What on earth is ‘Maori wool’?!

Tell me if this bothers you. I belong to a number of Facebook Groups to do with needle-felting and fibre art. I noticed that a handful of people (USA specifically) were talking about “Maori Wool”. I stopped in my tracks – what was this ‘Maori wool’?! I was told “it’s really good quality wool from New Zealand”. Hmmmm...

So, I asked Mr ChatGPT for some more information:

Desert Breeze Distributing (Rupert, Idaho) manufactures and distributes the Maori Wool brand of wool fiber. This wool is a blend of New Zealand wools, specifically created by DHG (Dying House Gallery, Prato, Italy) for felting. It's packaged and distributed by Desert Breeze Distributing.

Here's a breakdown:

DHG (Dying House Gallery): They are the creators of the Maori Wool blend.

Desert Breeze Distributing: They source the Maori Wool from DHG and handle the packaging and distribution.

So, an Italian company gets hold of New Zealand wool fibre and brands it ‘Maori wool’, then distributes it through an American company to buyers who have no idea what “Māori” means or the cultural impact of using that word as a brand name.

I said to one person in the group, “that would be like me branding fibre “Native American wool”. She was shocked.

Is it just me, or are you as disturbed about the naming of this fibre brand as I am?

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