In the 15th century Spanish Royalty took possession of a unique flock originating from the Mahgreb in North Africa to graze on the Escorial plains north-west of Madrid.
In the 16th Century this flock became known as the Royal Escorial flock when King Phillip II built the El Escorial Palace.
It was here these special sheep were nurtured and protected, their soft fleeces producing the most exquisite fabrics of this era.
In 1830 an astute and visionary Scottish woman emigrated to Australia with 120 of these special sheep and settled on a property in Central Tasmania. During WWII the European Escorial flocks disappeared, leaving only the small flocks in Australia remaining. The font of these original bloodlines has been protected ever since.
In the late 1980s Escorial founder, Peter Radford imported a flock of Escorial lambs from Australia to the rolling open grasslands of New Zealand’s South Island. It was from here Escorial began the journey of returning to the global stage.
Today, the descendants of the original Royal Escorial flock are extremely rare and found only in limited numbers in the South Island of New Zealand and southern pockets of Victoria and Tasmania, Australia.
These small sheep and their Escorial fibre are carefully tended to by a small group of dedicated growers, providing special care to preserve this endangered breed.
The magic of Escorial is in the heart of the fibre. The Escorial fibre behaves like a naturally coiled spring (known as the helical crimp) with remarkable resistance to compression. This attribute provides elasticity and bounce to fabrics delivering a lightweight product with an extraordinary handle and long life.
After the cleaning of the Escorial greasy wool the fibre twists and curls and takes on a helical shape similar to a coiled spring. Escorial yarns hold a high density of natural elasticity and during weaving and knitting the crimps re-form creating a mass of air pockets. This results in garments with the distinctive soft touch that Escorial is so revered for.
Escorial is the ultimate natural fibre for warmth without weight, with resilience and performance. It is quite simply the ultimate wearing experience.
