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.
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