Voormi coming to Bozeman MT

[onpoint]

North to Bozeman

We're taking innovation to Bozeman, Montana by opening our second company-owned retail store in the heart of downtown.

vimeo.com

Apparently the Colorado wool company has discovered BozAngeles as a great marketing place.
When they open, maybe a few MT concerned hunters can stop in and ask a few pointed questions about the origin of their wool as well as about what their ecological stance is.
I got a less than satisfactory response from them a while back.....................

 

[Irrelevant]

I keep getting non-responses from Duckworth.

 

[onpoint]

No surprise whatsoever, there.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

As far as I have been able to ascertain, Voormi sources it's wool from herds that are probably in direct contact with bighorn sheep populations in Colorado. Per Voormi's website and press releases they source from local Colorado, High Country, herds. Virtually all the sheep allotments in the San Juan's are problematic.

Voormi, through coordinated press releases, appears to have aligned itself with the Colorado Wool Growers Assoc., San Juan Woolgrowers Assoc. and the American Sheep Industry Accoc. These three groups have actively opposed the Rocky Mt. Bighorn Sheep Society, I'm sure @Oak could provide more detail


"The inherent benefit of wool sourced from the unique high elevation climate of the Rocky Mountain region is something that we've been keeping a keen eye on for some time now..."

Making Colorado Features VOORMI®

Theresa Blake Graven reviews Rocky Mountain Highcountry VOORMI® to Build Fall 2013 Collection with Wholly Sourced Rocky Mountain Highcountry Merino™ Pagosa Springs, Colo. -– VOORMI®, a new to the scene innovator of domestically sourced precision blended wool, is proud to announce the exclusive...

voormi.com

As far as I can tell First Lite gets it's wool from Global Merino which sources from NZ, AUZ, and South Africa, which is why I could choose them over Voormi.

 

[MThuntr]

I see the Duckworth Company families almost daily...I have to bite my tongue. FYI one of them is a huge Mango flavored White Claw fan

 

[RockinU]

As far as I can tell First Lite gets it's wool from Global Merino which sources from NZ, AUZ, and South Africa, which is why I could choose them over Voormi.

I meant to post this in the other thread where it was mentioned, but First Lite responded to my email, and said that all their wool comes from New Zealand. So they are a safe place to do merino business it seems.

 

[Oak]

HOW A COUPLE COLORADO CLIMBERS REVOLUTIONIZED WOOL

You use Rocky Mountain sheep for your wool. Why is that? Are there environmental or economic benefits to that, or are homegrown sheep just better?

All of the above, really. We work with the American sheep industry pretty closely. We believe that the sheep we have here are tougher than the sheep from the South Pacific. It has to do with the amount of sunlight exposure that the sheep get at our higher elevations. Our sheep have a higher sulfur content within the fiber and that makes a stronger fiber, a fiber that carries more loft and potentially more thermal value.

Most of our wool comes from Colorado, though not all of it. We source all of it from the Rocky Mountain region, though; we bleed over into northern New Mexico as well as Wyoming and Montana. From an environmental point of view, we're not buying the wool from New Zealand, shipping it to Asia to get finished and then onward to the U.S. There are a lot less shipping and environmental concerns when it’s all done in the States. It's cheaper, too, and we have tighter control on quality. It's cool to see the sheep first hand and think you could have a jacket from that sheep.

Voormi Makes Wool Cool: Q & A with Director Dustin English

CS: One of the things that sets Voormi apart from other base and mid-layer gear manufacturers is your wool sourcing and manufacturing, both of which are domestic. How does Rocky Mountain Region (RMR) merino differ from that of New Zealand?

DE: When we started, we knew we needed to innovate- there's a lot of great companies with great product out there. We wanted to take wool and push it to new levels. The sheep grazing at the high elevation in the Rockies - we source from Colorado, Northern New Mexico, and Montana- are adapted to their environment. Like the importance of terroir to coffee roasters, winemakers, and brewmasters, we believe where our wool comes from is an integral part of ensuring we get only the longest and strongest fibers. Our relationships with ranchers, wool buyers, and the extreme temperature variations have resulted in wool fiber that is perfect for our apparel construction.

If they source their wool west of I-25 in Colorado (likely), then they are using highly "conflicted" wool. The company participated in the Wool Marketing Panel discussion at the Colorado Wool Growers Association convention in 2015.

