At Loom and Power, we are mission driven. We are committed to bringing wool textile production back to the Cotswolds. We cannot do that if we do not think of new ways to process wool which are far more sustainable.
Doing the rounds of the trade shows and conference last year, it was disappointing to see how much the industry looks backwards - start-ups using museum pieces for production for example - rather than forwards to new solutions.
The UK used to be a powerhouse in wool R&D, with the offices and labs at the Wool Industries Research Association (WIRA) driving innovation and making significant breakthroughs. Some of the work there led to a Nobel Prize for Martin and Synge in chromatography.
At Loom and Power, we don't have the resources of the WIRA labs but we are pushing to advance the knowledge of wool dyeing further through innovation. Not expecting a Nobel Prize for our efforts but we hope to make a big splash relative to our size.
I've added a link to the paper from WIRA that earnt a Noble Prize:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1265645/pdf/biochemj00981-0076.pdf
There is a book on the history of WIRA on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Story-Wool-Industries-Research-Association/dp/0900820187