A document that commits all the wool and textile industry players to the highest environmental and animal welfare standards: this is the Dumfries House Wool Declaration, that has been presented and signed first by The Prince of Wales, Patron of The Campaign for Wool, on September 13th, during the Wool Conference held at Dumfries House, in East Ayrshire, Scotland. The “Custodians of The Wool Industry” declaration has been created to ensure that key players from shepherds to shop owners commit to protect the environment and uphold the best possible practices for sheep welfare, commerce and industry. The Dumfries House Wool Declaration agrees, amongst other things, that the major wool growing countries conform to the strictest standards of animal welfare as embodied in the IWTO Specifications for Wool Sheep Welfare. The IWTO Specifications are premised on the Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare as set forth by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE): freedom from hunger and thirst, freedom from discomfort, freedom from pain, injury or disease, the freedom to express normal behaviour, and the freedom from fear and distress. The conference was the largest and most prestigious international gathering of wool experts ever to be held in the UK, and was organised by The Campaign for Wool and the International Wool Textile Organisation with M&S support. The conference, attended by around 250 wool trade delegates, included speeches by The Prince of Wales, M&S CEO Steve Rowe, the designer Sir Paul Smith, Nicholas Coleridge CBE, the President of Conde Nast International and Livia Firth, the founder and creative director of Eco-Age. Prince Charles, who used the conference to announce that he would give a further five-year commitment as Patron to the Campaign for Wool, spoke of being “encouraged” by what had been achieved since the campaign launched eight years ago.
