Buyers of a new “sustainable jumper” launched this week by a London start-up also get to “adopt” the sheep that the wool was shorn from.
Each pullover from Kentish Town based Sheep Inc has a chip on its hem that can be scanned to reveal a picture and details of the animal that supplied the merino wool it is made from. The owner also gets regular updates on the sheep’s wellbeing.
The “carbon negative” jumpers cost £190 each with £9.50 going to projects such as the Meru and Nanjuki Reforestation project in the foothills of Mount Kenya and a scheme to plant 10,000 trees a year at the Lake Hawea Station in Central Otaga, New Zealand.
The company’s founder claim that the contributions will help save 325kg of carbon per jumper.
The new company was the brainchild of Edzard van der Wyck, the London-based Dutch entrepreneur behind hosiery company Heist Studios.
The launch of the jumper is one of the events in the Prince of Wales’ Campaign For Wool Week, which began yesterday.
Peter Ackroyd, chief operating officer, of The Campaign for Wool, said: “It is a totally traceable, carbon negative sweater
"It is a world first – and highlights the absolute sustainability of wool."
