We've played around with many wool-based outdoor and military clothes over the years; the Woolshell suit is a completely rethought design based on experiences and ideas gathered from numerous projects. Functionally these are much like a pair of modern tactical pants. Combining this functionality with high-quality natural wool fabrics makes these a rather unique garment!

Wool? As in old-timey clothes?

Yes! High-quality wool is not at all scratchy and nasty. Wool has some really useful properties:

• Breathes, doesn't feel like plastic
• Won't soil easily, but cleans up nicely
• Is naturally fire retardant
• Forms on its wearer
• Relatively warm even if it gets moist, but won't really soak in water.
• Made in the EU, in Latvia

Good wool frieze is expensive and has some heft to it, that's why it's not nowadays used so much. It's still more than a viable application for temperate and cold-weather clothing articles.

Modern, functional design

• Regular fit
• Elastic adjustable waist
• Zipper fly with button
• 50 mm / 2" belt loops
• Diamond gusset crotch
• Articulated knees
• Reinforced seat, knees, shins and ankles
• Hook-and-loop cuffs
• Four pockets:
• Two slash side pockets
• Two pleated cargo pockets
• Materials:
• Wool frieze: 70/30% recycled wool/recycled polyamide, 400 g/m²
  
• Reinforcements: 50/50 % cotton/polyester
• Pocket lining: 100 % polyester

The original idea for the Woolshell design began as a simple fantasy - wouldn't it be great to have a wool suit, which could comfortably be worn under gear and shell garments without causing too much excess bulk? Basically, this would be a garment that could alternate between shell and mid-layer functions, with the fantastic properties of wool being the main attraction. This idea matured over the years and eventually ended up as an update for our legacy wool jackets and pants, tying these together with the current Varusteleka Clothing System designs.

Besides the wool and its naturally fantastic properties the other big thing about the Woolshell Pants is the design. The overall construction is aimed at minimizing the bulk of the wool fabric used, therefore certain areas such as the crotch gusset, ankles, and waist are made with double layers of CO/PES instead of any wool. By limiting excess wool-on-wool details, the result is a little bit more lightweight and sleek. The low-profile reinforcements and intricately pleated cargo pockets help keep the overall profile low without sacrificing any functionality.