The Oxford Dictionary does not shed much light on just what the word "shearling" means. It says tersely in my concise version: "Wool from sheep shorn once." That suggests that "shearling" wool is a sort of virgin wool that is shorn from a never-before adulterated animal. The Oxford Dictionary therefore suggests that the word "shearling" refers to the wool itself.
However, if you look a little further afield, it appears that there is a lot more to "shearling" than merely some woolen locks taken from a young animal. Other references to "shearling" make it clear that this is not the wool itself but the wool plus the hide. One authority says that shearling is a sheepskin (or lambskin) pelt that has gone through a limited shearing process to obtain a uniform depth of the wool fibers for a uniform look and feel. This means that the wool still adheres to the skin when the animal is slaughtered.
So the Oxford Dictionary is wrong. "Shearling" is not wool. Instead it is the pelt (skin with wool) of a sheep that has been shorn only once. The skin to which the wool adheres is soft, sometimes as soft as suede. It seems, therefore, that the young animal is shorn just once simply because its wool is long enough for the first time for the animal to be shorn. Soon after that it is slaughtered.
What most people do know about "shearling" is that luxury apparel and footwear is made from this soft and warm pelt. The skins are tanned with the wool of uniform length to create a luxurious pelt that is then transformed into bomber jackets and other wonderfully warm items of apparel and boots.
The beauty of "shearling" for footwear is that typically the wool fibers on the woolly side tend to either repel moisture or retain it, depending on the atmospheric humidity, and therefore these boots tend to be comfortable at any time of year.
So it appears that "shearling" is not just the wool but the entire pelt, consisting of soft leather with the wool still adhering. No wonder that advertisers of shearling bomber jackets market "shearling" as "a soft, natural fleece material, usually made from natural wool and used as a lightweight and comfortable insulating lining."
There is another variation on this interpretation of what "shearling" is. Some experts say that the wool adhering to the skin must still be "curly" when tanned to lend the rugged appearance and great warmth of excellent quality "shearling".
The fact that the lamb or sheep has to be shorn just before slaughter in order for "shearling" to be produced, and the fact that the animal must not have been shorn before, suggests one of two things: that the animal was raised for meat rather than for wool and secondly that the animal was a young one, whether classed as a sheep or lamb. Old wool on and old skin would not produce a soft, luxurious, flexible "shearling"", no matter how carefully it was tanned.
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When purchasing a bomber jacket, you will find that every second advert claims to be for a "shearling" bomber jacket. This is very infrequently the truth. You should investigate exactly what the various different vintage, collectible and modern bomber jackets are made of by visiting Bomber Jacket World where you will find many authoritative articles on the subject.
Be warned that not many bomber jackets manufactured these days are truly "shearling" bomber jackets, and those that are generally expensive replicas. It is more common to find nylon and cowhide bomber jackets for men, women and children that do the job just as well as the classic "shearling" bomber jackets.
