{{Short description|Textile made from shredded and respun wool}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} thumb|A pile of recycled wool {{wikt | shoddy}} '''Recycled wool''', also known as '''rag wool''' or '''shoddy''', is any woollen textile or yarn made by shredding existing fabric and re-spinning the resulting fibres. Textile recycling is an important mechanism for reducing the need for raw wool in manufacturing.
Benjamin Law of Batley invented shoddy in 1813.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jubb |first=Samuel |url=https://archive.org/details/historyshoddytr00jubbgoog |title= The History of the Shoddy-trade: Its Rise, Progress, and Present Position |date= 1860 |publisher= Houlston and Wright |location= London |language= }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Shell |first=Hanna Rose |title=Shoddy: From Devil's Dust to the Renaissance of Rags |publisher=University of Chicago |year=2020 |isbn=9780226377759 |location=Chicago |pages= 19–35}}</ref> The shoddy trade became the dominant industry of Batley and neighbouring towns in the West Riding of Yorkshire, known as the Heavy Woollen District, in the 19th and early-20th centuries.<ref name=":0">{{Cite thesis |last= Malin |first= John Christopher |title= The West Riding recovered wool industry, ca. 1813–1939 |date=1979 |degree=PhD |publisher=University of York |url= http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/14148/ |doi=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hudson |first=Pat |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=5zuz1O78drsC |title=The Genesis of Industrial Capital: A Study of West Riding Wool Textile Industry, C.1750-1850 |date=2002-04-11 |publisher= Cambridge University Press |isbn= 9780521890892 |language= en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last= Clapham |first= J. H. |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=2PmADwAAQBAJ&pg=PT86 |title= Revival: The Woollen and Worsted Industries (1907) |date= 2018-12-20 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781351342483 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last= Clapp |first=B. W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=29QFBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA202 |title= An Environmental History of Britain since the Industrial Revolution |date= 2014-07-15 |publisher= Routledge |isbn= 9781317893035 |language= en}}</ref> Following a decline in the United Kingdom, the centre of the shoddy trade shifted to the city of Panipat in India.<ref>{{Cite news |date= 2017-09-07 |title= Panipat, the global centre for recycling textiles, is fading |url=https://www.economist.com/business/2017/09/07/panipat-the-global-centre-for-recycling-textiles-is-fading |access-date=2019-03-24 |work=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-04-28 |title=In Panipat, the world's 'castoff capital', business hangs by a thread |url= https://www.hindustantimes.com/more-lifestyle/in-panipat-the-world-s-castoff-capital-business-hangs-by-a-thread/story-CAnh2kH4DhB3SWrwqwGFpL.html |access-date= 2019-03-24 |website= hindustantimes.com/ |language= en}}</ref> Efforts have been made to revive the British recycled-wool industry in the 21st century.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title= Evergreen: From shoddy manufacture to textile recycling |url= https://www.endsreport.com/article/1561567/evergreen-shoddy-manufacture-textile-recycling |url-status= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=2019-03-24 |website=ENDS Report}}</ref>
== Terminology == Historically, recycled wool products were called ''rag wool''. Manufacturers distinguished among three main categories of rag wool:<ref name=":0" />
* ''Shoddy'' – made from loosely woven or "soft" textiles that could be pulled apart relatively easily; * ''Mungo'' – made from "hard" fabrics such as felts, that were harder to disintegrate but resulted in a finer product; * ''Extract'' – made from the wool portion of cotton/wool blended fabrics.
In practice, few outside the industry were aware of these distinctions, even when rag wool was widely used.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last= |first= |date=8 April 1871 |title=A City of Honest Imposture |url=http://www.maggieblanck.com/Land/Shoddy.html |journal=All the Year Round |volume=5 |issue=25 |pages=441 |via=}}</ref> The common name was ''shoddy'', which became a generalised term for poor quality goods.<ref name=":0" /> It is still used as a technical term for recycled wool within the industry.
Regulators in the United States make a distinction between ''reprocessed wool'', which is made from manufactured wool products that were never used by the consumer, and ''reused wool'', which the consumer has used.<ref name="Freer">Robert E. Freer. [https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_statements/674191/194607_freer_the_wool_products_labeling_act_of_1939.pdf "The Wool Products Labeling Act of 1939."] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160605081144/https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_statements/674191/194607_freer_the_wool_products_labeling_act_of_1939.pdf|date=2016-06-05}} ''Temple Law Quarterly.'' '''20.1''' (July 1946). p. 47. Reprinted at ftc.gov. Retrieved 1 May 2016.</ref> Other bodies refer to these as ''pre-consumer'' and ''post-consumer'' waste material.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=13 April 2018 |title=Recycled Wool: A Primer for Newcomers & Rediscoverers |url=https://europeanoutdoorgroup.com/outreach/csr-sustainability/public-resources/recycled-wool-primer-newcomers-rediscoverers/ |url-status= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=2019-03-24 |website= |publisher=European Outdoor Group |language=en}}</ref>
The terms ''virgin wool'' and ''new wool'' are used to distinguish newly-produced, never-used wool from shoddy.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|13}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
Category:Wool Category:Recycling Category:Products introduced in 1813 Category:By-products