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Superwash wool

Dobromira Kuneva
Mar 12, 2015
1 min read

Superwash wool is a wool yarn that is machine washable and, therefore, will not felt.

Each hair of wool is made up of scales. Felting occurs when these scales bind together. The superwash process prevents the scales from binding in one of two ways. Some superwash wools are given an acid bath that removes its scales. Alternatively, the yarn can be coated with a polymer or resin; this is essentially a protective coating for the yarn to prevent felting. A yarn can be treated with either or both methods to become superwash.

Here we can see an example of superwash wool scanned with a electro microscop. From the look of the scales we can conclude that this superwash wool has been thread with chlorin.

Another example of superwash wool, this one is threated with a fine plastic film that can be noticed more visibably on the left side. By threating the wool this way, we manage to keep some of the imporant qualities of the wool such as breathability. This is due to the fact that the scales are not removed and the film is really fine.

Below we see an example of a Merino wool that hasn't be threated. (Merino wool usually would not be threated for washing due that it is so fine and expensive that its qualities are being used in the possible way). Here we can clearly see the difference in the scales: the unthreated wool has more uneven or even broken scales.