A Return to the Source
The phrase ad fontes—"to the sources"—was once the call of scholars and reformers, urging a return to origins, to clarity, to the unfiltered integrity of things. Today, it feels just as relevant in the world of cloth, craft, and culture.
At Holloway & Hare, we use ad fontes to guide how we observe the worlds we cover. It’s not just a motto. It’s a lens.
In this post, we follow wool—not as a trend, but as a tradition. From the hill pasture to the finished jacket, it’s a story of landscape, labour, and layered intention.
Where Wool Begins: British Breeds and the Landscape
Bluefaced Leicester and Swaledale Sheep
The journey begins in the uplands of the British Isles, where breeds like the Bluefaced Leicester and Swaledale graze on wind-swept pasture. These sheep aren’t bred for novelty or yield alone. Their wool is part of a regional, living system—one that supports biodiversity, soil health, and rural economies that have endured for generations.
In some areas, regenerative grazing is returning—honouring older ways while stewarding land for the future. The result is wool with not only provenance but purpose.
Organizations like The Campaign for Wool, under the patronage of His Majesty The King, have helped bring this story to broader attention—championing wool as a material that is not only traditional but renewable, traceable, and fully biodegradable.
The Mill: Where Fleece Becomes Fabric
British Wool Mills and Traditional Techniques
From the field, the fleece travels to historic mills in Yorkshire or the Scottish Borders, where generations of knowledge are woven into every bolt of cloth. These mills don’t just manufacture—they interpret. Some still operate looms from before the digital age. Others invest in low-impact finishing techniques and renewable energy sources.
What unites them is a commitment to continuity, craftsmanship, and an unspoken understanding that good fabric cannot be rushed.
Tailoring and the Human Hand
The Role of Wool in Bespoke Clothing
Once woven, the cloth arrives in the hands of the tailor. Whether on Savile Row, in Naples, or in a quiet studio in Glasgow or Tokyo, the cutter approaches wool not as material, but as memory. The way it drapes, the way it moves, the way it holds shape—all are interpreted by skill and shaped by touch.
A fine wool jacket, when made well, carries not only structure but story.
Why Traceability Matters
Wearing a Story, Not Just a Garment
This is the essence of an ad fontes story: not a marketing angle, but a map of meaning. Not nostalgia for its own sake, but a kind of informed reverence.
In tracing wool from sheep to suit, we’re reminded that good things—lasting things—don’t begin in the shop window. They begin in the soil, in the hands of those who tend, shear, weave, and shape.
And in a world moving at speed, that’s worth slowing down to notice.
—Holloway & Hare
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Image: "Counting Sheep ...... five" by Terry Kearney is marked with CC0 1.0. To view the terms, visit https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/?ref=openverse.
