Stop for a moment to think about the overcoat hanging in your closet. The sweaters folded in your bureau. The suits in their garment bags. Chances are, they’re made from wool. Renewable, biodegradable, soft and luxurious merino wool. Wool, it might surprise you to hear – specifically Australian Merino Wool – is also a hardworking, hardwearing technical fibre and the secret ingredient in Private White V.C.’s new collection of outerwear, designed in collaboration with Woolmark.
Private White V.C. has been making coats from wool for ages – they’ve been in the rag trade since 1853 – so this collaboration was a natural pairing. “And Woolmark are champions of all things wool related,” says Mr James Eden, Founder and CEO of Private White V.C.. “Our expertise is not in synthetics, it’s not in nylon, it’s not in polyester.” No, Private White V.C. deals in natural fibres. “I like to say we’re sheep to shop. And the wools we are making in this capsule collection are from the same looms, weavers, and mills that we would have been using as far back as the 1960s and 1970s.”