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Journal
The Wool Blacks™ Sideliners Club
Why are Kiwis wearing plastic to watch winter sport?
If you've stood on the sidelines of a rugby, football or netball game in the middle of winter, you'll know the feeling. While the players are keeping warm in the midst of the activity, you're losing feeling in your extremities and hoping they don't run overtime.
For years, people have reached for whatever beanie they had lying around. More often than not, it's made from polyester or acrylic. Even the classic merchandise of our favourite teams has opted in to synthetics, with thousands of sports fans repping plastic on the sidelines.
We think New Zealand can do better.
We're surrounded by one of the world's best natural fibres. Wool is warm, breathable, renewable and made for our winters. Yet somehow, synthetic fibres have become the default.
That's never made much sense to us.
At Norsewear, we've spent more than 60 years making woollen apparel for outdoor people from New Zealand wool because it performs where it matters. Whether you're working outdoors, or standing on the sideline for an early morning kick-off, wool simply does the job.
That's why we created the Wool Blacks™ Beanie.
It's knitted by us in Norsewood using 100% Wool Integrity NZ certified traceable New Zealand wool, then hand finished before heading out into the world.
It also gives something back.
Ten percent of the price of every Wool Blacks™ Beanie sold through our website goes to School Sport New Zealand, helping support secondary school sport from Kaitaia to Bluff
Because the people standing on the sidelines deserve to be warm. And because we reckon New Zealand wool deserves a place there too.
Add in a pair of gumboot socks, and you've got the full recipe for sideline comfort.
Wool Blacks Kit
FAQs
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What is the Wool Blacks™ Sideliners Club?
The Wool Blacks™ Sideliners Club is a Norsewear initiative supporting New Zealand wool and New Zealand sport. The programme keeps sports supporters warm on the sideline using NZ Merino wool Wool Blacks Beanies — combining Norsewear's product expertise with a push to champion local wool and local teams. 10% of sales on these beanies is donated to School Sports New Zealand.