No. The wool is treated with “ionic protect”, a very clever treatment that changes the ionic charge of the wool fibre so the moth doesn’t even recognise it as wool. She doesn’t even try to lay her eggs on it. It’s chemical free, permanent, completely benign, and ingenious.
In the past we treated our wool with Borax. This is actually a fire retardant treatment that coats the fibre with small crystals that cause the moth larvae to perish if they eat it. It means that the larvae have to eat a small amount of the wool in order to perish, and over a long period of time this can lead to larger amounts of the product being eaten. We were not content with this as an option so have invested a lot of resources into finding a more efficient moth solution. We are lucky enough to be working with Isolenawolle in Austria who have a unique patented method of treating the wool with what they call Ionic Protect. This changes the ionic charge of the wool fibres and means the moths no longer recognise it as wool. It’s chemical-free, it’s permanent and it’s very effective – we’re delighted to have the opportunity to use it. All products sold from January 2019 onwards will have been treated with Ionic Protect®.
Chimneys can be a “way in” for moths, especially if birds nest at the top, as moth larvae can occur in birds’ nests and either fall down as larvae or find their way down as newly hatched moths, especially if they hibernate in the chimney. A Chimney Sheep® will block moths to an extent but we recommend that you get your chimney swept regularly as part of good chimney management.