Product focus: Recycled wool fabric from Camira

We’re always excited to read about innovative and sustainable new products or materials, and the new recycled wool fabric Revolution from Camira certainly ticks those boxes.

Here we take a closer look at the product, the process and how this new fabric is a breakthrough in textile circularity.

Who are Camira?

Camira are a commercial textile manufacturer based in Yorkshire. They make over 8 million meters of fabric a year, over 2500 products lines. These include a wide variety of processes from wool spinning and polypropylene yarn manufacturing, to technical knitting and upholstery services.

Leaders in environmentally sensitive products, we’ve written before about the large selection of more sustainable fabrics Camira offer. You can read their full sustainability report here.

What are commercial fabrics?

Commercial fabrics are often made from synthetic materials. This is because they need to be durable and withstand heavy useage in a range of environments. Unfortunately, synthetic materials are often derived from petroleum and use substantial amounts of energy, water and chemicals to process. Luckily, manufacturers such as Camira are making a significant investment in more environmentally friendly alternatives.

What makes a fabric sustainable?

Sustainability means ‘conserving an ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources’. A sustainable fabric should have a limited environmental impact. This includes the sourcing of raw materials, weaving, dyeing and transport.

Revolution, recycled wool fabric

Revolution fabric is created using waste wool yarns and is rooted in a traditional technique of wool recycling called ‘shoddy’ manufacturering.

Firstly, the waste wool yarns are collected and sorted into colour groups. Then they are mechanically pulled apart and stripped back into fibre form. The recycled wool fibres are then woven with new wool before being spun, and turned back into fabric.

Not only does Revolution create a truly closed loop in Camira’s wool fabric manufacturing, it looks beatuiful too. It has a delicate texture with a pastoral aesthetic.

Camira have produced the video below – an ode to their ‘breakthrough in textile circularity’.

If you’d like some advice on choosing the perfect upholstery for your furniture, please send us a message or give us a call on 0330 332 0880 to see how we can help.