EWA Special

Open Online Sessions for the Wool Community

The European Wool Association (EWA) organises EWA Special online sessions as open events designed to bring together the wider wool community across Europe and beyond.

Unlike the Members’ Quarterly Roundtables, EWA Special events are open to all interested stakeholders,including shepherds, breeders, processors, designers, researchers, policy-makers, students, and wool enthusiasts, as well as all EWA members.

Each EWA Special focuses on a relevant and timely topic affecting the wool sector. The aim is to:

• Highlight strategic developments and emerging challenges,

• Share innovative practices and inspiring initiatives,

• Encourage dialogue across the entire wool value chain,

• Strengthen visibility and collaboration at European level.

The format is interactive and flexible. Depending on the topic, sessions may include keynote presentations, moderated discussions, expert panels, or open exchanges with participants. We encourage active participation and welcome diverse perspectives.

EWA Special events reflect our mission to connect people, promote sustainable wool value chains, and strengthen the voice of the European wool sector.

Upcoming EWA Special Dates 2026

• Friday, 6 March 2026

• Friday, 5 June 2026

• Friday, 4 September 2026

• Friday, 4 December 2026

We warmly invite you to join us and be part of the conversation shaping the future of wool in Europe.

EWA Special 2026: Successful Launch with Wool March Inspiration!

6 March 2026

The European Wool Association (EWA) kicked off its acclaimed EWA Specials 2026 series with an inspiring online event dedicated to the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists 2026. With engaged participants from France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Croatia, the UK and beyond, we passionately discussed the central role of shepherds, grazing systems and wool in shaping Europe's landscapes.

Cynthia Hathaway Captivates as Guest Speaker

Cynthia Hathaway, initiator of the Wool March and founder of the Wool Activist Kit (www.woolmarch.com), delivered a compelling presentation on the social, cultural and ecological values of wool. As a passionate advocate for shepherds and pastoralist communities, she introduced the Wool March Project - an initiative that highlights sustainable grazing and wool through "soft mob" walks and community felting workshops.

Presentation Highlights:

Global Wool System Visualised
Cynthia presented an impressive world map of the wool system, powerfully illustrating the complexity of wool production and its significant environmental benefits including carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation and landscape management.

Wool Activist Kit - Education Meets Craft
The Wool Activist Kit was introduced as an innovative tool that engages communities through felting and storytelling to raise awareness about wool's cultural significance.

Texel-Brussels Wool March 2026
A highlight: The announcement of a 400 km Wool March from Texel to Brussels in 2026! This spectacular walk will advocate for European wool, shepherd mobility and recognition of grazing landscapes as key climate and biodiversity assets.

Lively Discussions: Challenges and Solutions

Participants engaged in vibrant discussions about growing constraints on shepherd mobility – particularly in Southern Europe and alpine regions and their long-term implications for traditional grazing systems. Key themes included:

• The need to include shepherds' and sheep perspectives in policy decision-making

• Challenges from wildlife predation, grazing rights conflicts and shepherd shortages in mountain regions

• The urgency to preserve wool processing capacity in Europe

Representatives from regional fibre initiatives shared experiences with farmer-to-farmer mentoring programmes promoting adaptive multi-paddock grazing – supported by high-level advocacy for regenerative farming.

EWA Positions as Key Platform for Shepherding Issues

The event underscored EWA's strategic role as a central platform for shepherds, wool producers and grazing experts. Nathalie Ketterle highlighted the hard work of shepherds and actively offered to leverage EWA's communication channels to promote the Wool March and Wool Activist Kit.

Perfect Start to a Year for Pastoralists

This first EWA Special 2026 laid the foundation for an intensive year focused on pastoralists, resilient rangelands and the future of European wool. The event marks the beginning of a series of activities underscoring the indispensable role of pastoral systems in Europe's climate, biodiversity and bioeconomy strategies.

Stay tuned for more events, collaboration opportunities and developments around the Texel-Brussels Wool March!

 Wool is more than fibre - wool is culture, climate and biodiversity solution.

EWA Special 2026: Becoming a Wool Farmer – Transatlantic Perspectives from Texas
5 June 2026

The European Wool Association (EWA) continued its EWA Specials 2026 series with a rich and highly interactive online session dedicated to “Becoming a Wool Farmer - Transatlantic Perspectives from Texas”. With participants joining from across Europe and beyond, the event explored how experience, knowledge and inspiration can circulate between continents and help shape fairer, more resilient wool value chains.

Jennifer Nimmrichter Inspires as Guest Speaker

Our guest was Jennifer Nimmrichter – “The Wool Farmer” – owner of The Sheep Walk Ranch and Fiber Mill in Bandera, Texas. She traced her journey from assisting in her mother’s rug hooking and fibre shop to becoming a wool farmer, heritage-breed shepherd and mini‑mill operator in the Texas Hill Country.

Jennifer shared how her business evolved step by step: from fibre arts and dyeing to building up land, animals, a mill and an educational mercantile space. Rather than following a single business plan, the ranch grew in response to local needs and opportunities, supported by strong community ties and a passion for wool.

Heritage Breeds and Fibre Diversity

A core part of Jennifer’s story was her intentionally diverse flock. She keeps a wide range of fine, medium and strong wools, as well as primitive and heritage breeds and camelids, each chosen for specific educational or product purposes.

