Swedish wool is on the rise

How can we use Swedish wool in completely new ways? Is it possible, for example, to manufacture durable wool floors or can wool be a kitchen counter?

Similar ideas and unexpected uses were discussed at a workshop in Do-tank Center held on April 11th.

Approximately 60 people from different companies and organizations with wool as the common denominator had recieved the Smart Textiles and RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden) invitation to listen to lectures in the Do-tank Center in Borås and to develop new innovative ideas about future wool projects.

The workshop is part of the project Swedish Wool in the future, which is run jointly by Smart Textiles and RISE in an attempt to gather the industry. The challenge for all players is to take care of all the wool that exists in the country, and reduce the wastage of Swedish wool.

– Large parts of the Swedish sheep litter are not used. Instead, wool is imported from other parts of the world. We are convinced that Swedish wool can be utilized and that products made from Swedish wool can be developed – if we cooperate, says Linda Nydén, project coordinator at Smart Textiles.

– The goal we had set up for the workshop was to get 10 new innovative ideas to work on in project form. We achieved that goal with a lot, she says.

The next step will be to prioritize which ideas have the potential to be a project and which companies / organizations want to participate.