Wool

High-altitude wool.
A modern sustainable fiber.

Nepal's traditional and high-altitude wool has strong sustainability, heritage and market potential. HFMN develops it as a modern, ethical fiber programme — from fleece to finished garment.

Chyangra Baruwal Kage Lampuchhre High pasture Fleece Micron

Portrait 01

High-altitude fleece

The Story

Wool, measured in altitude.

Nepal's indigenous wool comes from the high altitudes where the sheep and goats work through winter. It is coarser than merino, warmer than most, and — until recently — largely absent from any national inventory.

The HFMN wool programme is building that inventory: grading standards, washing units, spinning cooperatives and a route to market that keeps the herder in the value chain instead of at its edge.

Above the tree line

Fleece from the high pastures.

Chyangra and high-altitude sheep produce a fibre made by weather itself — fine, resilient, and quietly luxurious.

Micron Card ·

HFMN Fleece Register

Quality Standards

Micron testing, colourfastness, weave count and traceability standards applied across producer cooperatives.

Fibre diameter, measured in microns, decides where a Nepali fleece lands — from coarse valley wool to the ultra-fine Chyangra pashmina of the high Himalaya.

28µ

Fine crossbred

24–30µ · apparel weight

Fine crossbred 24–30µ · apparel weight

Merino-fine

Chyangra

Fine

Baruwal

Local

The Wool Register

Six pages, one programme.

above · pages below

Wool Sourcing

High-altitude Nepalese sheep and Chyangra breeds provide fine, durable fleece well-suited to blended textile innovation.

Fleece to Finish

One fleece, six hands.

Stop 1

Shearing

Hand-shorn in spring
Stop 2

Sorting

Graded by lock & fineness
Stop 3

Scouring

Cold-water washed at the source
Stop 4

Spinning

Cooperative-spun yarn
Stop 5

Dyeing

Plant-dyed, low-water baths
Stop 6

Weaving

Loom-woven for shawls & throws

Blend Bench ·

Wool blend recipes.

Each card shows the wool-to-partner ratio, what the blend feels like, and where it is used. Every HFMN blend is engineered — a coarser fibre gives the yarn its backbone, a finer fibre gives it its hand.

Wool + Silk

70 / 30

70% Nepalese wool · 30% Silk

Wool

Interwoven

Wool warmth meets silk lustre. The result is a soft, draping fabric that carries light and keeps body heat close.

Warm Lustrous Draping

Best used for

Luxury shawls, scarves & evening wraps

Wool + Allo

60 / 40

60% Nepalese wool · 40% Allo

Wool

Allo

Interwoven

Wool insulation paired with allo's tensile strength. A tougher cloth that still breathes and ages gracefully.

Insulating Strong Breathable

Best used for

Outerwear, jackets & travel throws

Wool + Hemp

50 / 50

50% Nepalese wool · 50% Hemp

Wool

Hemp

Interwoven

Equal partners: wool gives softness and loft, hemp gives structure and breathability. A balanced, hard-wearing blend.

Structured Breathable Hard-wearing

Best used for

Heritage upholstery, bags & interior textiles

In Practice

Wool, from fleece to finish.

Everything HFMN does — from a mulberry seedling to a finished bolt of cloth — is stewarded by a real cooperative, a real weaver and a real ledger. This is a snapshot.

Herder to grader

Fleece collection

Seasonal collection points buy graded fleece from herders at published rates, replacing the middleman network that used to swallow the margin.

Washing & spinning

Cooperative units

Small mechanized scouring and spinning units in Mustang, Dolpa and Humla process fleece close to source — reducing loss and carbon.

Blends & product

Design workbench

Wool-silk and wool-allo blends are prototyped with weaver-designers so the innovation belongs to the cluster, not to a distant studio.

“ The wool used to leave in a sack. Now it leaves in a scarf — with our name on it.

— Herder cooperative, Mustang

“The wool used to leave in a sack. Now it leaves in a scarf — with our name on it.”

— Herder cooperative, Mustang

High-altitude wool.
A modern sustainable fiber.

Wool, measured in altitude.