Wool is in the fight of its life, up against an avalanche of plastic in the form of clothing, bedding, home insulation and carpet. Jane Phare talks to Kiwis, including Kiwi actor Sir Sam Neill and fashion designer Liz Mitchell, about why they’re in wool’s corner.
They’re a zealous lot, the wool brigade. They’re determined to win over generations raised on polyester, acrylic and nylon; determined to point out to those eco-conscious youngsters wearing a garment made from recycled plastic that it’s still plastic.
“Nasty stuff,” says beloved actor Sir Sam Neill of “fast fashion”. He goes further in his social media reels, calling it “plastic and polyester crap”, and telling his million followers on Instagram and TikTok to get real, buy wool.
In one of his unscripted and, at times, meandering reels Neill wears his favourite red wool jacket, a 75-year-old vintage number he describes as “really cosy“ on a chilly day.
“Now if you’d bought something cheap and nasty and polyester 75 years ago it wouldn’t exist now.”
He says his wool jacket gets better with age, will still be going strong in 200 years and is “kinda cool”.
“If this gets wet, it stays warm,” he adds.
Veteran fashion designer and artist Liz Mitchell is similarly dismissive of synthetics, saying they do nothing more than contribute to landfill.
An estimated 180,000 tonnes of clothing goes into landfill each year. As far as she’s concerned, where there’s wool, there’s a way.
Neill and Mitchell are among the big guns the Campaign for Wool has gathered in its arsenal – King Charles is its patron – to make Kiwis think twice before buying synthetics.
If they had their way, they’d push polyester duvets off the bed in favour of wool blankets, replace synthetic “hoodies” with wool jackets and insulate homes with material off a sheep’s back.
And then there’s millions of dollars worth of wool carpet. It was lobby groups like Campaign for Wool and the farmer-owned Wools of New Zealand that caused Kāinga Ora to backtrack on its plan to cut wool carpet out of its tender process.
The state-housing provider faced a backlash from the industry and the Government last year when it released tender documents for 80,000 metres of carpet to be used in 5600 homes it plans to renovate or build over the next two years.
The wool industry was enraged to discover it had been specifically excluded. Federated Farmers called Kāinga Ora’s stance “a total slap in the face” for struggling Kiwi farmers.
Neill was similarly aghast, telling the Herald this week he was “appalled” to learn Kāinga Ora had excluded wool carpet.
“I was very relieved to hear that they changed their mind. We should all turn our backs on polyester and acrylic and stick with what we do best.”
Durability and price were the reasons offered up by Kāinga Ora’s chief executive Matt Crockett to explain why the agency uses nylon carpets.
Give wool a chance, the wool industry and carpet manufacturers say in response. They argue there are inherent advantages in using wool and that they can be price competitive.
That tender, due tomorrow, is top of mind for Greg Smith, chief executive of wool carpet manufacturer Bremworth. Knowing that price is a key consideration for Kāinga Ora, he says Bremworth will put forward a wool product that fits the requirements and the budget.
“We are wanting to get as close to the synthetic price as possible. If there is a price difference it will be under 10%.”
The advantages of wool are inherent, Smith says: “It’s renewable, so we don’t need to mine for oil to get this product. It’s sheared off the sheep every year so the fibre factory works 24 hours a day, seven days a week and it grows this amazing product.”
Wools of New Zealand, owned by 2100 sheep farmers, will also tender for the Kāinga Ora contract. However, chief executive John McWhirter says the turnaround of around four weeks is tight given that stringent laboratory test results need to be included.
Wools of New Zealand, which sells wool on behalf of 3500 farmers, entered the wool carpet market in 2021 as a way of growing the sector. Back then the price of wool had slumped to below $2 a kilo as a result of a global oversupply.
McWhirter says there are encouraging signs. Sales of wool carpet have grown by 25% in New Zealand since 2021. And wool prices are now sitting at $3.50 a kilo and heading in the right direction due to global demand. A price of $5 would be profitable, he says, $8 a kilo highly profitable.
Wool ambassador Neill sympathises with major sheep farmers. The actor keeps a small flock of black-faced Suffolk sheep on his Otago farm and says he’s lucky to cover his costs after shearing.
“This is ridiculous and many farmers with sheep are doing it tough.”
Last year New Zealand’s wool export revenue was $448 million, mainly “strong” wool used for carpet and rugs sent to markets like China and India. The wool industry wants to see that figure grow – to take advantage of an $18 billion global market – by spreading the word about the benefits of wool.
And New Zealand has plenty of it. Currently the country’s 23 million sheep produce 100 million kilos of wool, or 600,000 bales, 90% of which is the coarser “strong” wool used for carpets and rugs.
The wool industry agrees that if Kāinga Ora chooses wool carpet, no matter who gets the contract, it will be a win-win for the sector.
“The whole tide rises,” McWhirter says.
Such a decision gives the product credibility with consumers and developers in terms of durability, Smith says. He points out that, before synthetic carpet came on the scene, wool was used in state housing from the 1950s, proving it has a track record.
The 80,000-metre order is not only a significant contract from a manufacturing perspective but, if wool wins out, one that will have a compounding social benefit.
