California Apparel News

Robert Langtry is out to change the way you think about Australian wool. For starters, it comes in green.

Things may have changed more in the ’60s than we realize. For one thing, cotton started to become the “fabric of our lives.” With the explosion of youth culture and the takeover of casual dress, entire generations grew up in denim, khakis, T-shirts and hoodies, never knowing the touch of a wool cable-knit sweater, tartan skirt or flannel trousers.

Australian Wool Innovation has begun a three-year $120 million marketing campaign aimed at showing consumers that today’s wool is not their grandpa’s old cardigan and that the fabric is natural, biodegradable and sustainable.

AWI is a nonprofit organization representing wool growers. After more than a decade of drought conditions and sagging market share, AWI Chief Marketing Officer Robert Langtry spoke with California Apparel News about how he hopes to boost the industry while changing how both consumers and fashion designers think about wool.

CAN: What was the motivation behind your new marketing campaign?RL: Over the last 10 years, Australian wool growers have had a fairly rough time. The combination of a very severe drought and a downturn in demand fueled by the cheaper cost of synthetics has put a lot of pressure on the growers. So there has been a real need for us to recapture some of the market share that wool used to have. This is a fairly vital industry for Australia, and without some growth in demand, it’s very difficult to see a long-term future for it. CAN: What is the current size of the market, and where do you want to take it?RL: We export about $4 billion in wool. We’re currently around 3.5 percent to 4 percent of the fiber used in the global apparel industry. That’s about 80 percent of the world’s wool, so if you’re wearing wool, chances are it’s Australian. We’re looking to increase global demand by about 20 million kilos over the next two to three years.

Because of the way international cost structures work, Australian wool is probably the most expensive fiber you can use, so we really need to be more in the luxury end of the market. Traditionally, wool has been very broad in its offering. I think we’re much more targeted now on the high end.

CAN: What are your core brands, and how will they be marketed on garment hang tags?RL: We have two core ingredient brands: Australian Merino is a very high specification that’s really available only to those partners we see as having the best of the best. Then there’s the Woolmark Superior Merino, which has the Woolmark certification but a slightly higher standard of quality. New hang tags will explain a number of the properties of the fiber, where it’s from, wear and care qualities, and its natural credentials. CAN: How are you tapping the green trend?RL: If you went back far enough, up until the ’60s, you could say that wool was the dominant fiber globally. The reality is that there’s a whole generation of consumers that really doesn’t know much about the fiber and doesn’t understand what modern wool is. The traditional image—that it’s hot and itchy—gets in the way of where it actually came from and the fact that it’s highly renewable. CAN: So what will your green message be to these consumers?RL: We call the platform NBS: Natural, Biodegradable and Sustainable. We’re in the final stages of completing a lifecycle analysis where we will be able to tell, from its origins on a farm straight to the end product, the impact an item has on the environment. We’ll be able to highlight for consumers the carbon impact, which for countries like the U.K. and Germany is becoming one of the dimensions of information consumers are looking for.

Wool is essentially made from the same chemical composites that human hair is made from. In a landfill, it breaks down very quickly. As for sustainable, essentially wool is comparable to giving a sheep a haircut once a year, so it’s pretty renewable. CAN: How does the weather affect the quality of wool?RL: If we have a very dry season, you can understand the logic that the wool would be a little finer, while in a wet season a little coarser. It’s a combination of water and nutrients. If you’re not living fat off the land, the chances are your hair will be a little bit thinner. There has also been selective breeding for 200 years that’s geared to producing a finer and more consistent fiber. And, over the past 10 years, we’ve got it down to an art. CAN: Tell us about the washable suit you developed with a Japanese company. RL: We have a partner called Kanaka, and they worked with us to create a number of finishes combined with an engineered approach to men’s suits. The suit essentially retains its shape, repels stains, releases dirt and dries very quickly. It’s targeted to Japanese consumers in an urban environment who may miss their commute and have to stay in one of those capsule hotels. You get all the wear characteristics of wool, but the benefit of being able to keep it fresh means you can avoid the cost and chemicals in dry cleaning. CAN: Isn’t dry cleaning a concern for the hardcore eco consumer who only wants garments that can be washed?RL: Absolutely. We’re really after giving consumers maximum flexibility for what they want, so for those that are concerned with dry cleaning, this will be a very viable alternative. There is a sector that thinks wool requires a higher level of care, but that’s a bit of a misconception. The reality, with wool that’s treated with Easy Care, you can [machine wash and tumble dry the fabric]. CAN: What are other misconceptions about wool, and how are you addressing them?RL: The most common are that it’s old-fashioned, hot and scratchy, only suitable for a cold environment, and that it doesn’t breathe. Number one, the fabrics produced from wool [now] are much lighter and trans-seasonal. The product itself is becoming more adapted to contemporary use. Typically, if you’re in New York, you’re in and out of air-conditioned and central-heated buildings, so the need for heavy wool suits has changed, and we need to adapt to lighter materials. CAN: How simpatico are Australia and California?RL: California has a lot of values that are very similar to Australian values. You appreciate the need for environmental concerns, the need for fashion to reflect a certain lifestyle. We very much identify with California consumers, and, increasingly, I think you’ll see that the work we do suits a California consumer.

Also, when it comes to streetwear and activewear, California is one of the world’s homes for developing style and fashion. So we’re looking to how we can adapt our fiber to fit that California design focus. Traditionally, you wouldn’t see wool used in street fashion, so we’re talking to West Coast designers about this great fiber so, hopefully, they will think of us as an alternative to the fabrics they use.

The U.S. is a very important market, and it’s one where I believe we’ve lost ground over the last 10 years. So we’re really creating programs to try and make up that ground.