The thick wool sweater
Released in September 2017
Released in September 2020
Switch to a machine-washable wool thanks to an electrical treatment
Released in October 2021
New wool: to prevent shrinking in the wash, our old wool went through an electrical treatment called "plasma," but this weakened it and could, among other things, cause seams to tear. We've switched to a wool with a more conventional treatment known as "total easy care" from Tollegno 1900.
Released in October 2024
The sweater's panels are joined with a sewing machine instead of a linking machine (where the stitches are knitted one by one with a woollen thread). Sure, it's less artisanal, but experience has shown us it's much sturdier: with sewn seams, there's less risk of them coming apart.
Part of the production has been relocated to France: the beige colour is made in Roanne, central France (the other colours are made in Portugal)
Wool keeps you warm because it traps nearly 80% air within its fibers. For this garment, we use a fine merino wool: at just 19.5 microns in diameter, it makes for a sweater that's soft as well as warm.
Our wool comes from Tollegno 1900, a well-known Italian spinning mill. We also use this same quality for our turtleneck sweater.
A thick sweater built to keep you warm: it weighs about 600g in a size M.
It's thicker than our turtleneck sweater and less warm than our ribbed sweater.
The wool is treated so you can machine-wash it without felting. We'd still suggest using the wool cycle, or just airing it out now and then (wool doesn't really need washing).
This sweater is made in Portugal, except for the beige color, which is knitted in France.
Worn, tested and approved by thousands of customers, this sweater is the result of several years of continuous improvement. We've refined it over time to reach a quality-ethics-price balance that we now consider just right. For example, we could use virgin wool (meaning wool that isn't treated to be machine-washable), but it would come at the expense of durability: in the past, we had plenty of sweaters returned all felted because they'd accidentally gone through the wash.
The techniques that ensure quality
Sewn assembly
Usually, "fully fashion" sweaters knitted in shaped panels (like ours) are joined by linking, a technique where the stitches are knitted back together one by one. We prefer assembling them with seams: in our experience, this stops the seams from splitting at the shoulders or underarms.
Sewn assembly
Total Easy Care treatment
Knitted as tightly as possible
Pre-washing
Total Easy Care treatment
With water, friction and heat, untreated wool shrinks and compacts (it's said to "felt"). At the microscopic level, this happens because the scales of the fibre catch on one another. To prevent this, a Total Easy Care treatment is applied, also known as Superwash or KROY-ERCOSETT. The idea: the scales of the fibre are oxidised, then a very fine resin is applied that forms a continuous film, which stops the fibres from catching and therefore keeps the wool from felting.
This treatment, when carried out in countries with low environmental standards, can be polluting. That's why we source ours from a factory based in Italy known for its high environmental standards (Oekotex 100 and 4S CHEM certification, more info here).
If you prefer sweaters made from virgin wool (meaning untreated) and don't mind washing them by hand, take a look at our fine-knit sweater, our polo-collar sweater and our ribbed sweater
Sewn assembly
Total Easy Care treatment
Knitted as tightly as possible
Pre-washing
Knitted as tightly as possible
The stitch is knitted as tightly as possible. This uses more yarn and therefore costs more, but it helps limit pilling and gives the sweater more structure.
Sewn assembly
Total Easy Care treatment
Knitted as tightly as possible
Pre-washing
Pre-washing
This sweater is pre-washed at the factory (before it's sewn, while it's still in flat panels).
Sewn assembly
Total Easy Care treatment
Knitted as tightly as possible
Pre-washing
The no-risk sweater
No style risk with its classic cut. No risk of getting cold with its thick 100% wool fabric. No risk of itching thanks to the extra-fine merino wool fibers. And no risk of "OH NO IT SHRANK 3 SIZES IN THE WASH": our wool is treated so it won't felt when washed.
In detail
Classic fit
The cut follows the body's line without clinging. And since wool is naturally stretchy, this sweater adapts to every body shape.
Jersey stitch
A smooth knit that fends off snags and pilling.
"Fully fashioned" knitting
Also known as "fully fashioned": the panels (back, front, sleeves and collar) are knitted straight into the right shape to avoid wasting any wool.
Dropped shoulder line
The shoulder seam sits slightly toward the back: this makes it less visible and helps the sweater drape more cleanly.
How to wear it
A few ideas if you're stuck
Composition
100% wool
Origin and certifications
- Making and knitting: the beige sweater is made in Roanne, in central France, while the other colours are made in Portugal
- Spinning and dyeing: Poland, Italy or Bulgaria depending on the production run
- Wool: Australia or South America depending on the production run
... not make every color in France? To support made in France, we make one color of our sweater in France (the beige one). It costs us a bit more than making it in Portugal, so we trim our margin to offer it at the same price as the other colors. If we wanted to make every color in France, we'd have to raise this sweater's price by €10.
... not French sheep's wool? Sadly, because it's less fine than wool from the southern hemisphere, and because the French industry has almost entirely disappeared. We explain all this in more detail on this page.
How this product will age
How do we know? We ask our customers what they think of the product one year after they've bought it. And if the product is less than a year old, we give you our predictions based on some spontaneous feedback and on our experience with similar products.
Thanks to wool's natural stretch, this sweater holds its shape really well. If the sleeves loosen up a bit, you can tighten them back up with a quick pass of the iron, as explained here. This sweater also stands up well at the elbows thanks to the thickness of the fabric – so far, only a small handful of people have reported a hole.
It might pill slightly here and there in high-friction areas, like the sides... but nothing a fabric shaver can't handle (and the more pills you remove, the less likely they are to come back).
