The plight of the fibre has exercised the mind of the Federated Farmers’ meat and wool chairman in recent months but after seeing the innovation at a wool summit he helped organise he is slightly more optimistic.
Like many farmers, Anderson has unsold wool and a $2.20 a kilogram valuation provided him a stark reality check of the state of the industry but his confidence that crossbred wool has a future has increased given the range of products on show at the expo.
While the volume of wool used was relatively small, the variety of uses, from a formica-type product and pillows to garments, impressed him.
Other innovative uses for crossbred wool include footwear, insulation and tennis balls.
Despite that, there is no silver bullet for the industry’s parlous state, even though the fibre meets all consumers demands.
“It ticks all the boxes so what the hell is wrong?”
Anderson believes the sector’s problems are the culmination of multiple problems throughout the supply chain.
“There are major issues for the crossbred industry from the farmgate to retailers, so many issues all adding up to bad news.”
Poor returns lead to less clip preparation driving prices even lower, consumers are unaware of the qualities of crossbred wool and synthetic carpet makers have virtually wiped competing woollen products from stores.
“No one really wants to invest in the industry at the moment.”
He believes a solution is greater industry collaboration, something totally absent since the demise of the Wool Board.
The board’s ndustry-good functions, such as shearer and woolhandler training that went perilously close to collapsing before the industry stepped in, had also not been picked up by another entity.
He sees a role for breaking wool fibre down to its constituent parts, something Wairarapa farmer Derek Daniell agrees with, saying he does not see much of a future for strong crossbred wool in its fibre state.
Not only has strong crossbred wool lost market share to synthetics but it faces competition from new products such as bamboo.
“In the fibre market we are on a hiding to nothing,” Daniell said.
Short of finding some new, high-priced, high-volume product he believes wool’s future is in a form broken down to its constituent parts as an ingredient powder or compound to use amino acids and other elements.
He believes wool has also suffered from inaccurate attacks by radical animal welfare groups such as Peta, influencing people who are ignorant of the facts.
Daniell said public concern about microscopic beads from synthetic fabric polluting oceans has not translated into demand or improved prices for wool.
AgResearch has started investigating what senior scientist Steve Ranford said is limited data that wool fibres break down in sea water more rapidly than synthetic microfibres, therefore posing less of a risk to the marine environment.
Microfibres break loose from clothing during washing, ending up in oceans with smaller fibres ingested by marine life.
Scientists from AgResearch and Scion plan to test how samples from woollen clothing and carpets biodegrade in salt water compared to synthetic alternatives.
The scientists can then determine how these materials break down and at what rate.
“The aim is to provide the public with objective information as they make choices about what they buy as well as inform manufacturers and retailers of the performance of goods like clothing and carpet.
“There is a growing movement around the world by industry and governments towards more transparency about products and their potential impacts on the environment and having good quality research is important for this discussion.
Christchurch lifestyle fashion manufacturer Untouched World owner Peri Drysdale believes greater investment is required for research and marketing to improve the fortunes of coarse wool.
Drysdale, who has developed niche fashion from Merino and mid micron wool, said issues such as microfiber pollution are “a God-given opportunity for wool”.
It is yet another attribute in favour of woollen products, a fibre she described as the best given it is sustainable, comfortable, recyclable and compostable.
Synthetics have more money for research and marketing but wool has the better environmental story.
Drysdale said innovative products such as the Allbirds’ wool running shoe were timely given concerns about the environmental impact of the leather tanning process.
The industry needs to do better telling consumers about wools’ many attributes.
