A few years ago, British wool was making headlines for all the wrong reasons: prices had fallen so low that some farmers were burning fleeces because it cost more to shear a sheep than what the fiber was worth.“This is 1.1 kilos of pure wool,” says Peregrine Clothing managing director Tom Glover as he drops a chunky, cable-knit fisherman’s jumper onto the desk in front of me. “It’s like the Rolls-Royce of jumpers. You couldn’t have this made cheaper offshore, not at this quality.”

We’re sitting in the British brand’s head office in Bristol. The jumper in question is a bestseller that encapsulates Peregrine’s ethos: it was made in the brand’s Manchester factory from 100% British wool; the farms and spinners all within a 300-mile radius. It’s not the softest fiber, but its texture has character in spades.

A few years ago, British wool was making headlines for all the wrong reasons: prices had fallen so low that some farmers were burning fleeces because it cost more to shear a sheep than what the fiber was worth. Since then, a quiet but determined movement has begun to pull the material back into relevance, especially in outerwear and men’s.

“What I like about British wool is that kind of melange-y [mixed fiber], authentic handle,” explains Glover. “It’s not a flat dye. I think that’s what separates British knitwear to, say, an Italian knit where the color is perfectly uniform. With British yarns, it’s more earthy. That’s what we sell ourselves on: personality and character.”
POST: 2026-01-14