The biggest threat to this wool sweater is moths, if they move into your closet! So here's a quick article to read here to keep them from settling in at your place.
Care instructions
No need to wash this sweater: airing it out for 24 hours will get rid of any smells. But if you really want to, you can machine wash it (wool cycle).
No tumble dryer, to avoid shrinking the sweater. Don't dry it on a hanger either: your damp sweater is heavy and could lose its shape under the weight of the water. The best thing for its lifespan (and for the planet) is to dry it flat, on a drying rack or a towel.
And yes, you're absolutely allowed to iron it — quite the opposite! It can even help it get its shape back. In fact, our factory sometimes gets a bit heavy-handed with the ironing, which creates a crease at the shoulder. To get rid of it, all you have to do is... iron the crease. Here's the result in this photo.
By the way, if the ends of your sweater start to lose their shape, we explain here how to tighten them back up with your iron.
Environmental cost
This environmental cost is calculated using the official methodology of the French environmental labelling scheme (in force since 1 October 2025).
The label above shows the product's environmental cost according to the official methodology of France's environmental labelling scheme. It's what its production "costs" nature when you look at its impact on climate change, ocean acidification, its toxicity to freshwater, and so on. Currently rolled out in the textile sector, this label should soon appear on many everyday consumer products (food, cosmetics, furniture, and more) to help you shop in a more eco-friendly way.
The thick sweater therefore has an environmental cost of 2,765 impact points*.
For comparison, a garment of equivalent weight, 100% acrylic, made in Bangladesh and sold by a fast fashion brand, has an environmental cost of 3,233 points*.
Why the difference? Here are the main reasons:
- The countries of production: manufacturing in Portugal or France takes less fossil fuel than in Bangladesh (one of the main producers of low-cost clothing). The result: this more local production limits the impact on climate change, ocean acidification and resource depletion.
- The material: wool has a fairly significant environmental impact, mainly because sheep release methane when they digest, a gas with a powerful greenhouse effect. That's why the difference between our product's impact and fast fashion's isn't very big. That said, unlike acrylic, wool has major advantages: it's warm (thanks to its insulating properties), keeps its shape (the fibre is very elastic), breathable (it wicks away sweat) and odour-resistant (it stops bacteria from developing).
- Durability: fast fashion brands push you to buy, mainly by refreshing their collections at breakneck speed and offering a huge number of styles, and they discourage repairs by charging laughably low prices. This drives up the number of garments sold per person and cuts down the number of times a garment is worn. At Loom, we've done the opposite: we've chosen business practices that encourage our customers to keep their clothes as long as possible.
Even though we've done everything we can to keep it as low as possible, this product's environmental impact isn't negligible. So before you buy, make your clothes last as long as you possibly can.
*Calculations made by Loom on 31/08/2026. Click the links to view the simulations from the official Ecobalyse tool and get more details on the assumptions used. Note: the number of points isn't always exactly the same on Ecobalyse (whose method evolves regularly) as on the official environmental label (based on version 7.0 of Ecobalyse)
Reviews for this product
The standard practice is to send review request e-mails a few days after the purchase. We wait a month, the minimum time needed to form a well-informed opinion
Politique d'avis client
Quand demandez-vous des avis aux clients ?
On vous envoie une demande d’avis un mois après la réception de votre commande. On estime que c’est le minimum de temps nécessaire pour avoir porté et lavé un vêtement plusieurs fois et se faire vraiment un avis éclairé. Ensuite, tous vos avis sont publiés dans la semaine, qu’ils soient bons ou non.
Est-ce que vous demandez des avis sur 100% des produits commandés par les clients ?
On le faisait au début, puis on s’est rendus compte qu’on commençait à envoyer beaucoup trop d’emails à certaines personnes qui achètent régulièrement chez nous. Bref, on spammait un peu. En plus, ça commençait à nous prendre vraiment beaucoup trop de temps dans l’équipe de répondre aux avis - puisqu'on veut répondre individuellement en privé à presque chaque personne qui nous laisse un avis. Aujourd’hui, on ne demande plus d’avis sur les produits qui répondent aux deux critères suivants : 1/ Il y a suffisamment d’avis affichés sur le site pour que les personnes qui souhaitent acheter puissent se faire une opinion éclairée sur le produit 2/ Nous avons lu dans l’équipe Loom suffisamment d’avis pour comprendre comment faire évoluer le produit à la prochaine génération.
Minute papillon : qu’est-ce qui prouve qu’on ne modifie pas les avis en mettant des 5 étoiles partout ?
Honnêtement : rien, on vous donne juste notre parole. Comme pour le reste d’ailleurs : où on fabrique, d’où vient notre laine, la note de nos tests labos, etc. Les seules fois où on pourrait toucher à ce que vous écrivez, c’est si votre message contient des fautes d’orthographe (et encore y en a pas mal qui nous échappent) ou s’il est à caractère raciste, homophobe, etc (mais ça n’est jamais arrivé pour l’instant).
Demander un avis au bout d’un mois, ce n’est pas assez pour savoir si les vêtements sont vraiment durables, non ?
Vous avez raison, c’est pour ça qu'on vous envoie un autre e-mail de demande d'avis un an après votre achat – on demande même une photo pour voir comment votre vêtement a vieilli. Les réponses nous servent à améliorer nos vêtements et à donner des informations sur "comment ce produit va vieillir" dans nos pages produits. Pour ne pas solliciter inutilement nos clients et nos clientes, on ne demande pas ces avis sur 100% des produits commandés : dès que nous avons suffisamment de données pour comprendre les points d’amélioration, nous arrêtons demander les avis à un an.