DuPont, the 216-year-old global agricultural and industrial chemical business, and Wools of New Zealand are collaborating to develop a new, eco-friendly, wool-blend home textile yarn.
The new yarn is scheduled to be released later this year or early next, prompting a “cautiously optimistic” Wools of NZ chief executive Rosstan Mazey to predict the industry could be on the cusp of significant change.
DuPont’s involvement provided product development and marketing horsepower Mazey said has been missing from the wool industry.
Initial work is under way developing what he called a super fibre for high-end carpets, which means finding the optimum blend of wool and bio-synthetic fibres.
Other super fibre products for apparel and upholstery could follow.
DuPont also has links, distribution networks and access to retailers throughout the world on a scale not available to NZ wool exporters.
“The exciting thing for us and for our growers is that this is very much a starting point and who knows where it will end.”
Mazey said if successful, the super fibre could use significant volumes of strong crossbred wool.
“It could take on a significant portion of the strong wool clip.
“It is too early to say how much but it is exciting that it could take meaningful volumes that would lift demand for the overall clip.”
DuPont’s global segment leader John Sagrati said it will allow the creation of a sustainable, eco-friendly yarn with enduring performance.
“Bringing together world-leading source traceability and patented technology from Wools of NZ with DuPont’s global leadership in bio-sustainable, high-performance materials inspired this collaboration of expertise and products scheduled for release in 2018.”
A United States-based NZ$40 billion conglomerate, DuPont is a involved in agriculture, motor vehicles, building, electronics, energy, food and beverages, healthcare, marine, mining, packaging, printing, plastics, safety and chemicals.
NZ crossbred wool has become reliant on China, which takes more than half the clip, but in recent years demand has fallen off and so have prices.
In 2016 the Ministry for Primary Industries forecast export wool prices to hit $801 million in 2018 and $780m in 2019 and 2020.
Such has been the fall in demand and prices, in 2017 those forecasts were slashed to $510m in 2018 and $540m in 2019.
MPI also noted the gap between the prices of fine and stronger wools has widened to between four to five times, up to $19.
Mazey acknowledged the confidence of strong wool growers has plummeted on the back of eight or nine year price lows.
Work was under way in other areas to find new uses and new blends along with traceability technology so other wool could not be fraudulently mislabelled as coming from NZ.
By using wool DuPont is seeking a product that is non-flammable, natural and through Wools of New Zealand’s Glacial XT process, has improved whiteness that takes colour, Mazey said.
DuPont managers have met some Wools of NZ suppliers and Mazey said their message was they realised their products need to be more sustainable, for which wool is an option.
Natural floor coverings are a start.
While the DuPont collaboration provided a badly needed boost for the sector, there remained a school of thought that while new uses and products are being developed, the future of the crossbred clip is breaking it down to its constituent parts.
PGG Wrightson Wool manager Grant Edwards said strong crossbred wool has suffered from the twin onslaughts of being swamped by the marketing and promotional power from synthetic fibres and the need to find new uses.
The evolution of digital and social media allowed cheap, widespread promotion which was ideal for selling wool’s message of being natural, biodegradable and sustainable.
Edwards sees parallels for crossbred wool with the growth of active sportswear made from fine wool, a new product that transforms a segment of the wool industry.
New products such as insulation and tennis balls would help but he believes breaking fibre down to extracts such as protein will be part of that future.
