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Benefits of Wool Cycling Clothing

You want comfort, style and the ability to go cycling in varied weather conditions while not be left with stinky clothes when you finish your ride. Whether you mountain bike, road bike, commute or go bicycle touring there is a solution, wool cycling clothing. Yet most people do not realize that the benefits of wool are just as effective in summer as in winter.

Advantages of wool cycling clothing:

It Regulate temperatures – the fibers from the merino sheep have a water holding interior and water repelling exterior. What this means is you have a breathable garment, able to wick off sweat and moisture by reducing the clamminess feeling so you stay comfortable for a longer period of time.

By removing sweat it lowers your temperature, great in the warmer weather. In winter while the fabric continues to wick away moisture from the body transferring it to the Merino wool fibers which absorb moisture creating a insulating effect to help you stay warm.

Is Water repellent – being water repellent comes very naturally and easily to wool due to the makeup of its fibers which overlap each other. This is not surprising as the main ingredient from sheep is natural and renewable.

Wrinkle resistant too – this is a very resilient fiber that can even be stretched and bounce back, important when you are out cycling.

Most Durable – wool cycling clothing is easy to wash, in fact it is said you can wash a wool garment up to 20,000 times without the fibers breaking so they have long life. Just machine wash them and hand them out to dry. Most of the clothing is made from merino wool. This long wear actually makes the clothing very economical in the long term over synthetic clothes.

This is Clothing that does not Smell – constructed of renewable natural fibers which resists mildew and mold which can cause odors. This is particularly important on a long bicycle tour, when mountain biking or in warmer weather when you may sweat a lot.

Styles – as more manufacturers come on board there is now a wide range of colors and styles for jerseys, caps, shorts (Capri, bib and knickers), caps, gloves, arm and leg warmers.

Comfort – no longer itchy as they once were years ago, they provide a comfortable fit.

Your choice of clothing makes a huge difference to your enjoyment and with all of its benefits wool cycling clothing is the sensible choice

 

About the Author

If you are looking for indepth reviews of great clothing for riding visit Wool Cycling Clothing. We also reveal where to purchase this great clothing at a discount. For a review of different types of bike gear check out Cycling Clothing.

Hemp vs Wool for clothing?

I cannot find a proper discussion on the web about this. What makes a better material? Wool or Hemp? I mean only for clothing, and bedding. Please compare the two both sciencetiically and personally.

I dont know much about sheep shearing, but just watching someone do it makes me sick, I want to switch over all my clothing to either eco-friendly synthetic and plant based, but dont have the money yet. Im trying to find a great plant alternative to wool weaters/socks/comforters/blankets etc.... can someone help me please???
mankind has not sheared sheep since sheep existed? why would sheep die if not sheared? do we move them to hotter climates on purpose as an excuse to shear them? I am very confused.

It depends on what you're looking for but overall I'd go with hemp hand's down and here's why:

I'd been getting uncomfortable earlier this year following a family farm that raises a bunch of sheep and was excited about lambing season. Except they only keep the girls and the baby boys become racks and chops. There's not a lot of use for the boys (just like laying chickens and dairy cows) so they are slaughtered and eaten.

Some breeds of lambs are killed really soon because their fur is special at birth but changes after 3 days.

Shearing is unpleasant too often resulting in deep cuts and infections (and this doesn't include the dockings, brandings, taggings, and other procedures the animals go through from the bigger operations -- small flocks may be numerous but don't begin to approach the sheer numbers that factory farms do so 95% of the animals raised are as commodities).

The idea that shearing is good for the animal, making them more comfortable is to claim "God" made a mistake or evolution has no idea what it's doing. For the same reason sitting on sheepskin in a hot car is cooling, wool can insulate a sheep from heat as well as cold. Not that sheep would naturally live in hot places.

A quote on wool that sums up some of the issues:

http://www.vegalitarian.org/pages/Fashion

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Wool producers have maximized wool production by selectively breeding sheep to increase the folds of skin and thus surface area producing wool. In consequence, the sheep become more prone to skin infections in the excessive folds of skin, especially under their tails. Mulesing is a painful operation which mutilates the folds of skin around the sheep's posterior. Anesthesia is not used. The operation is painful. A movement towards a more humane method has emerged from growing awareness of the suffering of sheep. Unfortunately, the wool industry is inextricably connected to the meat industry. After a lifetime of producing wool, sheep are shipped by boat to be slaughtered. When you buy wool, you indirectly support the slaughter of sheep for meat. Celebrity and consumer pressure are helping to improve the lives of wool sheep. Read about musician Pink's crusade:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=7&entry_id=12002..

For passionate knitters, there are a wide array of exciting fibers that are sustainable and cruelty-free. Investigate bamboo, hemp, recycled yarns, rayon, cotton, or acrylics.
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Then (just like laying hens and dairy cows) when the sheep get older and aren't producing as well they get shipped off for slaughter to be eaten. Australian sheep become "Mutton" in the UK, Africa and Mid-East. But first they are shipped live which in itself is a tortuous journey of many days packed in tightly without food, water, light in a scary situation they can't begin to comprehend with many of their mates dying & dead around them from the conditions.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/exposed-the-long-cruel-road-to-the-slaughterhouse-781364.html

Further to the environment:

Many once fertile lands are turning to desert from over-grazing especially from hoofed animals such as sheep and cows (rather than bison and llamas whose splayed feet do not damage soils as much). Their hoofs compact the soil and destroy the soil web life that keeps the land healthy:

http://www.pbs.org/journeytoplanetearth/hope/buenosaires.html

http://www.thebeautifulfuture.com/Five.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desertification

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_ecology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_food_web

Wool can be incredibly warm but hemp has a lot of great qualities too and more of them. Plus it's green rather than eating green and it grows really well without much interference so is organic as well which is even better for the environment.

Hemp is also very sturdy, lasting a long time.

For now it makes sense to continue to use the clothes and bedding you already have so it isn't wasted and replace with friendlier products as needed.

Be Fresh

Tags: comforter, featherbed, mattress, topper, wool, wool comforter, wool comforter new zealand, wool comforter organic, wool comforter reviews, wool comforter sale

This entry was posted on Friday, October 24th, 2008 at 4:50 am and is filed under bedding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.