Amy-Jo Barton is a trailblazer in the British wool industry as the youngest wool grader in the UK and the first female in the role. Born and raised in Bradford, she joined British Wool in the summer of 2022, having worked in logistics since leaving school.

UKFT Associate member British Wool is a UK-based farming co-operative that collects, grades, sells and promotes British wool across the world. It has developed a fully traceable wool scheme, from farm to shop, giving consumers the means to understand fully where the wool products they buy come from.

Despite not having a background in farming or agriculture, 22-year-old Amy-Jo was looking for a new challenge in a new industry which came with a qualification.

She says: “I love telling my friends I’m a Wool Grader; a lot of them have no idea what that actually means and look a bit puzzled!”

The art of wool grading, she explains, is a meticulous process that involves categorising different types of wool for various applications, ranging from apparel and insulation to carpets and homeware. The process involves assessing characteristics such as texture, fineness of fibres, and breed specifics by hand.

She continues: “As a Grader, you also need to be able to do other tasks in the warehouse, such as gaining a forklift licence, packing and other opportunities that arise.”

Amy’s journey also sheds light on the comprehensive training process involved in becoming a fully qualified Wool Grader, a three-year commitment that includes regular assessments by the Quality Assurance Team every six months.

“The job of a Wool Grader is to categorise different types of wool, to be then used for apparel, insulation, carpets, homeware and much more – there’s lots of uses for it I never knew about before I joined the business, and that’s what enticed me to become a Grader.”

Amy’s enthusiasm for her work is palpable. Each fleece is meticulously categorised based on characteristics such as texture, fineness of fibres, and breed specifics. With a vast number of different breeds and various crossbreeds. The variations in wool are broad, making the hand-grading process crucial for ensuring quality.

“There are 66 breeds of sheep which can also be crossed, so each fleece has its own characteristics. The difference between the wool is incredible; from different textures and very fine fibres to course ones and hollow fibre, similar to hair. We look for all these characteristics within the wool – the breeds can fall under these types, but the breed doesn’t always fit into the category, which is why hand grading is so important.”

Amy says: “It’s so enjoyable – it’s very therapeutic. Wool comes in from the farmers and a clip number is issued to the farmers bags, then we hand-grade the fleeces and allocate a grade number to each of the fleeces This also means we can trace the wool back to specific farms long after it has been turned into a jumper or ball of yarn.”

Working in an industry that often demands physical prowess, Amy acknowledges the challenges but recommends the role to those seeking a rewarding and invigorating challenge. British Wool employs a team of 42 Graders, with Amy being one of the five based in Bradford. Remarkably, the organisation’s longest-serving grader has dedicated 45 years to the craft.

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About UKFT Associate membership

Associate Membership is open to organisations who are specialists in their areas of expertise and can offer tangible and membership enhancing benefits to UKFT members. For more information and to discuss how your organisation may be able to work with UKFT, please contact membership@ukft.org.

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