High Peak Estate wool is the only wool we use. it is extraordinarily soft, strong, and resilient – treated only with the sun and the seasons; it is never bleached.
Pure and Humane
This luxurious wool reflects the purity of its origin – the Guild family’s 10,000 acre High Peak Estate – its sparkling streams fed by the Southern Alps, crisp mountain air, grassy range, and rugged hills soaring 1000 meters above the Canterbury Plains of New Zealand.
Shearing the wool from the Perendale sheep is done annually with great care at High Peak (see the video above). The Guilds ensure that their sheep are treated with the highest standards for animal welfare 365 days a year. The Animal Protection Index ranks New Zealand grade "A". Only 4 countries (NZ, UK, Austria, and Switzerland — among 50 countries graded worldwide) have earned this highest classification according to their commitments to protect animals and improve animal welfare in policy and legislation.
High Peak’s nimble Perendale sheep roam outdoors year round, covering 2 to 3 km a day, sometimes up to 10. They forage on organic grasses and clover (the Guild family insists on everything being natural). The High Peak wool is shorn carefully once a year at maximum staple length, 10 to 15.5 cm, and thickness, 30 to 36 microns (note that an average human hair is approximately 60 microns).
The Guilds are renowned stewards of the land. James and Anna Guild established High Peak Estate in 1973. Today, James serves as the chairman of the Queen Elizabeth II National Trust. The organization partners with landowners to protect 400,000+ acres of threatened native biodiversity, including 450 acres at High Peak.
Three generations of Guilds live at and oversee High Peak Estate – from farming and beekeeping, to field-and-stream eco tourism and heli-skiing. Their conscientious care, spanning five decades, is reflected in the health of their land and flock. The Perendales are cared for by Hamish Guild who, with his wife Gemma, selects only their finest wool for eye heart hand.
Guilds of High Peak Estate wool is the only wool in an eye heart hand rug.
How can we be sure? We trace the wool from High Peak to India, throughout our special artisan processes in India, and we randomly test the wool and rugs for purity — with Oritain® fiber-trace technology.