Weather app fail this morning, dressed for the -1 not so much for the torrent of rain that accompanied it mid-ride. Trousers soaked but lucky I had my merino wool base layers on held up enough on the water but more importantly the temperature. All hail, premium sheep hair!
Any polyester could’ve done that but without animal abuse?
No. Polyester simply doesn’t have the same properties that wool does. Polypropylene is a good base layer for moving sweat away from your skin, but won’t keep you warm when it’s soaked. Cellulose fibers (cotton, linnen, hemp, rayon, etc.) soak up water, and will kill you from hypothermia in cold weather. Also, shearing sheep is not inherently harmful or abusive; on the contrary, sheep that are not shorn may become immobile due to the bulk of the wool. Sheep have been selectively bred for thousands of years for wool production, and so failing to shear a sheep is harmful to them. Additionally, wool is FAR better for the environment overall than any synthetic fiber, which are all made from oil.
I have a polyester ski jacket and I haven’t frozen to death on the slopes yet.
Selectively breeding an animal to be reliant on you does not suddenly give you the right to do anything to them. If you really believe they suffer unless you put them through the shearing process (which is not peaceful, look it up on YouTube) then maybe don’t breed them into existence? This is the same concept as pugs who have been selectively bread to look cute but would be better off not being bred into existence because of their many physical problems caused by this selective breeding.
You also fail to mention that all sheep go to a slaughterhouse where they are killed by stabbing at a fraction of their natural lifespan.
Source? I don’t believe you can justify animal abuse with this but since you seem to think so so I will entertain you.
Oh boy! Microplastics!