For us, Mouton is a component that we use in the manufacture of some of our products (, , , ). However, so many people love the feel of Mouton that we are frequently asked if entire skins are available. People use them for rugs, chair coverings, pet beds and to make things. Mouton is relatively easy to work with for those who are craft-minded, and can be used in a huge variety of clothing, accessories, pillow covers, slippers, trims, etc. We are extremely fond of Mouton too.
Mouton was originally developed as an alternative to wild furs, such as beaver and seal.
The word "Mouton" is French for sheep. In the fur trade, Mouton refers to an extremely select pelt of a lamb that has been treated to offer some remarkable properties.
Like all WeatherWool components, our Mouton is pure American. Americans have very little appetite for the meat of adult sheep. Virtually all sheep that are raised for meat in the USA are processed as lambs at about one year old. The pelts of all these lambs are used. Mostly, the pelts are sold as "shearling". Those pelts that are of the very highest quality -- less than 1% of all pelts -- are selected for processing into Mouton.
There are several steps in the creation of a Mouton Fur. First, the lamb must grade out to ‘Mouton potential’ ... it must have the dense, soft, and uniform fleece necessary for Mouton. When the raw pelt is shipped to the tannery, it is graded again, and about 15% of the Mouton candidates are rejected at this point. Acceptable pelts are tanned, then heat treated to make the wool fibers even more water-resistant and straight, and extremely soft and glossy. The fleece is sheared to a uniform length of 5/8 inches (1.6 cm) and dyed. Our favorite color is a rich BROWN (Spice Brown), but BLACK, WHITE and GRAY are also available.
Wool, and therefore Mouton as well, is considered by the medical profession to be hypoallergenic.
Mouton cannot be washed, because of the leather, but does resist soiling fairly well. If necessary, it can be cleaned by professionals who launder furs.
Because these are lamb pelts, they vary in size. Pelts average slightly over 10 square feet (almost 1 square meter). We’ll select the nicest pelts in our inventory for filling these orders. Please remember the Mouton is a natural product and there is some variability.
This information was gleaned when I visited the tannery in 2014. (Yeah, I'm not getting any younger!), I probably need to revisit and/or get someone from Nugget to take a look, given so much time has passed!
Also, the tannery accepts retail orders, so feel free to contact them directly:
Colin is our contact at , in Texas: [email protected], 210-872-9575
Thank You! --- Ralph
Updated 13 October 2024 --- Ralph
Again, this really isn't our product. But we offer them, so reviews are certainly invited! I think this is the only item that we simply re-sell.
