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REVIEW

Fabric and greasy wool handle, their importance to the Australian wool industry: a review

J. W. V. Preston A B C D , S. Hatcher A B and B. A. McGregor A C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A CRC for Sheep Industry Innovation, Homestead Building, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2350, Australia.

B NSW Department of Primary Industries, Orange Agricultural Institute, Locked Bag 6006, Forest Road, Orange, NSW 2800, Australia.

C Australian Future Fibres Research and Innovation Centre, Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Vic. 3220, Australia.

D Corresponding author. Email: jwpresto@deakin.edu.au

Animal Production Science 56(1) 1-17 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN14777
Submitted: 22 August 2014  Accepted: 16 April 2015   Published: 20 August 2015

Abstract

Handle-related properties of woollen fabrics have been demonstrated to be major factors affecting consumer buying attitudes. Handle is the combination of both textural and compressional attributes. Compressional handle has demonstrated processing advantages in woven and knitted fabrics. The handle of processing lots can be manipulated using a variety of technologies but direct manipulation of textural greasy wool handle pre-processing is still crude. On-farm, there is documented evidence that including handle assessment in a selection index provides additional improvements in genetic gain. However, the assessment of greasy wool handle is based on a tactile evaluation of the wool staple by sheep and wool classers, and its application is affected by a lack of framework that instructs assessors on a standard method of assessment. Once a reliable and repeatable protocol is developed, further understanding of the effect greasy wool handle has on final garment quality will be possible.

Additional keywords: agriculture, farming, fibre, Merino, sheep.


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