Consumer Preferences for Sustainable Wool Products in the United States

Leading wool suppliers such as Australia began marketing organic wool to counter a decades-long decline in the world wool market. Given the challenge of adopting certified organic practices for wool production in certain parts of the world including the United States, consumer demand for organic wool products relative to alternative production attributes is assessed to explore the feasibility of certifying these attributes. An Internet survey found that most US consumers preferred wool to acrylic; distinguished wool products by origin; valued organic certification less than combined environmental sustainability and animal welfare claims; and lowered their valuation for wool products in response to the information provided on wool attributes.