since 1560
Pure new sheep's wool is turned into fulled wool felt with the help of water, steam and pressure: this is what makes Zacher's heart beat faster.
We can't say it often enough: Our felt is a real and natural product.
Our felt is a real and natural product. Processing sheep's wool without any synthetics and chemicals is a matter of course in our manufactory. Each individual product is unique - small color deviations or creases in the felt are not errors or faulty, they are properties that characterize natural products.
Carded, felted and fulled: Our felts go through three steps before we process them further. The slippers are made from blanks of wool felt that are formed by hand. They are not only warm and extremely robust due to the thick felt sole, but also ideal companions in the warmer seasons. In those, in return, the wool provides a cooling effect. We also process our flat felt into accessories that make every home more beautiful...
Our felt products tell the story of our passion for this remarkable raw material and our engagement in always creating new products for you. This is the essence of the
Our commitment to sustainability
We often reflect on how our handcraft has survived into the present day - and on how we, five siblings, will lead our business into the future. We all agree: now more than ever, local cycles must be strengthened and every possible measure taken to shrink our ecological footprint. Not everything is perfect, but we’ve set out on the journey. Here are our concrete measures:
Pure Wool
All our products are made from pure, untreated sheep’s wool. Most of it, roughly 9000 kg per year, comes from South Tyrol. For certain items we need finer fibers, so we also purchase merino wool from southern Germany and a steadily declining share from overseas - always mulesing-free. New products are developed exclusively with wool sourced from the Alpine region.
Pure Mountain Water
True, fulled wool felt can only be produced with hot water and steam; only when pounded in a water bath does virgin wool become durable felt. We manage this without any additives that might impair water quality.
Energy Supply
Heat for space heating, hot water and felt-drying comes from a wood-chip system fired with timber from our own family forest - wood that would otherwise go to waste. A 20-kW photovoltaic array does not cover all our electricity needs, so we purchase the remainder as green power from Alperia. For technical reasons, the process heat (steam generation) in our boiler is still produced with heating oil.
Local Production
Every processing step happens in our workshop in Innichen: pure wool is turned into felt and is then shaped, cut or sewn on site into a wide range of finished products. Design and sales are also handled in-house. This means less energy consumption and packaging, lower CO₂ emissions and fewer transport kilometers.
Made by Us
That’s us: five siblings - Jakob, Kilian and Johanna from the next generation - and our loyal employees. Together we transform loose wool fibers into durable felt. Whether slippers, seat pads or insoles, each piece from our workshop is made by us for you.
There Is Much More We Could Tell You:
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- Think of our seat pads and slippers when you see sheep on the shores of Lake Resia or the transhumance flocks in Val Senales: their wool is in our products.
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- We have our wool dyed in Germany according to OEKO-TEX Standard 100.
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- We pack our felt slippers in nylon, reluctantly, because we want to protect the natural contents from moths.
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- An online shop, with its numerous small shipments, also consumes resources; that’s why we give personal advice, aiming to keep returns to an absolute minimum.
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- Our felt is biodegradable and leaves no microplastics, neither in your home nor in nature.
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- Wool felt is compostable and, cut into small pieces, becomes a natural fertilizer.
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- The sustainability concern - with everything it involves - has no endpoint; therefore, we continually work on improvements: for ourselves and for future generations.
