>>2313773Fleece is 99% used to refer to polyester fleece and wool is used for 70% wool blends and above. Don't argue semantics.
Wool is not hydrophobic, its the lanolin that coat its outer layers that resists wool. It can't coat them completely (though traditional outdoors garments were very greasy wool compared to modern stuff) so it still soaks into the absorbent, hydrophilic fibres. You can coat fleece in oil too for arguments sake, as well as Teflon and DWR which works better than oil.
Wool is not a superior survival fabric to fleece, far from it. Jump in a river in wool and then in fleece - even if you wring it out, fleece will stay soaking wet for a very long time unless thin enough to dry from body heat. It just "feels" drier because it absorbs conductive water into its fibres. (polyester) fleece, however, feels damp because the water sits on the surface of the fibre and can easily be wrung out then shaken off to remove most of the conductive water, returning it to a dead air buffer instead of holding conductive water next to the skin like wool. This is a critical function in sustained shitty weather or a storm, or an ice fall or river fall, or sailing etc. Wool WILL not dry and will keep conducting until you can get it to a fire or eventually dry it in the sun, or burn hundreds of calories using your metabolism to steam dry it.
That's how people don't die. Pile fleece (synthetic) was invented and immediately used to save the lives of pilots and servicemen who went down or fell overboard in cold waters, in their heavy traditional wool - which could not dry.
The guy's findings were fine, he proved that wool when wet has no magic properties.