Queer social networking platform, Grindr, recently debuted a tongue-in-cheek fashion show titled “I Wool Survive,” featuring a 37-piece knitwear collection made entirely from the wool of gay rams—as in homosexual male sheep.
That’s right—as it turns out, 1 in 12 sheep are considered gay or “male-oriented.” And those sheep—and any rams that don’t fulfill their procreating duties within livestock operations—are often sent to the slaughterhouse and sold as meat products.
Sheep operations earn money from three main products: milk, fiber (wool) and meat; because meat drives the most revenue, non-breeding rams are typically routed into the meat supply chain, said Dr. Whit Stewart, associate professor and Extension Sheep Specialist at the University of Wyoming.
Inspired by the doomed fate of non-breeding rams, Michael Stücke, a shepherd located in Germany, created the world’s first “gay sheep” flock and partnered with his friend Nadia Leytes, client strategy director at the German ad agency Serviceplan, to co-found Rainbow Wool. The German non-profit uses yarn from Stücke’s flock to produce fashion pieces, generating a creative revenue stream that supports the farm and LGBTQ charities worldwide. Customers can even sponsor their own “gay ram” through Rainbow Wool’s website.
Originally starting with just three sheep, Stücke, a member of the Gayfarmer Association, now cares for more than 500 on his Löhne, Germany-based farm, including 35 “male-oriented” rams. As sponsorships have grown, so has the farm’s capacity to expand its flock, opening the door to even more creative possibilities for Rainbow Wool.
But identifying male-oriented rams is rarely done, Dr. Stewart said, because it requires behavioral observation that isn’t realistic in large commercial operations.
Rainbow Wool says its breeders employ a “pen test” to identify “male-oriented” rams: “If a ram repeatedly mounts other males, he’s moved into a pen with only females. If he shows interest in them, he’s sold as a regular breeding ram. If he ignores the females and continues to prefer males, he’s considered commercially ‘not useful’ and is often sent to slaughter,” a company representative said.
But Dr. Stewart noted that such behavior is “not exclusive to males with same-sex sexual preference, nor is it considered a reliable way to categorize rams.” Mounting can also reflect social hierarchy, long term absence of ewes, or excitement during breeding season.
In this case the “gay ram” label is being applied broadly as it may include sheep with low libido, infertility, or other reproductive issues rather than simply a same-sex preference—”a trait that is not straightforward to define scientifically.”
While rams may produce slightly more fleece because of their body size, fiber quality depends on genetics, nutrition and environment. “There is no special or unique wool attribute associated with rams that would change what is already commercially available,” he said.
Since one ram can breed 30 to 100 ewes, keeping non-breeding males is economically impractical and can even create welfare issues as rams housed together can be aggressive and more difficult to manage. But in a larger industrial wool standpoint–”a small refuge population, regardless of the narrative around it, would not change global or regional wool markets,” he said.
“From a non-sensational, scientific perspective, it would be easy for substandard rams to be grouped into a marketing category like this. Dr. Stewart said. “In an era when so few people are directly connected to how their food and fiber are produced, creative marketing opportunities do exist. ”
That’s what Grindr thought too.
In mid-2024, Leytes, the marketer from Germany, reached out to Grindr, which has over 15 million users worldwide, for its global footprint and visibility in the community. The collaboration sparked what SJ Jenkins, Head of Creative Brand Initiatives at Grindr, called a “crazy and fantastic creative journey,”
Grindr executives knew the collaboration had to be big, Jenkins said, leading them to enlist powerhouse fashion designer Michael Schmidt, known for his work with Chrome Hearts and queer icons like Cher and Tina Turner. Schmidt and Suss Cousins, author of Hollywood Knits, hand-knit each piece, inspired by 37 gay archetypes including firefighters, sailors, and the rockstar.
After debuting in New York City, the fashion show quickly drew headlines and social-media attention, thrusting Rainbow Wool’s story into the spotlight.
“It was powerful to celebrate a bit of gay history, celebrate what people are into, and to do it on such a profound global stage,” Jenkins said.
Tristan Pineiro, senior vice president for brand marketing and communications of Grindr, gave an impassioned speech that opened the show last week saying “The sheep are a metaphor for members of the gay community, really often misunderstood, discarded and thought of as not worth it. I think this stands for something so much bigger.”
Grindr, under Pineiro’s direction, has been on a mission to shake off “dusty and outdated perceptions of Grindr as just a hook up app”, and Grindr x Rainbow Wool was the opportunity to make that statement, Jenkins said.
“Yes, we can hook you up with a connection, but we can also hook you up with healthcare and HIV testing kits, we can hook you up with a book club, we can hook you up with in-app content from Christina Aguilera that you can’t get anywhere else, and now we can hook you up with the opportunity to adopt a gay sheep in Germany,” Jenkins, who adopted her very own sheep named ‘Marvin Gay’ said.
Via a pop up prompt and Grindr grid takeover, users can sponsor a gay sheep at the Rainbow Wool farm. All transactions are via Rainbow Wool and status of sheep can be monitored via the Rainbow Wool website, this feature will be live in the app for one week.
Grindr will be auctioning off the 37-piece collection with the proceeds benefitting global LGBTQ+ organizations, leading up to pride in 2026.
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Victoria Salves
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