Fleece quality Marker Sprays - Maximise Your Wool

Everything we do at British Wool is to maximise the value of your wool. Our mission is to create a quality mark, recognised by consumers for superior product performance while creating a fairer deal for members.

We fully understand the need to use paint and sprays as part of flock management however excessive marking can devalue your fleece and using non-licensed marker sprays can result in the fleece being rejected by the processor.

For many years, the use of marking agents that couldn’t be removed during the scouring process caused major issues for UK wool especially in applications where a white or pastel shade was required. It often led to expensive picking charges on the finished product and in some cases a total rejection with many of these costs being passed back to British Wool. This caused a major loss of confidence in your wool, meaning processors would insist on white wool imported from the southern hemisphere for certain types of their products.

This situation has improved significantly in the last few years due the extensive testing and approval by British Wool of a wide range of different marking agents. This has had a positive impact on the scouring process and you, our members using these products.

On occasions, we will receive complaints from customers about excessive paint marks in scoured wool and occasionally this has culminated in a large claim and a significant cost to their business.

Please see attached photo illustrating a problem from one scouring plant. This wool had been excessively marked with non-approved sprays. Sadly, you can see these marks are dark and heavy and will not come out in scouring or be covered by most colours when the wool is dyed.

That is a serious problem, and the concern is it could affect ongoing business with our clients. Manufacturers will quickly lose faith and look for alternatives if they cannot rely on the British Wool trademark and the wool they buy. I’m sure you understand it’s in all our interests to do all we can to eradicate excessive paint marks and encourage more widespread use of British wool.

Fleeces which are excessively marked are usually picked up at grading and that itself will affect the amount a member receives for their wool.

Andrew Hogley, CEO, British Wool commented “One farmer cutting corners on markers can impact on the value for hundreds of others with their wool going onto multiple lots.”

All British Wool approved marking products have undergone stringent scourability tests which ensures that, if used correctly, all the colour can be removed during the standard scouring process.

Therefore, please use a British Wool approved product and to avoid excessive use of any marker products. The list of approved products can be found here: britishwool approved Licensed marking fluids

For more guidance on maximising the value of your wool and avoiding faults that would potentially devalue your fleece visit our website https://www.britishwool.org.uk/maximise-your-clip-value