Quebec wool | An industry that wants to get back on track

Sheep producers in Quebec are generally forced to throw away the wool of their animals, out of spite. Because there is nothing better to do with this pungent, smelly and dirty wool, a by-product of the lamb we eat or the sheep we milk to make fabulous cheese.

“Of course the producers would like it to be useful,” says Marion Dallaire, general director of the Producteurs ovins du Québec, which represents 937 breeders in the province. But currently, selling wool for commercial use is simply not profitable, specifies the breeders’ representative. For it to be used on a large scale, wool would need to be treated. Which is complicated and expensive.

But things could change.

A group is working to reknit the links of the wool sector, which has dissipated due to relocation, like the entire textile industry here. Which led to a loss of know-how. And to a loss of interest for some of the people in this once vibrant sector.

“We will have to start by building a community around local production. Because it has disappeared,” explains Yan Raymond, president of Duray, a wool factory in Princeville, near Victoriaville. There was once a dynamic wool industry in Quebec.

Despite the many challenges, Duray launched into the production of socks made with Quebec wool.

If volumes increase, there will be economies of scale, which is impossible in an artisanal structure. Industrial local products would be a little more expensive, but not double the price of the same New Zealand wool stocking.

Duray is not alone in participating in the recovery.

Jobair Jaber has become a lamb specialist, despite himself.

The founder of the clothing brand Milo & Dexter became interested in the beast when he wanted to get his hands on Canadian wool.

“I was stunned,” he said. The industrialists he spoke to practically laughed in his face.

The entrepreneur made it a personal matter.

He embarked on a real quest which gave birth to a range of Milo & Dexter products: The Wool Project.

Milo & Dexter has been around for five years. From the start, the Montreal company wanted to work with local, Canadian raw materials.

“We had a surprise with the wool,” says Jobair Jaber. Suppliers told him there was no Canadian wool for industrial use. And Milo & Dexter’s clothes aren’t hand-knitted.

Jobair Jaber began touring the rare Canadian mills that still process local wool on a small scale. He quickly realized that wool was often seen as an undesirable by-product. “While for me,” he said, “it was an example of a circular economy. »

Milo & Dexter now processes 5,000 pounds of Canadian wool per year, notably with the Lemieux spinning mill in Beauce, which processes Quebec wool.

“For me, it’s the right thing to do,” explains Jobair Jaber. I would be very happy for people to make these products their own, and that’s why we’re working on development. It’s a lot and it might take time, but I know now that it’s possible. »

The ingredients of recovery

“Wool represents us. No one on the planet should be more associated with wool than us. »

Marie-Ève ​​Faust is a professor at the ESG UQAM School of Fashion. Like many people involved in this story, it is the devaluation of our local wool that motivates her.

“It doesn’t make sense,” she said. We import the wool and throw our own away. »

Next Thursday, November 7, around a hundred people will participate in the first Wool Ball at the McCord-Stewart Museum. An opportunity to bring together different links in the chain. One of the first steps in this relaunch is to find the strengths of Quebec fleeces and to properly target the message that will come with the product.

“We are at the very beginning. It’s time to define what we want to do with our wool,” says the professor. New Zealand and Australia have made a brilliant demonstration of this by promoting and marketing merino wool, she cites as an example.

“In Quebec, we have 20 breeds of sheep,” lists Marie-Ève ​​Faust, who can certainly name them all.

“The breeders no longer have shearers and they no longer have anyone to buy their wool,” she adds.

Until recently, several Quebec producers sold their bales of wool for next to nothing to an Ontario company which exported it to China through a broker.

Which is the worst heresy, explains Jane Underhill of the Canadian Wool Council. “We sell our wool in China, where it is processed, and it comes back here. »

China has infrastructure that allows wool to be accepted in a deplorable state, because it can be processed and fully used.

“When you see sweaters made in China,” explains Jane Underhill, “it’s often poor quality wool mixed with good quality wool to make something average. » The pandemic, however, has put an ax to this resale network and several producers are now stuck with their wool and are getting rid of it.

The subject is taboo, because most people agree that it makes no sense.

Anna Beaudet is one of the breeders in Quebec who value wool. It even reached the lamb through the wool. The one who knitted struggled to get her hands on Quebec wool that she liked. She had to buy wool from New Zealand or England which, sometimes, had been dyed in Japan. It was far from his consumer values.

She therefore created Ferme Taiga in Wakefield, in Outaouais, and is now at the head of a herd of 33 animals. And she confirms: profitability in sheep production is difficult to obtain and breeding is demanding.

“Agricultural producers need to have support,” says the agricultural entrepreneur. According to her, if a wool industry were to come together, it would be beneficial for all its links.

Especially since some consumers are eager for local products, also for their clothes. Wool fits perfectly into this consumption philosophy.

“It’s winter six months a year here,” says Anna Beaudet. I want to have wool to make clothes to wear during these cold months. »