WASHING AND COMBING
Once the wool has been sheared and packed into balls, it is transported from Tasmania to Asia or Europe: ORTOVOX has two supply chains depending on the product group.
The washing process is always the same and comprises four different steps:
- The balls of wool are unraveled and the wool is placed into gigantic “washing machines” for further processing.
- The actual washing is done in several huge successive washing troughs.
- The wool is dried with hot air.
- In this step, anything the water has not yet been able to get rid of is mechanically removed.
Now we move on to making the top. This wool top is very important later on when it comes to making the yarn. First of all, the wool is carded: The wool fibers are all still slightly tangled after washing at this point, but carding the fibers carefully loosens and aligns them into single strands so that they are parallel to each other, also removing any remaining dirt particles in the process.
Once this is complete, the next step is combing. Any short wool fibers are combed out now in order to ensure that only the nice long fibers remain. These fibers are then stretched slightly to produce an even card web.
After being processed in this way, the fibers are then brought together in a band and put into large cans. These cans are then ready to be spun, a part of the process where a stable, even and clean yarn is important.