Regardless of its true origins, the importance of the ability to make felt has inspired people time and time again to tell its tale.

Given the constraints and disconnect of civilizations of the era it is easy to appreciate how so many independent claims could be made, but perhaps none are as relevant as that of the Sumerian legend which asserts the secret of feltmaking was discovered by the likely fictional, Urnamman of Lagash. One noted extant example, a Bronze Age felt cap preserved at the National Museum in Copenhagen, dates the technical knowhow to at least 1500 BCE though it is thought the technique actually dates to some 6000 BCE if not earlier.

While it is true felting may have been theretofore unknown to those Saints, by their time felt had existed in disparate regions for centuries. Catholic tradition even tells the tale of Saint Clement and Saint Christopher who-while fleeing persecution- stuffed raw wool into their sandals to prevent blisters only to discover at the end of their journey the sweat and constant beating of their paces had felted the wool. Multiple cultures spanning the nomadic Mongol and Turkic peoples as well as those of Sumer lay claim to legends of the origin of felt. By standard accounts felt made from wool is considered to be the oldest known textile.

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