§ 07 · WoolSection 07

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.

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.

7.1

Wool Sourcing

High-altitude Nepalese sheep and Chyangra breeds provide fine, durable fleece well-suited to blended textile innovation.
7.2

Processing & Weaving

Grading, scouring, spinning and weaving under HFMN quality standards, in partnership with cooperative processing centres.
7.3

Design & Product Development

Contemporary shawls, throws, apparel and home textiles designed for both heritage and export markets.
7.4

Quality Standards

Micron testing, colourfastness, weave count and traceability standards applied across producer cooperatives.
7.5

Wool–Natural Fiber Blends

For sustainable fashion, home textiles and heritage product lines, blending wool with silk, allo and hemp.
7.6

Programme Structure

  • Wool collection and grading
  • Washing and processing
  • Spinning and weaving
  • Design development
  • Quality standards
  • Product innovation
  • Market linkage
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.
01
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.

02
Washing & spinning

Cooperative units

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

03
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