As Wool Week 2019 draws to a close and the latest Shaun the Sheep movie, Farmageddon, hits UK cinemas this weekend, The Woolmark Company is educating the next generation about the super-natural benefits of wool with the creation of a new animated short, educational programme, and fashion collaboration.
Family favourite Shaun the Sheep returns to cinema screens this weekend for the latest installment: Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon, just in time for Half Term. To celebrate the launch, animation studio Aardman Animations has partnered with The Woolmark Company and STUDIOCANAL to create a short film that showcases the super-natural benefits of wool. The short film sees the franchise’s newest member, a lovable alien called LU-LA, crash land on Mossy Bottom farm in need of comfort and warmth. LU-LA quickly discovers the softness of wool and travels back to space with an array of the latest wool looks courtesy of Shaun and the flock.
To support the campaign, The Woolmark Company has also developed an educational micro-site for children to discover where wool comes from and its super-natural benefits, such as being 100% biodegradable.
“Shaun the Sheep and the flock must be the most famous sheep in the world, and we loved the idea of an association with The Woolmark Company, using the characters and comedy to encourage people to choose wool,” explains Richard Webber, Aardman Animations director of The Woolmark Company film.
“We like to think of Shaun and the flock having fun with their natural environment and The Woolmark Company clearly promotes the natural credentials of wool. With the feature having a sci-fi theme, it’s fitting to learn that wool is used in space, and we love to think of our inquisitive visitor from outer space, LU-LA, discovering the delights of wool from planet earth.”
The Woolmark Company has also partnered with UK educational initiative IntoFilm to distribute a programme to help educate children about the benefits of natural products and recycling, teaching them from a young age how they can help care for the environment.
To coincide with the release, The Woolmark Company has also teamed up with fashion brand Double Rainbouu to create two limited edition unisex jumpers made from from soft Merino wool, as an ode to Shaun the Sheep. Each sweater is embedded with two chips: one chip offers supply chain transparancy, and the other, embedded in the sweater’s care label, takes consumers to a dedicated wool care hub on woolmark.com. The Merino wool used to create these sweaters was sourced from 36 individual properties across Australia, including the iconic ‘Burrabogie’ farm in the Riverina, a historic wool growing region in southern New South Wales.
Learn more about wool’s super-natural powers.
Watch Fashion-scapes: Forever Tasmania to follow Livia Firth as she journeys to one of the earth’s most biodiverse regions to meet wool growers turned earth-defenders with the Woolmark Company.
Read our tips for how to best take care of your wool garments.