Half posting this just to get opinions since there's no history on here. Came up as an ad on Instagram for me (which automatically makes me sceptical), but they are Aussie wool, designed and made in Tasmania (and I generally much prefer supporting Aussie made).
The blankets come out to 452GSM by my math. Only the throws are listed as "Australian Merino Wool", the others just say "Australian wool".
Yeah, I read that it was all made in Tasmania. It’s what piqued my interest. Other brands I’ve seen are woven in India.
Thank you for the input!
Ex-Merino farmer here - merino wool tends to be used in finer wool products as it is lower micron than most other wools. This means it’s softer, however it definitely won’t be as robust as higher micron wools. Eg: Merino socks are the best for comfort, but are likely to wear out faster and more prone to holes.
There are a stack of other benefits to it, but none of them relevant to blankets 😁
TIC/having a lend?
Leather belt is presumably okay?
Lots of nuance involved but leaving wool on sheep is arguably both cruel and irresponsible.
James Cameron over here goin for the deepest of dives
who do you think bred merino sheep to have excessive wool causing major health problems?
Farming animals of any sort is intrinsically "cruel", how that's managed is the key. But back to my point. How's your leather belt going?
@Raynes: Go for it barefoot/walk everywhere/sleep on a bed of nails (presumably) boy, you'll eventually learn about balance.
Simple question for you. Is habitat removal to grow crops and provide you with housing, recreation etc okay?
@Raynes: No answers? I'm gobsmacked /s. Here's a more complex question you could have a crack at. Seems to fit your favourite simplistic and obviously hypocritical meme. World hunger is a far more cruel problem, what are you doing about it?
Further: prior to the minerals boom, two significant industries kept this couhtry from becoming a third world economy and underpinned what you're enjoying now. What were they?
Life is complex. Perspective and balance are very hard to get a handle on, let alone maintain while still remaining sane.
@Raynes: What's ironic about asking you simple questions, which you won't answer for obvious reasons? Your concern for sheep seems a tad overstated /s, I'm simply trying to see how genuine it is and what you're prepared to sacrifice/have sacrificed for the sake of others who share the planet (people, animals, insects, micro-organisms etc etc)?
@Igaf: They're not simple questions they're simple whataboutisms. I'm prepared to not buy wool because it's just really easy to not buy wool.
@Raynes: Huge sacrifice - and love for sheep - props. Seems at odds with you posting deals on leather belts tho?
@Igaf: couldn't agree more but that was 7 years ago homie come back up to the surface
Come join me and many others in 2025 and stop supporting animal torture it's really nice ✌️❤️
@Raynes: You missed the words simplistic and hypocritical in my comment above presumably? Good that you have some concerns tho and are prepared to air them.
Ooi, did you repent totally in that period of awakening such that you now donate to the very imperfect "RSPCA", have given up meat, grow your own veg on a small plot, and avoid (where reasonable) using most infrastructure or products which have destroyed habitat etc? Asking for some friends.
I'm prepared to not buy wool because it's just really easy to not buy wool.
May I ask what your socks are made from? Your bedsheets? Because if it's not wool, it's either polyester (never biodegrades, ends up in landfill, contributes to the massive microplastics problem our planet has), rayon (uses horrific chemicals really bad for the planet to produce the stuff), or cotton (requires MASSIVE amounts of water to grow, which in turn destroys ecosystems. Often sourced by exploiting third world countries).
Are you REALLY going to tell me wool is a worse option than any of those?
@ASR-Briggs: Of course everything has an impact however cotton production doesn't kill 10 million lambs every year
@Raynes: Cotton however does require 7,000-10,000 litres of water to produce 1kg of cotton. With our changing climate, and droughts getting longer and more extreme, that water has to come from somewhere.
Just saying it's not all black and white.
@ASR-Briggs: Mate your mind is gonna be blown once you find out how much water the wool industry uses
@Raynes: I'd hazard a guess that it's a lot less than the industry notorious for it's water consumption……
But you're comparing apples and oranges anyway. The water consumption of a cotton farm in an arid area is far more impactful than water consumption of a sheep farmer in a temperate climate (like Tas, or SW WA).
What major health problems do merino sheep have?
@uncyspam: Apart from having a decent chance of dying of starvation or the cold within 48 hours of being born, things like muelsing and tail docking are completely commonplace in Australia.
@Raynes: None of which are major health problems.
I’ll give you that muelsing and docking seem pretty cruel, but if you saw sheep dying from fly strike you might think it’s the less of two evils. And fly strike is absolutely a problem endemic to all sheep, not just selectively bred, and certainly not just to merinos.
And I’m not sure I’d give too much credence to statistics provided by animals Australia, I may as well just quote back stuff from the peak farming bodies.
I grew up on a merino farm, I’ve been there and done it, which is more than you have I’d wager.
But I’ve no interest in trying to argue with you, I’ve read what you replied to others, and it’s clear your just a troll picking a fight.
I’d love to read it but it’s paywalled 😭
Waverley Mills make really good stuff, and they do it in Launceston, Tasmania, not China.
We've got a couple of their blankets for various uses.
(Also, 'Merino' is just a type of wool from a specific breed of sheep, sometimes it's the best wool for an application but it sometimes isn't, e.g merino isn't always the most durable.)