A cool vest from a cool sheep? This will soon be possible, thanks to Anita from Havelte and the sheep from the Holtingerveld and the Benderse heath

The wool from 700 Drenthe heath sheep from the herds on the Holtingerveld near Havelte and the Dwingelderveld near Ruinen leaves on a sailboat for Lisbon around October 9. “With the wind to Portugal, slower fashion than this is almost impossible.” She says it laughing, because Anita really enjoys how things came her way over the past year. “I really like that this is possible and that everyone is participating.”

The intention is for the wool to return to Dutch soil in the form of 500 outdoor vests, for men and women. That idea arose when her daughter did a graduation internship at the Northern Innovation Lab Circular Economy (NICE) in Meppel. The Expedition of Collective Circular Westerveld is also discussed at home. If you consider that Anita Trinks has had a clothing company for several years and that the sheep from the Holtingerveld almost literally walk in her backyard, the link is quickly made. “A lot of wool is destroyed in the Netherlands, a total of 1.5 million kilos annually. There must be something to do with it, I thought.”

Anita Trinks has a clothing company, is already producing clothing in Portugal and is registering as a starter at Collectief Circulair Westerveld with her idea ‘Valuable wool, from coat to cardigan’. She doesn’t get an immediate yes. Circular also means local production and well, Portugal…? But Trinks dares to have that discussion. “There is no industry for this in the Netherlands,” she notes.

‘The wool is residual waste’

She is instructed to find out after all. She finds a few small carding mills, but also discovers that the wool is then washed in a washing machine. The lanolin, the wool grease that can be used in the cosmetic industry, is rinsed away. Not very circular, says Haveltse. And in addition, the factories do not immediately know what to do with the wool of the heath sheep, which is not nearly as soft as the merino wool that is popular here. “The sheep walk outside, have a different function, the wool is residual waste,” Trinks explains. The vests would also cost 500 euros, far too expensive.

She doesn’t give up and takes the fur to a factory in Portugal. “Oh, that looks good,” she hears and then the project really starts to get going. She should actually supply the wool from 1,400 sheep, but as a starter she can supply half of it once. She managed to get her hands on 250 fleeces from the Holtinger sheep herd and 450 fleeces from the flock on the Dwingelderveld near Ruinen.

Seventeen bales of wool in total and they will soon be sent to the factory in Portugal by sailboat. Very sustainable transport, because this sailing boat from Swan Expeditions, a company that sails around the world with students, still has to go to Lisbon for an inspection. And where students sleep, there can also be bales of wool. But of course not in smelly cloth bags. The Veuruut Foundation from Nijensleek will therefore properly pack the bales in recycled agricultural plastic. “So incredibly funny, it really feels like an expedition,” says Trinks, who particularly benefits from the network that Collectief Circulair Westerveld offers.

The wool will arrive around October 22. “Our daughter lives in Porto and we are there at that moment. So we are going to see how the wool comes off the boat.” She can already look forward to it. This is followed by a process of washing and carding six times, during which all hairs are laid in the same direction. “The factories work circularly, water is reused during washing, the lanolin goes to cosmetics and the bad wool is made into pellets for fertilization.”

She has also found a knitting factory in Portugal that knits coarse wool. A disclaimer is in order here: don’t expect such a soft wool cardigan as made from merino wool. “It will be a really nice and warm outdoor vest. Cool sweaters from cool sheep. Without chemicals, without paint, in natural tones. If the sweater is too old, you can take it apart and use it as fertilizer in the vegetable garden.”

And then the most important question: can this sustainable project also become a financially viable production? Yes, says Trinks. “The intention is that it can be done financially, I think as an entrepreneur.” The vests will cost around 250 euros. “That may not be cheap, but it is fair, and I think it is worth something. The people in Portugal get paid, have holidays and no children are involved.” Transport by sailboat was a coincidence, but transport will also have to be sustainable in the future. That will be a bit of a search, but it is a matter for later. Or as Trinks puts it in life: “ Cross your bridges one by one. ”

The Havelt woman starts with outdoor vests, but she is already thinking a step further. For example, to organizations that can alleviate energy poverty with a warm woolen plaid. “It would be nice if there were a few companies that believed in that.”

Making a new product from residual waste as sustainably as possible is her motivation. “It’s a different way of thinking, we are very much stuck in a pattern, I would also like to sell that story to consumers. We have to start to see the value of things more and we have to get rid of the idea that everything has to be done quickly.”