Gear: Is Wool Better Than Fleece?

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Or maybe the question should be: Is animal hair warmer and more comfortable than polypropylene? Most kids don’t think so. The jury’s still out on its superior environmental “sustainability” as well. But as Ray A. Smith writes in the Wall Street Journal, demand for merino wool has been on the rise for six years and threatens the 25-year tenure of synthetics as the most popular outerwear fabric material.
“‘Demand has increased dramatically,’ says Chris Hawson, a buyer at Paragon Sports, a large sports specialty retailer in New York that says that wool-based products now represent 50% of its base-layer business.”