About New Zealand Sheepskin

New Zealand and Australia are the foremost producers of quality sheepskin in the world. Although sheep are not indigenous to either country, very favourable pasture growth and selective breeding programmes have produced the best sheep in the world over the last 150 years. The sheep in New Zealand are English and European breeds, but because of the unique climate and open pasture growth in the southern hemisphere the sheep have thrived to produce the best wool and meat.

It should be emphasized that all sheepskin products are a bi-product of the wool or meat industry. Sheep are farmed for two main reasons, one is for the production of meat and the other is for the production of wool. Sheep farmed for the production of meat are a totally different type of sheep to that farmed for the production of wool.

There are very many websites throughout the world that incorrectly refer to wool as being fur. Any website that refers to wool as being fur should immediately arouse the suspicion of any would be purchaser, as anyone closely involved within the sheep industry would know that such a term is totally unacceptable. Sheep have wool and not fur.

The bi-product of the meat industry is the hide of the animal. The hide is either used with the wool still attached to produce what are known as wool on" sheepskin products or else the wool is removed and the leather is used for items such as leather garments, handbags and leather shoes. When the wool is kept on the hide, the uses to which the product is put are varied but two of the most commonly known are sheepskin footwear and sheepskin rugs. Sheepskins, which are the bi-product of the wool industry, are those sheepskins that come from sheep that are culled for age. These are sheep that for many years will have had their fleece shorn from the hide with the wool fleece being used for a very wide range of products ranging from wool carpets to fine knitwear. The use to which the wool will be put will depend on the type of sheep from which it has come. Once the sheep has been culled for age, because it is no longer suitable for producing the wool, the hide is then available for use as a sheepskin. The quality of the hide and wool in these circumstances are different from the hide that comes from a meat sheep. It is of critical importance for a consumer to know that the type of wool used, for say a wool bedding product, is a totally different type of wool to that used for a fine wool garment item. Likewise, the type of sheepskin that comes from a merino sheep is totally different to the type of sheepskin that would come from a south Suffolk sheep. There are many claims made on websites about the selection of sheepskins, however in our view these are mostly untrue, as the nature of the industry does not allow the selection process to be as definitive as is portrayed by many of the so called manufacturers.