 

[RDMT]

I was wondering the same thing with regards to Voormi when I saw they were opening up shop. Another company I heard about from a friend is Wuru Wool Company - I've only used their blister prevention product, but it sounds like they are launching apparel also. From what I can tell and my buddy told me, it's all New Zealand wool, but made in the USA. Still not sure all of their offerings, looks like they only have a merino wool t-shirt currently, but it sounds like more products are coming.

 

[one ate E grain]

Maybe they need to do a better job separating the domestic from the big horns. I don't particularly like imported anything, especially from the other side of the world. A buddy had sheep as a kid in Nebraska, seems like it would be safe to grow them there and a lot of other places.

 

[RDMT]

I wanted to provide a quick update - After mentioning Wuru in my previous post, I decided to go ahead and purchase one of their short sleeve t-shirts. After having it for a few weeks, I'm very impressed. It's very easy to tell they're using a very high quality merino wool and the cut of the shirt is great, it's not a boxy as some of my others.

Additionally, they've also posted some drawings of their upcoming products. It looks like they'll also have a regular long sleeve t-shirt and base layers - Pant and shirt.

 

[Jeremyc_1999]

I see the Duckworth Company families almost daily...I have to bite my tongue. FYI one of them is a huge Mango flavored White Claw fan

I know who you are speaking about

 

[Wild Bill]

Got bored yesterday and sent an email to Voormi in regards to their wool sourcing and stance on wild/domestic sheep conflicts. It seems as if they are making a better effort to be conscious of their material's origin than they once were.

My inquiry:

Hello,
I was looking at Voormi products and was concerned about the source of Voormi’s wool resources. I see on the website that the Fall 2013 product line was wholly sourced in the Rocky Mountain Highcounty. Is that still the case? Does Voormi source from herds and wool producers that overlap sheep grazing and Bighorn Sheep habitat? This is very concerning to me, as a hunter, conservationist, and as a consumer. What is Voormi’s stance on Epizootic pneumonia being passed by domestic sheep to Bighorn Sheep and the devastating effects that it can have on native Sheep populations? I think we all can agree that highcountry sheep grazing that overlaps with Bighorn Sheep habitat almost always ends poorly for the Bighorns. Has Voormi taken any stance or action to make sure that the wool it uses is sources from sheep that are not in contact with or putting Bighorns in danger?
Thank you,


The response I received:

As a matter of fact, here is a response direct from our CEO.

Billy, thanks for your email and interest in Voormi. Yes, we are acutely aware of the conflict between domestic sheep and wild sheep. Unfortunately, domestic grazing rights and wildlife conflicts isn’t anything new. We remain active with both sides to find a win/win solution – but in the meantime, we have dramatically decreased our domestic wool demand. Currently, 90%+ of our wool is now imported vs. a few years ago, 100% of our wool was domestic. As hunters and conservationist, we believe this is the correct course for Voormi. However, we remain committed to domestic manufacturing with imported wool.
I’d also like to point out – all of our products are made with mostly natural fibers. We find it astonishing, that conservation minded folks continue to buy imported apparel made from 100% synthetic material (basically plastic). We, across the globe, produce over 80 billion new articles of clothing every year, and here in America, we throw over 82lbs of textile waste PER PERSON in to landfills. Along the way, we use, abuse, wash, and dry these clothes, pumping over 700,000 – often plastic – microfibers in to the drain each time – that then show up on our shorelines around the world.
I’m assuming, if the wild sheep issue is important to you – then I trust, the overall environmental aspect is also important. Please check out our products – you’ll find, we are environmental (and wild sheep) friendly AND are products last longer AND they actually perform as advertise AND we make our clothes in the USA.
Thanks again for your interest in Voormi

Hope that helps.

 

[KB_]

I have a hard time believing sheep in the Rockies at high elevation are tougher then sheep at high elevation south of the equator. That seems a tad far fetched to me. That sulfur thing, I'm assuming is due to the volcanic activity and old volcanic rock where the sheep live. Last time I checked Volcanoes are freaking everywhere, especially in high places. Maybe I'm wrong but some of that seemed far fetched.

 

[ShootsManyBullets]

Do you have to drive a range rover to wear this stuff?

 

[ZBB]

Do you have to drive a range rover to wear this stuff?

How dare you sir...those burn fossil fuels. Scoffing from my high horse...