John Lewis is launching a new range of mattresses made with Wool provided by Waitrose sheep farmers for the first time. The range is being launched in partnership with suppliers Hypnos, H.Dawson, and Dalehead. According to the company, Wool has been under-utilized for decades, with the price offered not even covering the cost of shearing and other processes. Therefore, it led to hundreds of thousands of tons of high-quality British Wool wasted for decades, with farmers being forced to burn or bury it.
Now, by partnering with Waitrose’s long-serving sheep farmers, the highly sustainable and natural fiber will once again be put to good use, in a move the John Lewis Partnership hopes will raise awareness of the issue, drive demand for British Wool, and in doing so, raise its value for the benefit of sheep farmers all over the UK.
Patrick Loxdale, one of the farmers involved in the initiative, added: “The wool market has been tough for a long time, and now, with exports to China halted because of the pandemic, it is even tougher. I hope that this initiative will kickstart a resurgence in interest in British Wool. We have been farming in Aberystwyth for 250 years, and if I have anything to do about it, we will be farming here for another 250 years.”
