Wool, War, and the Wild: A Brief History of Wool Outerwear
Featuring the Forest v2 Poncho
Wool isn’t new, and that’s kind of the point.
Long before synthetic insulation, puffy jackets, and rain shells, people used wool to stay alive. Soldiers, shepherds, nomads, explorers. It worked then, and it still works now.
The Forest v2 Poncho isn’t about chasing trends. It’s about tapping into something that has stood the test of time, then making it field-ready for today. So, let’s go back and look at how wool earned its place on battlefields and in backcountry shelters, from ancient Rome to modern survival gear.
The Original Survival Cloaks
Start with the Roman sagum. It was a heavy wool cloak issued to Roman legionaries during wartime. Not pretty, just practical. Rain, wind, cold, wool handled it all. Soldiers slept in them, marched in them, and used them as ground covers or tents in a pinch1.
The Celts wore similar garments, some dyed with local plants, some left natural. Germanic tribes used raw, rugged wool cloaks pinned at the shoulder. These weren’t fashion statements, they were just tools.
And even after centuries passed, the formula didn’t change much. A big slab of wool, maybe a clasp or pin, and off you go.
From Castles to Campaigns
Through the medieval period and into early modern warfare, wool stayed the go-to for outerwear. Nothing else kept you warm and dry with that same balance of durability and flexibility.
By the 18th and 19th centuries, most European armies were issuing wool greatcoats, long and heavy overcoats that trapped heat and could double as bedding. Even in the U.S. Civil War, both Union and Confederate soldiers wore coarse wool coats, often dyed in earthy tones like butternut or gray.
Some coats were waxed or soaked in lanolin, which is natural wool grease, to help repel rain. That trick still shows up today in traditional shepherd gear from places like Wales and Scotland2.
Ponchos, South America to the Battlefield
The poncho has a different lineage, and it didn’t come from Europe. It originated with the Mapuche people of Chile and Argentina. They wove thick wool into simple rectangular wraps with a slit in the center. Fast to throw on, easy to make, and perfect for sudden shifts in weather3.
Eventually, colonizing forces and traveling armies caught on. The British experimented with wool ponchos in the 1800s, especially during colonial campaigns. The U.S. military issued them as multipurpose shelter halves and rain gear during the 19th century.
Even into World War I and II, soldiers were still issued woolen rain capes, blankets, and trench coats that often served more than one purpose. To this day, wool blankets remain a standard in extreme cold military environments.
So Why Are We Still Using It?
You’d think wool would be obsolete by now. But as synthetics get more advanced, wool still stands out. Not because it’s better at everything, but because it still does a few critical things best:
- It won’t melt in fire or extreme heat
- It insulates even when soaked, unlike down or most synthetics
- It breathes, helping regulate temperature (thermo-regulation)
- It’s silent, no loud swishing or crinkling in the brush
- And most overlooked, it slows down heat signature buildup under thermal optics4
Not invisibility, not sci-fi. Just time. It gives you time to move, time to hide, time to make the next decision. That’s why it still has a place in stealth, survival, and tactical gear.
Where Forest v2 Fits In
To be clear, we’re not calling the Forest v2 a cloak. Because we’ve got one of those coming soon, and when it drops, it’ll earn that title.
Still, the Forest v2 shares that same lineage:
- Triple-washed 550gsm wool
- A drawstring hood
- Optional kangaroo pocket
- Built to shrug off weather, slow thermal buildup, and blend into a multitude of terrain
No zippers, no synthetic liner, no fluff. Just a simple, proven field garment.
Final Thought
You don’t need a lab test to know wool works. Just look at history.
It’s what people wore when they had to survive, without backup, without modern gear, and without much room for error.
Now, with Forest v2, that same mindset applies.
Old tech, refined. Wool outerwear, still doing its job.
Footnotes
- M.C. Bishop & J.C.N. Coulston, Roman Military Equipment: From the Punic Wars to the Fall of Rome, Oxbow Books, 2006. ↩
- Linda Parry, Textiles of the British Isles: History and Usage, V&A Publications, 1998. ↩
- Richard B. Gill, Ponchos: History and Culture of a South American Icon, Latin American Studies Press, 2003. ↩
- U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Thermal Signature Suppression and Camouflage Study, 2005–2019. ↩