Floks celebrates the start of Wool Month at The Conran Shop

We absolutely loved gathering together friends of Floks, press and our wider community into The Conran Shop to talk all things about The Art of Sleep and celebrate the start of Wool Month - a big deal to us here at Floks.

In our live conversation, journalist Jess Salter was joined by Graham Clark from British Wool, Kate Mikhail, author of Teach Yourself To Sleep, and Floks founder Sophie.

One thread ran through the conversation: what a good night makes possible for us the next day.

Where Floks started

Sophie has always slept with a heavy old wool blanket on her bed. When she woke in the night and couldn't get back to sleep, she would pull it back on if it had slipped off. "I needed the weight of it," she said. "There was something in it that just worked."

Her first idea was a wool weighted blanket, just as they were starting to appear on the market. Then a bigger question took over. What are we filling our pillows, toppers and mattresses with? And what happens to them at the end of their life?

She started researching wool. Breathability. Moisture wicking. And a fibre the UK already grows in abundance. Whatever she made had to be good for the people sleeping on it and for the planet, and it had to be better than anything else she could find on the market. Floks grew from there.

What the research says

Late last year, British Wool worked with Bangor University to compare wool against synthetics, down and feather. The study looked at humidity buffering.

Graham, marketing director at British Wool, explained why that matters. Being too hot or too cold is one of the most common reasons people wake in the night. Wool moves moisture away from the body and lets it evaporate into the air.

He pointed to the sheep. "You don't get cold sheep, you don't get wet sheep." The fleece does on the hill what it does on the bed.

The result is a steadier temperature through the night. No waking at 4am to throw the duvet off, then waking again cold. "Unless you've slept in wool, it's difficult to appreciate how good it is," Graham said.

Graham says wool responds to each sleeper, so two people who sleep at different temperatures can share one duvet.

British wool suits duvets in particular, he added. It is springy and lofty, so a duvet holds its shape rather than sagging over time.

Why temperature matters

Kate spent decades as an insomniac before she sorted her sleep out. She was working on a newspaper at the time. Later, with children, there was no room to catch up.

Her research explains Graham's point from the other side. To fall asleep, core body temperature needs to drop. That drop is a cue for the brain to slow down and release the hormones that bring on sleep. Stay too hot and sleep stays shallow, at the expense of the deep sleep that comes in the first half of the night.

"If your body's spending all its time trying to regulate your temperature, it's wasting its time doing that rather than just putting you to sleep," she said.

The night starts in the morning

For Sophie, the conversation about sleep too often stops at the night itself. Floks writes from the day after. As she put it on the night, it's about "presence, clarity, emotional regulation, all those little things that you appreciate the next day."

Kate took it further. Bedtime, she said, starts the moment you wake. Morning light tells the body clock where it is in the day. Through the day, constant information keeps the nervous system on alert. Give it a few moments to step down and you reach bed ready to sleep rather than wired.

From the floor

Jess asked about the price farmers get for their wool. Graham said the market collapsed almost overnight in the pandemic and has only recovered over the last 18 months. Last season's price covered the cost of shearing for most farmers. Not where it needs to be. But moving in the right direction.

On hotels and holiday lets, the panel agreed guests now expect to sleep well away from home. Wool is becoming something hospitality can sell on and it results in a richer, better experience for visitors.

The last question was about waste. A synthetic duvet is often replaced within a year. A wool duvet lasts for many years. And at the end of its life, wool can go back into the earth.

Thank you to Jess, Graham and Kate. And to everyone who came down to Sloane Square to start Wool Month with us. Plus an extra special mention to our partners Club Mera.

Floks is in residence at The Conran Shop, Sloane Square, until 11th October. Come and see the full range.

All photos credited to Jodi Johnston.