She explained how this diversity allows her to:

• teach customers and students about breed‑specific fibre characteristics

• supply different yarns and products from the same farm

• maintain and showcase coloured and heritage breeds largely ignored by mainstream commodity markets

Participants recognised similar developments in Europe, where many smaller initiatives are rediscovering local and heritage breeds as a resource rather than a “problem” for standardised wool chains.

Mini Mills, Scouring and Practical Know‑How

Jennifer then opened a detailed window into the realities of running a mini mill. She described buying and refurbishing second‑hand machinery, adding and calibrating additional equipment and, above all, rethinking the scouring process.

By replacing a standard scouring unit with a customised hand‑washing system based on large heated vats, she significantly increased throughput and improved control over washing quality. This resonated strongly with experiences shared by EWA members: in many small mills, scouring remains the most critical and sensitive step, and many operators end up adapting or redesigning equipment to suit their fibres and local conditions.

The session highlighted how valuable it is when mill operators openly share practical details – from wash temperatures and detergents to workflow and maintenance – so others can avoid common pitfalls and adapt solutions to their own context.

Equity for Farmers: Rethinking Pricing

Another key topic was wool pricing and farmer equity. Jennifer compared very low fleece prices in some US states with higher prices for speciality and coloured fleeces, and showed how easily value can be lost between farm and finished yarn.

In response, she has developed an “equity for farmers” model in which processing fees are based on washed weight rather than raw (grease) weight. This makes the cost structure more transparent and more closely linked to usable fibre, while still keeping yarns marketable by combining wool processing with higher‑margin camelid work.

Participants compared this approach with examples from Europe, where many farmers still struggle to cover shearing costs. The discussion underlined a shared ambition: to develop pricing and business models that recognise farmers as key partners in the value chain, not just raw material suppliers.

Wool Beyond Textiles: Bioeconomy and Carbon Farming

One of the most inspiring parts of the evening focused on wool uses outside traditional textiles. Jennifer presented her ongoing experiments with raw wool in gardening and land management, including:

• using unwashed fleece as mulch in vegetable beds

• layering wool beneath soil to improve water retention and soil structure

• integrating wool into simple water filtration setups around ponds and aquatic plants

She is now investing in a wool pellet machine to produce pellets for large ranches – creating a new outlet for wool that would otherwise be burned or discarded and contributing to carbon farming and soil health.

These examples sparked lively exchanges with European participants working on horticultural, building and insulation applications for wool. Together, they highlighted wool’s potential as a key material in circular and bioeconomy strategies, especially for so‑called “low‑grade” fibres.

Holistic Animal Health and Emerging Challenges

Jennifer also shared her holistic approach to flock health, using herbal feeding regimes and close observation to maintain parasite‑free status, while keeping conventional treatments as a last resort. Participants compared experiences with integrated parasite management and breed resilience, underlining that animal health and welfare are central to any sustainable wool system.

She briefly addressed emerging biosecurity concerns such as New World screwworm in Texas, illustrating how farmers can combine vigilance, simple treatments and community information exchange to manage new risks.

International Learning and Cooperative Futures

Throughout her talk, Jennifer highlighted how much her work has been shaped by study visits to Finland, Norway, Iceland, Ireland, Scotland/Shetland and Estonia. From cooperative structures to craft education models, each country offered elements that she could adapt at home.

Participants recognised this pattern from EWA activities such as tours, wool camps and previous Specials: international exchange is not about copying, but about translating good ideas into different contexts.

A particularly interesting part of the discussion focused on the absence of a dedicated wool‑focused association in North America comparable to EWA. While national‑level sheep organisations exist, they often concentrate on meat or commodity markets. The idea of a future North American wool body, working closely with EWA, emerged as an important opportunity to strengthen global collaboration.

Lively Discussion and Shared Reflections

The Q&A and open discussion brought in multiple perspectives from Europe and beyond. Participants:

• shared their own experiences with small mills, scouring solutions and equipment choices

• compared wool pricing realities and attempts to build fairer relationships between farmers and processors

• discussed traceability, labelling and the problem of imported wool marketed as national or local production

• reflected on the role of education and training – from technical schools to farm‑based programmes – in building future wool expertise

The atmosphere was one of mutual curiosity and respect, with both speaker and participants emphasising that the most valuable insights often come from honest stories of what has not worked, as much as from success.

EWA as Platform for Cross‑Border Knowledge Exchange

This EWA Special once again demonstrated the value of EWA as a platform where farmers, processors, designers, researchers and policy actors can meet, share concrete experiences and build a common understanding of challenges and solutions across borders.

Key messages from the evening include:

• Practical knowledge – about breeds, scouring, pricing or new applications – becomes far more powerful when it is shared openly across regions and scales.

• Fair and transparent business models are crucial to keeping farmers in the wool value chain and maintaining high‑quality fibre production.

• Wool’s role in horticulture, soil and water management and carbon farming offers promising pathways for integrating wool into wider bioeconomy and circular economy policies.

• International cooperation and networks, such as those fostered by EWA, are essential to connect often isolated initiatives and to build stronger, more resilient wool ecosystems.

The EWA Specials 2026 series will continue to provide spaces for this kind of exchange, bringing together voices from different parts of the wool world and highlighting how much we can learn from each other.