---
product_id: 86659656
title: "Raw Material: Working Wool in the West"
price: "₩62396"
currency: KRW
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 9
url: https://www.desertcart.kr/products/86659656-raw-material-working-wool-in-the-west
store_origin: KR
region: South Korea
---

# Raw Material: Working Wool in the West

**Price:** ₩62396
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Raw Material: Working Wool in the West
- **How much does it cost?** ₩62396 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.kr](https://www.desertcart.kr/products/86659656-raw-material-working-wool-in-the-west)

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- Customers looking for quality international products

## Why This Product

- Free international shipping included
- Worldwide delivery with tracking
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## Description

Follow a sweater with an "Italian Merino" label back far enough and chances are its life began not in Milan, but in Montana. Many people want to look behind the label and know where their clothes come from, but the textile supply chain-one of the most toxic on the planet-remains largely invisible. In Raw Material, Stephany Wilkes tells the story of American wool through her own journey to becoming a certified sheep shearer. What begins as a search for local yarn becomes a dirty, unlikely, and irresistible side job. Wilkes leaves her high tech job for a way of life considered long dead in the American West. Along the way, she meets ornery sheep that weigh more than she does, carbon-sequestering ranchers, landless grazing operators, rare breed stewards, and small-batch yarn makers struggling with drought, unfair trade agreements, and faceless bureaucracies as they work to bring eco-friendly fleece to market. Raw Material demonstrates that the back must break to clothe the body, and that excellence often comes by way of exhaustion. With humor and humility, Wilkes follows wool from the farm to the factory, through the hands of hardworking Americans trying to change the culture of clothing. Her story will appeal to anyone interested in the fiber arts or the textile industry, and especially to environmentally conscious consumers, as it extends the concerns of the sustainable food movement to fleece, fiber, and fashion.

Review: A brilliant, moving study of a valiant subculture - I am a retired university professor, art historian and writer. I read this book because I am also a fiber artist who buys wool roving to spin and felt with. After reading it, I will never complain about the cost of wool fiber or yarn again. NEVER. Wilkes is an excellent writer who gives us insight into the valiant community of sheep shearers, sheep raisers, and small-scale wool processors. People who work 18 hours a day in all weather, up to their knees in urine-soaked hay and muck, and emerge bloody and smiling, and do not regret having turned in their office jobs for this work. You can read it as a memoir, or as an ethnography of a subculture most of us know nothing about, even if we like our hand-knitted sweaters and scarves. A brilliant job.
Review: I loved this book, and I’m not a fiber person. - If you’re a shearer, a shepherd, a sheep owner, a weaver, a knitter, a felter, or otherwise invested in wool production or fiber art, then of course you’ll be joining those flocking (sorry) to the bookstore for Raw Materials: Working Wool in the West. I am none of those things. I don’t even read nonfiction for fun. And yet I couldn’t put this book down. True, it’s about the economics of wool production and comes packed with the kind of data analysis that usually puts me to sleep. But I became invested in that data via some strong story lines (spoiler alert) and a cast of compelling characters. First, there’s the author herself. Starting with an innocent question (Why can’t I find local yarn?), she ends up swapping her desk job in the city for the fulfillment and community of work on the land. Her stories about shearing introduce us to other shearers, to small farmers, and to the sheep themselves. (The “Aww…” factor here made me want to head to Meridian Jacobs to hang out with the sheep.) Their stories are skillfully woven into the broader stories, like those about wool mills and carbon farming and cycles of fire and flood. And finally there’s the story of the wool: the different types, what is required to process it, the possible benefits of sheep farming for the land and for the larger environment. The book was particularly poignant for me as a resident of northern California; Wilkes’ storytelling brought to life the acres I speed by on my way to the Bay Area, to Redding, Shasta, Gualala, Napa, northeastern California, and Reno. I also learned things about slow money and nurture capital and the impact of synthetic dyes—things that are likely to impact my buying decisions. But all in all this is a love story entwined (sorry) with other love stories—love for the sheep and the shearing and love of the land, of one’s own community, and of the earth. So, if you’re looking for a good yarn (again, sorry) and are not afraid to be inspired, make Raw Materials your next read.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #1,378,608 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #229 in Fashion & Textile Business #10,339 in Women's Biographies #29,443 in Memoirs (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.7 out of 5 stars 74 Reviews |

