Wool Source, a New Zealand ingredients manufacturer developing industrial uses for wool, and KiwiFil, a New Zealand filament producer, have launched what they describe as the first commercial 3D printing filament to use a wool-based colourant. The product, called WoolyFil, uses Wool Source Pigments in place of conventional synthetic or fossil-fuel-derived colour.
KiwiFil is selling the new filament in two colours, Green Marble and Riverstone, through its website, with more colours in development. Made using recycled PLA, the WoolyFil is available in 500 g and 1 kg spools with a diameter of 1.75 mm. According to the companies, it can be printed with a 0.4 mm nozzle at 180–200°C, with a bed temperature of 50–60°C. Wool Source says its pigment contains 92–98% biobased carbon content, indicating that most of that carbon comes from a renewable source.
“Wool Source’s patented technology takes strong wool fibre and transforms it into fine, coloured particles that can be mixed into other materials for applications like 3D printing, bioplastics and screen-printing inks,” said Tom Hooper, chief executive of Wool Source. “Unlike other biobased options for textural effect or colour, our four-colour base system gives filament producers maximum colour mixing flexibility.” Hooper said the pigment was developed for customers seeking to reduce environmental footprint while maintaining consistent colour and performance. He added that KiwiFil tested the material before deciding to launch a new filament range using it.
Eva Hakansson, director of KiwiFil, said the company wanted to produce “the most sustainable filament possible,” but that the material also had to meet the needs of its existing customer base. “We loved the idea of using New Zealand wool and a biobased pigment in our recycled PLA filament but it needed to work for everyday 3D printing customers, as that’s our market,” she said. “Our customers are loving the totally unique look and feel and the colours inspired by nature.” For WoolyFil, KiwiFil used 150 µm Wool Source Pigments to create the textured effect. Wool Source also offers 10 µm pigments for filament applications that require a standard block colour.
The launch follows another recent commercial use of Wool Source Pigments in a collaboration with outdoor clothing company Kathmandu on screen-printed graphic T-shirts. Wool Source says its pigment has also been formulated into PLA, PCL, PBS, and PHA, among other polymers, at different inclusion rates.
Filaments Move Toward Embedded Material Properties
Recent filament development has increasingly focused on adding specific performance characteristics directly into printable materials. In South Africa, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, a national research agency, worked with filament producer Filament Factory to develop a nano-reinforced polymer composite for additive manufacturing, extrusion, and injection molding. That material combined low weight with electromagnetic interference shielding, radio frequency absorption, and electrical conductivity, making it relevant to aerospace, electronics, healthcare, and sensing. That work showed how filament and pellet development is expanding beyond standard polymer supply toward materials designed for defined technical functions.
Visual performance has also become a target for filament engineering, but through different mechanisms. ProtoPlant, the US filament manufacturer behind Proto-Pasta, partnered with Quantum Light to develop an experimental quantum dot-infused filament that emits controlled colour under ultraviolet light. Instead of relying on conventional reflected colour, the material uses semiconductor nanocrystals dispersed through the filament matrix, allowing printed parts to remain muted under normal lighting and fluoresce under UV exposure. WoolyFil enters that same broader area of materials development from a different direction, using wool-derived pigment to create colour and texture in recycled PLA while remaining compatible with standard desktop 3D printing conditions.
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Featured image shows WoolyFil recycled PLA filament. Image via Wool Source.
