CLAPHAM countrywear clothing brand, Glencroft, and Ilkley felted wool company, Little Beau Sheep, have come together to launch a limited-edition laundry ball and felted soap.
The partnership came about when Edward Sexton who owns Glencroft, met up with Sarah Turner, managing director of Little Beau Sheep at the Great Yorkshire Show last year. And, after talking about their shared love of all things Yorkshire and British Wool, they saw an opportunity to work together.
Edward said: “This range is really the triumph of good old-fashioned Yorkshire chat. Sarah and I are both licensees of British Wool so have known each other for some time. But as soon as we got talking at the Great Yorkshire Show, we knew there was a great opportunity to work together on something uniquely traceable and Yorkshire-themed.”
It was during their conversation that Edward mentioned Glencroft’s Clapdale wool project, which saw the countrywear brand make a unique Yorkshire wool with funding from the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s Sustainable Development Fund.
The Clapdale yarn was made from the fleece sheep on the farms surrounding Glencroft and much of the wool was processed into hand-knit yarn as well as a range of limited-edition Clapdale jumpers and hats.
However, Edward had a hundred kilos or so of ‘wool tops’ - the wool produced after carding, before spinning and processing – which Edward was keeping aside for re-sale. But Edward and Sarah had conjured up a plan to put it to much better use.
“Edward supplied me with the Clapdale wool tops which contained the wool of three different Yorkshire breeds, the Dalesbred, Texel and Mule, and I got to work processing and felting it into a range of products, including our famous laundry balls,” said Sarah.
The reuseable laundry balls are now available in a co-branded three-pack retailing at £25.
Sarah, added: “The laundry dryer balls which are very popular as a chemical free alternative to fabric softener and we were also able to make some lanolin enriched soaps, wrapped in a pure Clapdale Wool coat.”
The Clapdale Wool Felted Soap retails at £16, and the reuseable laundry balls are available in a co-branded three-pack for £25.
Find them at glencroft.co.uk and littlebeausheep.com
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