As shown in the table above, the result is a range of wools from the finest to the coarsest microns. This makes American wool suitable for a wide variety of products including fine worsted suiting, knitwear, woolen velours and coatings, upholstery, bedding materials for futons, mattresses and comforters, and industrial products. Wool is truly a renewable resource. Sheep produce this unique fiber through the conversion of natural resources, which might otherwise be wasted. There are a variety of methods used to market American wool.
Methods vary by region of the country.
Wool growers in the eastern two-thirds of the country produce mostly smaller volumes of wool. These small volumes are not efficiently handled individually. Consequently, growers in this region of the U.S. market their wool through wool warehouses or wool pools. Wool warehouses in this part of the country employ shearers who shear wool from the sheep and then either purchase it directly from the grower or transport the wool to the warehouse on a consignment basis. In either case, the wool is brought to the warehouse, graded and put into suitable packages for purchase by the wool trade.