Where does Boiled Wool come from?

Boiled Wool comes from Austria, the Alps, where it dates to the Middle Ages.

Plate No. 140fabric

A knit wool fulled dense and weatherproof, the Tyrolean jacket cloth.

First documented: Middle Ages
Origin: the Alps, Austria
Fiber: wool
Weave: knitted wool, fulled until dense
Family: knits

Plate No. 140 · fabric

Boiled Wool

Boiled wool is knitted wool that has been deliberately fulled, agitated in hot water until the fibers mat and the cloth shrinks into a dense, thick, warm, and weatherproof fabric that resists wind and does not fray when cut. The technique is centuries old in the Alpine countries, where it makes the traditional Tyrolean and Austrian jackets, the Janker and the loden-style coat. Unlike woven loden or melton it begins as a knit, so it keeps a little give, but the boiling turns a soft jumper into something close to a soft felt.

Illustration: an Alpine tailor workshop in the Tyrol, dense felted wool jackets hanging on wooden pegs, a basket of green wool on the bench, snow and timber chalets through the small window, a tailor at a distance — An Alpine tailor workshop in the Tyrol, dense felted wool jackets hanging on wooden pegs, a basket of green wool on the bench, snow and timber chalets through the small window, a tailor at a distance.

Named for

Descriptive: wool that is boiled, agitated in hot water so it felts, shrinks, and densifies.

Also known as

fulled wool

Common questions

What is Boiled Wool made of?: Boiled wool is knitted wool that has been deliberately fulled, agitated in hot water until the fibers mat and the cloth shrinks into a dense, thick, warm, and weatherproof fabric that resists wind and does not fray when cut.
Where does Boiled Wool come from?: Boiled Wool comes from Austria, the Alps, where it dates to the Middle Ages.
What is Boiled Wool named after?: Descriptive: wool that is boiled, agitated in hot water so it felts, shrinks, and densifies.