How is wool grown?

Fleece-bearing animals grow the raw material for wool on their skin -- much the same way that humans grow hair.

Fleece is shorn from the animal and allowed to dry. This does not hurt the animal that sometimes show relief at being freed from the huge and very heavy winter fleece. There are other methods of collecting fleece.

For example:

Here is what Cashmere.org says how cashmere wool is collected:

"The specialty animal hair fibers are collected during molting seasons when the animals naturally shed their hairs. Goats molt during a several-week period in spring. In China and Mongolia, the down is removed by hand with a coarse comb."

Without endorsement, you can read more, below, about how wool is produced from fleece, in this case sheep fleece.