosity.
These two experiences left us with various thoughts and questions. It is nothing new that humans systematically capitalise on goats and sheep for their own benefit. Be it for clothes or food purposes, humans use these animals to create goods. But to what extent is it right to control another species for your own benefit? Is it possible to get to know a sheep or goat’s interest? How can we use their wool without causing any suffering? Can we collaborate, rather than exploit?
From T-Shirt to Tree-Shirt?
We came across the opportunity of considering wood as a raw material for fabric production because of Tim. Tim is running a company called Uxhumekile Consulting, which is determined to help social businesses succeed. Within a month the relationship with Tim turned into a fruitful exchange of ideas and “hands on” actions. On Tuesday he approached us with a challenge: He works on a project about logging of alien trees for industry. This is great because alien trees use too much water. But on a large scale, trees are really important to suck up carbon and give back oxygen. He then told us about a company called Tentree who plants ten trees for every clothing item sold and gave us the challenge to come up with a similar model to plant local trees that might replace the cleared trees. We already knew about Tentree, and instead of thinking of a business model in terms of simply planting trees, we thought about the potential of using waste wood of alien trees as raw material to create fabric. We knew the process already exists. The fabric is called Tencel, produced by a company based in Austria. Tencel is an amazing fabric in terms of style and comfort.
At the moment we are facing two major challenges: First, how can we come up with a process that involves chemicals that are not harming the environment in any way? The second challenge involves the criteria of sustainability: How can wood become a sustainable raw material? This challenge looks at trees from the perspective of the life cycle. How can trees be planted and cleared in a way that it is in balance with the large-scale life cycle?
Balanced relationships
To sum up, collaboration between humans is already a real challenge. To expand the term “collaboration” and add other species such as sheep and trees to the equation is a whole different story. Although difficult, we believe that relationships don’t just happen between humans. We are eager to learn more about how to explore the potential of working with sheep and trees - in a way that is good for us and them alike.
Meet the sheep – commodity or collaboration
We had the great chance to get invited to visit a farm (20’000 acres) close to Laingsburg in the Karoo. This exposure allowed us to see first hand where wool and mohair comes from.
On our day of arrival we got to meet the angora goats straightaway. The farmers shearing the goats seemed to be very skilled in their used technics: a man grabbed a goat’s horns, placed the goat on its back with just one simple move, and then retained it between his legs. While the goat still tried to resist when packed on its horns, the actual shearing passed without any noticeable opposition. After the quick shearing, the goat got released and returned to its herd. Overall, the goats seemed not to be too frightened by the process, and curiously observed their human hairdresser.
On our second day we got to experience the garnering of 30 sheep for slaughter. The sheep on the farm were divided into two different categories: the first one is called the meat masters; as the name implies they are being used for meat purposes. The second category is composed of wool sheep. Surprisingly, the farmers collected not only meat masters but also some of the wool sheep for slaughter. They explained to us that when they bought a batch of 1’200 wool sheep, they already speculated that some of the wool sheep wouldn’t meet the required quality standards, and therefore the farmers planned to use them for meat purposes instead; overall it was still a good business deal as they told us.
Before collecting the sheep, the farmers tested their readiness for the slaughterhouse. If the sheep was fat enough, it got marked with a blue dot on its front head. After the tagging process, the sheep got chased through a gate. There were two directions: one led back to freedom, the other one to the bakkie (pick-up truck) headed to the slaughterhouse. The sheep’s behaviour towards humans differed from the goats. They were more frightened. If we walked one step towards them, they would run away, there was little to no curiosity.
These two experiences left us with various thoughts and questions. It is nothing new that humans systematically capitalise on goats and sheep for their own benefit. Be it for clothes or food purposes, humans use these animals to create goods. But to what extent is it right to control another species for your own benefit? Is it possible to get to know a sheep or goat’s interest? How can we use their wool without causing any suffering? Can we collaborate, rather than exploit?
From T-Shirt to Tree-Shirt?
We came across the opportunity of considering wood as a raw material for fabric production because of Tim. Tim is running a company called Uxhumekile Consulting, which is determined to help social businesses succeed. Within a month the relationship with Tim turned into a fruitful exchange of ideas and “hands on” actions. On Tuesday he approached us with a challenge: He works on a project about logging of alien trees for industry. This is great because alien trees use too much water. But on a large scale, trees are really important to suck up carbon and give back oxygen. He then told us about a company called Tentree who plants ten trees for every clothing item sold and gave us the challenge to come up with a similar model to plant local trees that might replace the cleared trees. We already knew about Tentree, and instead of thinking of a business model in terms of simply planting trees, we thought about the potential of using waste wood of alien trees as raw material to create fabric. We knew the process already exists. The fabric is called Tencel, produced by a company based in Austria. Tencel is an amazing fabric in terms of style and comfort.
At the moment we are facing two major challenges: First, how can we come up with a process that involves chemicals that are not harming the environment in any way? The second challenge involves the criteria of sustainability: How can wood become a sustainable raw material? This challenge looks at trees from the perspective of the life cycle. How can trees be planted and cleared in a way that it is in balance with the large-scale life cycle?
Balanced relationships
To sum up, collaboration between humans is already a real challenge. To expand the term “collaboration” and add other species such as sheep and trees to the equation is a whole different story. Although difficult, we believe that relationships don’t just happen between humans. We are eager to learn more about how to explore the potential of working with sheep and trees - in a way that is good for us and them alike.