. During the Middle Ages, a major commodity of French commerce was wool. The cloth-manufacturing industry that had developed in Flanders, Artois, and Picardy had by the 12th century outstripped domestic supplies to meet its needs, and purchasing of...

As with many discoveries of early man, anthropologists believe the use of wool came out of the challenge to survive. In seeking means of protection and warmth, humans in the Neolithic Age wore animal pelts as clothing. Finding the pelts not only warm...

All the wool is hair, more or less. (Portuguese) Bad is the wool that cannot be dyed. (Italian) ‘Great cry and little wool’, said the fool, when he sheared a pig. (German) He who goes to collect wool may come back shorn. (French) Much...

Wool is the fiber derived from the fur of animals of the Caprinae family, principally sheep, but the hair of certain species of other mammals such as goats, llamas and rabbits may also be called wool. This article deals explicitly with the wool produced...

Low wool prices and high shearing costs have led many sheep farmers to add a special breed of woolless sheep to their flocks, raising fears that sheep shearing may become a lost art.Albany farmer Jan Kostival bought a flock of woolless sheep last month with...

Australian researchers have launched a search for the country's ugliest sheep _ no matter how wrinkled, lumpy, bald or just plain funny looking _ to try to identify genes that produce high quality wool. "When something goes really wrong with...

At the recent Milan menswear shows, the models wore leggings. In Paris on Friday, they sported tiny gold evening purses dangling from link chains.It is safe to pronounce androgyny a trend for next winter when even the august French house of Louis Vuitton sends out...