Coarse wool, which is the rough, lower-quality wool typically not suited for fine textile production, is often discarded illegally or disposed of at high costs. WOOLSHED addresses this critical challenge by promoting innovation and cooperation among diverse stakeholders to transform this waste into a valuable resource. The project focuses on affordable, open-source, and user-friendly technologies to help small-scale wool processors and other businesses engage in the wool industry. Additionally, its focus on networking and design validates new economic opportunities for the Alpine region.

The concept of the Woolshed Factory is rooted in the desire to revitalise local textile value chains with a better awareness of natural ecosystems, fairer and less harmful practices, while enhancing skill capacities, and prioritising more appropriate technologies.

In simple terms, Woolshed factories are creative and productive hubs for supporting the development of wool processing systems at a bioregional scale. Thus, the Alpine Woolshed Factories are situated in the Alpine region and are able to support local communities across the wool value-chain, by providing knowledge regarding each process needed to transform sheep wool into products. Woolshed Factories are not only places for learning, they intend to be places for fostering collaborative practices of making, such mutualisation of equipment for actors or collaborative small-scale productions.