La celeste will exhibit the excellence of ultra-fine Uruguayan wool at the World Cup in Tasting — Uruguay Wools

La celeste will exhibit the excellence of ultra-fine Uruguayan wool at the World Cup in Tasting

Authorities presented “Lana Celeste a Catar”, an initiative that will dress the players of the Uruguayan Soccer Team with high-quality national Merino wool suits.

Like the Uruguayan Soccer Team, Uruguayan wool competes with the best in the world, which is why it was decided that the players should wear suits made with the highest quality Uruguayan Merino wool during the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

The “Lana Celeste a Catar” project, which was presented at the Uruguayan Football Association, represents an excellent opportunity to promote the country as an exporter of differentiated and high-value natural products, as well as a benchmark in fashion and sustainable design.

The Minister of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries, Fernando Mattos, the Secretary of the Presidency, Álvaro Delgado, the Minister of Tourism, Tabaré Viera, the Minister of the Environment, Adrián Peña, the National Secretary of Sport, Sebastián Bauzá, the President of the Uruguayan Football Association, Ignacio Alonso, and representing the sheep producers, Alberto Bozzo, director and delegate of Federated Agricultural Cooperatives (CAF) at the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INIA).

“Lana Celeste a Catar” has the purpose of promoting Uruguayan wool through the image of the Uruguayan Soccer Team and that it is recognized as a natural, renewable, recyclable product, produced in a sustainable way, with certified processes and products, friendly to the environment and animal welfare.

The use of this product in Qatar -a state with a very hot climate- will demonstrate that it offers optimal thermal insulation compared to other natural and synthetic fibers, so it can be used both in summer and winter.

Superfine Merino wool, less than 18 microns for these suits, makes it possible to produce lightweight Super 130’s fabrics, 260 grams per meter, which adapt to the weather conditions of Qatar, with excellent comfort on the skin and following the trend of international fashion.

During the presentation of the project, the president of AUF, Ignacio Alonso, stated that “the selection will reach the world championships strengthened and united with the ultrafine wools with which the best fabrics in the world are produced.”

“We had to put something more of us so that the selection was really an ambassador of the country in the world. This project constitutes a great innovation in this sense and allows our delegation in Qatar to add all the efforts of the productive country, with its society, its workers, its producers, its industry, its designers and the added value of Uruguayan agricultural production”, said. The rural producer, Alberto Bozzo, promoter of the initiative, valued the opportunity of having the Uruguayan Soccer Team to promote Uruguayan wool at a global level. “We have a team made up of internationally known players and two great figures with enormous experience such as Luis Suarez and

Edinson Cavani, who are also from the interior, from Salto, the cradle of wool”, he celebrated. About the suits that the players will use, Bozzo explained that they will be made with 100% merino wool, ultrafine, soft and fresh, which favors their use in the hot climate of Qatar. “We obtained 300 meters of superfine fabric, which had been made up of wool from five Merinista producers from Uruguay, which had been washed, combed and exported to Italy, and which reached the AUF at a very low cost thanks to all the institutions that support this initiative,” he said.

The Minister of Livestock, Fernando Mattos, also stressed the relevant role of inter-institutional cooperation for the realization of the project. “This initiative is the merit of all the institutions that have carried out work for many decades to improve Uruguayan wool production, which combines the initiative of producers with science and research, and which has the support of the national wool industry in the search for a higher quality product”, he said.

While the secretary of the presidency, Alvaro Delgado, expressed that the initiative not only means giving support, but the testimony of something that has a lot to do with history, but also with the future of Uruguay. “Here is testimony of public-private coordination, we have three ministers, the AUF, the Secretary of Sport, INIA, the Uruguayan Secretariat of Wool, the topista industry, the producers and the institute for the promotion of investment and exports, Uruguay XXI, which has been tenaciously working on the country’s image, on showing what makes us different in the world,” he added.

Delgado closed his participation emphasizing that the same pride that the players will have when wearing the light blue jersey and representing the country, is the one that the national sheep producers will have when the team wears its top quality fine wools in the world.

“We are going to have to compete with the best in the world on the court and also in the production of wool, fabric and design, but the truth is that we are not afraid to face any of those challenges. We are convinced that Uruguay has all the conditions to put that national ‘claw’ at the service of the country, of our history and identity”, he concluded. The “Lana Celeste a Catar” project is a joint effort involving the Uruguayan Wool Secretariat (SUL), the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INIA), the Regional Innovation Consortium for Ultrafine Wool of Uruguay (CRILU), the Uruguayan hairdressing industry represented in the Chamber of Commerce, the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries (MGAP), the Secretary of Sports and the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF), with the support of Uruguay XXI, which works to promote worldwide of the sectoral brand Uruguay Wools.