## Images

![Raw Material: Working Wool in the West - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/91nX0nyGwSL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A brilliant, moving study of a valiant subculture
*by J***B on June 15, 2023*

I am a retired university professor, art historian and writer. I read this book because I am also a fiber artist who buys wool roving to spin and felt with. After reading it, I will never complain about the cost of wool fiber or yarn again. NEVER. Wilkes is an excellent writer who gives us insight into the valiant community of sheep shearers, sheep raisers, and small-scale wool processors. People who work 18 hours a day in all weather, up to their knees in urine-soaked hay and muck, and emerge bloody and smiling, and do not regret having turned in their office jobs for this work. You can read it as a memoir, or as an ethnography of a subculture most of us know nothing about, even if we like our hand-knitted sweaters and scarves. A brilliant job.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I loved this book, and I’m not a fiber person.
*by P***. on December 31, 2018*

If you’re a shearer, a shepherd, a sheep owner, a weaver, a knitter, a felter, or otherwise invested in wool production or fiber art, then of course you’ll be joining those flocking (sorry) to the bookstore for Raw Materials: Working Wool in the West. I am none of those things. I don’t even read nonfiction for fun. And yet I couldn’t put this book down. True, it’s about the economics of wool production and comes packed with the kind of data analysis that usually puts me to sleep. But I became invested in that data via some strong story lines (spoiler alert) and a cast of compelling characters. First, there’s the author herself. Starting with an innocent question (Why can’t I find local yarn?), she ends up swapping her desk job in the city for the fulfillment and community of work on the land. Her stories about shearing introduce us to other shearers, to small farmers, and to the sheep themselves. (The “Aww…” factor here made me want to head to Meridian Jacobs to hang out with the sheep.) Their stories are skillfully woven into the broader stories, like those about wool mills and carbon farming and cycles of fire and flood. And finally there’s the story of the wool: the different types, what is required to process it, the possible benefits of sheep farming for the land and for the larger environment. The book was particularly poignant for me as a resident of northern California; Wilkes’ storytelling brought to life the acres I speed by on my way to the Bay Area, to Redding, Shasta, Gualala, Napa, northeastern California, and Reno. I also learned things about slow money and nurture capital and the impact of synthetic dyes—things that are likely to impact my buying decisions. But all in all this is a love story entwined (sorry) with other love stories—love for the sheep and the shearing and love of the land, of one’s own community, and of the earth. So, if you’re looking for a good yarn (again, sorry) and are not afraid to be inspired, make Raw Materials your next read.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ One of the best books that I have read in years!
*by F***T on December 29, 2018*

As a shepherd and a trained sheep shearer, I can tell you that Stephany Wilkes book is spot-on on what it's like to learn to shear sheep for someone not born into it. The fear, the exhaustion, and the full-on revolting state shearing leaves you in are all elegantly and honestly written. Her book details the many, many, many, many obstacles facing modern shepherds and the people that support them from shearers to wool brokers to land owners and mill operators. Stephany gives concise and easy to understand explanations into the many scientific reasons that wool is so amazing without dumbing things down (which I adore her for). She gives faces and stories to the people who supply this country with fiber and food without making their stories trite or commercialized. If you are at all interested in wool, or even agriculture in any form, get this book. You won't regret it.

## Frequently Bought Together

- Raw Material: Working Wool in the West
- Wool: Unraveling an American Story of Artisans and Innovation

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*Product available on Desertcart South Korea*
*Store origin: KR*
*Last updated: 2026-05-19*