Wool Products Labeling Act

In detail

The Act requires wool products to be labeled with the percentage by weight of wool, recycled wool and each other fiber present, together with the name or registered identification number of a responsible company and the country of origin. The Federal Trade Commission enforces it through rules at 16 CFR Part 300. Its defined categories carry the weight: 'recycled wool' means fiber returned to a fibrous state after wool was woven or felted into a product that no consumer ever used, or after wool was spun, woven, knitted or felted into a product that a consumer did use.

The science and numbers

The Act's definition of wool reaches beyond sheep and lamb fleece to include hair of the Angora and Cashmere goats and certain specialty fibers from camelids, which may be named by animal on labels. Labels list constituent fibers in order of predominance by weight, and descriptors implying newness, such as 'virgin wool', are restricted to wool that has never been reclaimed. Enforcement depends partly on fiber analysis: scale pattern and diameter under the microscope can separate some animal fibers, but distinguishing recycled from new wool in a finished fabric is difficult by laboratory means alone, so purchase and production records carry much of the evidentiary weight. The Act has been amended by Public Law 96-242 and Public Law 109-428, and the FTC has revised Part 300 through later rulemaking.

A practical example

A coating fabric is made partly from new fleece and partly from cutting-room offcuts of a woven wool fabric that were torn back into fiber. Under the Act's definitions, the offcut-derived portion counts as recycled wool even though no consumer ever wore the fabric. A useful exercise is to sort sample inputs, such as scoured fleece, woven offcuts and shredded worn garments, into the statutory categories before reading any label.

What to distinguish

The statutory 'recycled wool' category does not line up neatly with the pre-consumer and post-consumer vocabulary of voluntary standards, because it groups certain unused manufacturing waste with used material. A wool label also says nothing about fiber diameter, breed, animal-welfare practices such as mulesing, or shrink-resist treatment. Specialty fibers such as cashmere have their own conditions in the law, so read the definitions before comparing products.

Origins and history

Congress enacted the Act in 1939, nearly two decades before the general textile statute of 1958. Its categories reflect a long-standing concern in the wool trade with separating reclaimed wool, historically sold as shoddy, from new fleece so that buyers could tell the two apart. The FTC has periodically reviewed the Part 300 rules, issuing final rule revisions that also touched the fur and textile rules.

Related terms

• Textile Fiber Products Identification Act
• Generic fiber name
• Pre-consumer
• Post-consumer
• Super S numbers

Sources & further reading

• eCFR: 16 CFR Part 300, Rules and Regulations Under the Wool Products Labeling Act of 1939
• Federal Trade Commission: Wool Products Labeling Act (text)
• Federal Trade Commission: 16 CFR Parts 300, 301 and 303 final rules

Technical references reviewed 2026-09-22. Examples are illustrative. Industry organizations and manufacturers describe their own fields; their references are not independent product endorsements. Figures are approximate and depend on the stated test conditions.