know where your wool comes from
If there's one thing we know about sustainability, it is keeping every aspect of production within a close proximity to lessen the amount of carbon footprint. Just like our tight knit community at Fifth Origins, we like to keep our production process close to the epicenter of the Himalayas. Maintaining this level of care means understanding and studying how mother nature gives our products life. Thankfully, we have a dedicated team of sheep specialists to help us procure wool in ethical ways.
Origins of our wool
We source the wool used for our Cape Infinity and Cape Infinity Lite collection from the Himalayas. The entire process of wool sourcing is done by local communities from small villages in Himachal Pradesh.
Who are the care takers
Sheep are cared for by the Gaddis–a semi-nomadic tribe who inhabit the Dhauladar and Pir Panjal mountain ranges of the Indian Himalaya. They have in this profession for many generations and are expert care takers. Government of India has given them special status and provides them additional support for taking care of their stock - for eg. they receive help for shearing the sheep, they get subsidies for vaccinations that need to be given the the flock. The Gaddi men, and occasionally women, traditionally leave the family home for the most of the year, herding their flocks of sheep and goat across the treacherous mountain passes.
After shearing the wool they sell the raw fibre to government authorities for the price set GOI, hence this ensures that they receive the right amount for their wool.
Knowing that flock is taken care by the experts makes us proud and also relieved about this pre process stage of ethical wool procurement.