Right in Our Backyard: MSU's New Wool Lab Is Betting on the Future of Regional Wool

Montana State University just opened a new $10 million Wool Lab in Bozeman this July and it feels like a signal that the regional wool industry is ready for a comeback. Great news for the natural fiber textile movement!

The lab is led by Brent Roeder, an extension specialist who has spent his career watching synthetic fiber erode wool's place in the market. Brent has been an invaluable resource as I researched the wool industry in Montana and the Rocky Mountain West.

Over the past 80 years, the U.S. sheep flocks have shrunk by 90%, and Montana's wool production has dropped by two-thirds in just the last 30 years.

Synthetics, made from fossil fuels, releasing microplastics with every wash, and slow to biodegrade, now dominate the fabric market. Roeder is direct about the cost of that shift.

Sculpture at New The Wool Lab at MSU

The Wool Lab's mission is to change the economics for Montana ranchers: funding research into more efficient production, helping producers breed next-to-skin fine wool (under 30 microns, the kind that doesn't itch), and training a new generation to think beyond the raw commodity and toward processing, marketing, and value. Notably, most of the country's domestic supply of fine next-to-skin wool comes from right here - Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana.

Wool Samples the New Wool Lab at MSU

At Bellwether, we actually work with coarse wool - the kind that's generally considered a byproduct with little to no commercial market. It's the wool that gets left behind by the fine fiber industry, and we believe it deserves a second look. Handweaving is one of the few applications where coarse wool truly shines: durable, textural, and deeply rooted in the traditional craft of rug and textile making.

That said, any investment in the health of the regional sheep industry lifts all boats. Stronger ranching operations, better infrastructure, more students choosing careers in fiber - all of it creates the conditions for a more viable regional wool economy, and that's the future Bellwether is working toward too.

We're paying attention - and we're glad MSU is too.

Read more from the Bozeman Daily Chronicle here and from the Western Livestock Journal here.