In California, a company is producing surfboards using a wool composite material instead of fiberglass.
Firewire was the brainchild of New Zealander Paul Barron, who told Sheep Central the boards are a “drop in the ocean” in terms of applications for his composite.
On Fiberwire’s website, Barron discussed how the idea for the composite came about. “I was laminating a board at my factory in Tauranga, New Zealand one day, and I spilled some resin on a wool jersey I was wearing, and that’s when it hit me–I could make a surfboard using natural fibers sourced in New Zealand. And not only is the wool a New Zealand made product, it works just as good, if not better than fiberglass.”