Behind Our Fabrics

1. The Sheep Farm

The journey starts at one of NATIVA’s certified partner sheep farms in Australia—the centerpiece of which is Bangor Farm. Located on the Forestier Peninsula in southeast Tasmania, this beautiful 1500-acre grazing land supports a flock of 5,000 Merino sheep, whose wool is regarded as being among the world's finest, softest and brightest.

NATIVA protocols ensure compliance with the highest standards of animal husbandry, breeding and mulesing-free sheering. As a result, in addition to offering premium-quality wool, we can provide customers with information about the origin and treatment of the animals, in a core commitment to transparency.

2. The Combing Mill

Certified wool is then passed twice through a series of increasingly finer combs to eliminate any fibers shorter than 45mm, and lengthen the longer fibers to produce “tops”. The main finished product is known as a "wool top", which is the long-staple, worsted wool used to spin yarn.

Starting at the combing process and beyond, a trained technician must separate the wool, and dedicated storage spaces must be designated to ensure there is no mixing between certified and non-certified wool in compliance with NATIVA’s processing protocols.

3. The Weaving Mill

Following the combing process, wool tops are spun, dyed, woven, and finished by Vitale Barberis Canonico (VBC). The result is a selection of fine, fully traceable fabrics like pure S110’s wool, and pure S120’s Tropical Merino wool.

At the mill, finished fabrics are identified and stored separately from other products to maintain the integrity of the certified wool fabrics. At this point, we now have a premium fabric that has been traced and controlled, and whose purity has been assured before moving along to the next and final step in the production process.

4. Manufacturing Atelier

At its penultimate stop—and most labor-intensive step along the production process—rolls of fabric arrive at our ateliers to be cut and sewn to specification, washed, pressed, and packaged. These fully finished woven fabrics have now reached their final form.

At our atelier in China, employees are trained to comply with and uphold NATIVA’s industrial protocols. Whether it’s human rights, fair labor, environment, or anti-corruption—records are kept as far back as 5 years to ensure that the highest levels of responsibility have been continuously upheld.