Lithuanian merino wool?
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As late as the early twentieth century, in the interwar period, there were about 1,5 million sheep in Lithuania.
A single, Kaunas-based textile factory, Drobe was acquiring around 3 mln kg of wool from the local farmers a year.
Today, there are less than 200 thousand sheep in Lithuania, most of which are grown for meat, and total wool production isn't reaching 500 000 kg a year.
Is Lithuanian fine wool comparable to merino possible? In the late 19th century, we seemed to think so.
Today would be a good time to start thinking so again.
Throughout history, wool was one of the primary materials from which Lithuanians made clothing.
Archeological evidence indicates sheep farming was present in Lithuania at least 2000 years ago, and the earliest written mention of sheep farming is dated 11th century.
As late as the early twentieth century, in the interwar period, there were about 1,5 million sheep in Lithuania.
A single, Kaunas-based textile factory, Drobe was acquiring around 3 mln kg of wool from the local farmers a year.
Today, there are less than 200 thousand sheep in Lithuania, most of which are grown for meat, and total wool production isn't reaching 500 000 kg a year.Such a situation is not inevitable, and we can draw inspiration from Scandinavian countries that faced comparable declines in local wool farming on how to change it.
One of the main reasons for the decline is that indigenous sheep breeds from Lithuania and Scandinavia produce rough wool that has little appeal to a contemporary buyer.
While historic efforts haven't led to a new fine wool sheep breed in Lithuania, similar initiatives in Sweden were successful.
For instance, by crossing the local Swea breed with imported merino in 2010, a new sheep breed was born called Jamtland. Its wool quality ranges from 17 to 23 microns, has high lanolin levels, and is comparable to merino wool.
Currently, in Lithuania, most sheep are grown for meat, and their wool, even if collected, wouldn't be high quality. Besides that, there is no industrial wool processing in Lithuania that would enable textile production.
Nevertheless, the evolving textile industry and newly emerging knitwear brands might prove capable of rejuvenating the Lithuanian wool industry.
With a single sheep providing enough wool to make up to six sweaters or the fabric to cover one large sofa, the potential impact is difficult to overestimate.
