Shearing sheep in midsummer isn't cruelty!
Hetty reminds me of a reference I saw in the 1960s about wool (I think it was in Nova) The writer clearly had no idea what he/she was talking about, speaking of the cruelty of leaving "lambs" to freeze to death. Cue mental picture of tiny lamb having its little woolly coat ripped off and being left in the snow.
Reality -
1) Shearing of domesticated sheep is done in midsummer, when the fleece is too hot and heavy for comfort, and when wild sheep naturally moult. Domestication has bred out the moulting phase, so if they are not sheared they continue to carry their fleece around. The fibres do weaken near the roots and start to gradually break up, with the bit at the root growing longer and pushing the old wool up, but it takes a while and comes off patchily (and this spoils the fleece for spinning, as the weak spots in the middle of each fibre weaken the finishes yarn) Some ancient breeds are still near enough to the origin wild sheep for their fleece to loosen, and the loose fibres are plucked free (it is called "rooing" and takes a long time to gather)
2) Lambs are not sheared when they are small, not until they are about a year and a half old - as big as their mothers (who they have left by then) and just as strong and hardy. They live outside all year. "Lambswool" is the name for the fine fibre from this first shearing. "Astrakhan" is a product that is never produced in Britain. It is not sheared wool at all, but the skin (yukk) of unborn or newborn lambs - It was used for coats in the past, but I don't even know whether it is produced anywhere now.
3) The alternatives, manmade fabrics, involve a lot of energy to produce, and a lot of petroleum-based chemicals, both of which contribute to environmental concerns and send gases into the atmosphereto add to global warming. They will never rot down, however long they lie around in landfill when they are no longer of use. Wool rots down and returns nutrients to the earth.
4) Being allergic to a substance does not entitle anyone to consign it and a whole industry to oblivion.