Better wool prices mean farmers won’t sell up, sparing regional towns and centres reliant on farming from the harsh economic impact that would have, Smith says.
Campaign for Wool’s general manager Kara Biggs knows that turning around generations of Kiwis who have been raised on synthetics since artificial fibres began making inroads in the 1960s won’t be easy.
Her industry is up against often considerably cheaper clothing and bedding that can be thrown in the washing machine, and easily replaced at the next sale at Briscoes, the Warehouse or Kmart. Even microfibre cleaning cloths dominate the sink bench ahead of natural materials.
But, she says, the tide is slowly turning. Messages over the years from synthetic providers told consumers, “we can do all of that great stuff that wool can do but heaps cheaper”, she says.
“The thing is synthetics can’t do all of that great stuff but they had an amazing marketing campaign.”
Biggs pulls no punches. Take the synthetic duvet bought cheaply at a mega store, for instance, she says.
“The only reason it keeps you warm is because it doesn’t breathe. You get hotter and hotter inside it and then you basically sweat.”
The same applies to a “plastic” mattress protector, she says. Use an old wool blanket instead, she says. It’ll absorb moisture, keep you cool in summer, warm in winter and won’t smell.
She’s delighted by Kāinga Ora’s backdown, saying strong advocacy for the sector is part of the campaign’s strategy to make wool “great again”.
Smith agrees that over the past two decades, since synthetic carpet got its grip on consumers and developers, wool “drifted out of the consciousness” of the market.
“You had this cheap product that had this durability that was comparable. It wasn’t a natural product but it was cheap.”
McWhirter says some of the blame for wool’s demise lies at the feet of the industry itself. Some wool manufacturers took on plastic yarns, and were not talking loudly enough about the benefits of wool.
Wools of New Zealand has taken a “warmer, safer, healthier” stance, emphasising the warmth of wool carpet, its ability to absorb dust and moisture, and the fact that it is a natural fire-retardant.
“If you drop a cigarette on wool carpet it will go out,” McWhirter says.
Neill, too, is doing his bit to spread the word. He farms his Central Otago vineyards organically, using the sheep as “lawnmowers” to eat the weeds between the grapevines, and laying their wool as weed mats on the farm.
In one of his posts, he describes wool as one of the most useful materials on Earth and tells his sheep they are good for the planet.
“The thing to remind yourself,” he tells his social media followers, “is all this polyester and plastic crap that we’re making, it’s cheap and nasty and pollutes the planet.” Wool, he adds, after generations of being passed down, will eventually biodegrade.
It’s a message that has been viewed more than five million times, testament to Neill’s pulling power.
He’s currently home in New Zealand after months spent filming Netflix series Untamed, set in Yellowstone National Park in the US, and season three of The Twelve, in which he plays barrister Brett Colby in an Australian courtroom drama.
Now in remission after being diagnosed with a blood cancer, Neill says the mixture of acting and coming home to the farm, the vines and his animals makes for a “fortunate life”.
Wool has always been part of that life, he says, describing it as a “vastly under-rated and underutilised” material with a multitude of uses.
“I despise fast fashion, nasty stuff that is made to throw away. And since most of it is synthetic, based on plastics, it is contributing to the ruin of the planet.”
For her part, Mitchell can’t understand a world obsessed with “plastic” and “petroleum-generated” microfibres. Why aren’t they obsessed with this “miracle material” called wool. Why would anyone let a baby crawl around on a synthetic carpet, she wants to know.
Mitchell admits to being a little obsessed about the subject. What’s not to like about it, she asks. It’s regenerative, recyclable, non-allergenic, temperature regulating, sound and moisture-absorbing, flame-resistant, durable and biodegradable.
She wants to see it back in wardrobes, on beds, on furniture and walls, and in architectural spaces. Mitchell’s Auckland studio is a mixture of bespoke fashion garments, including a “sustainable” wedding dress made from fine cream wool with wool felt embroidery, and an eclectic display of all things made from wool – handbags, throws, scarves, rugs, wool hangings, ornamental flowers and chair covers.
Scattered throughout the studio are dressmaker dummies modelling beautifully tailored skirts, dresses, coats and jackets, some of them made from wool fabric produced by Inter-Weave in Auckland, New Zealand’s last commercial wool weaving company, which is now filling both local and international orders.
Mitchell is doing her bit – using wool in her clothing and setting up the Wool Revolution Studio, a natural-fibre textile hub that runs classes in skills like felting and making rugs on peg looms.
And, thanks to a grant from the Auckland Airport Community Trust, she’s running workshops in Māngere and Ōtāhuhu, teaching about wool and textile upcycling. She wants to run similar workshops in West Auckland.
“We’ve got this amazing fibre from our 23 million sheep. We do need to be thinking more about what can we do with this resource.”
Mitchell rejects terms like synthetic. “I just call it out. It’s plastic, you’re wearing plastic. Does that make you feel good?”
Neil has a final message: “I just hope that people change their mind about these things and remember that quality is better than quantity. It rained yesterday incidentally but my wool jacket kept me warm. In polyester I would have frozen.”
Jane Phare is a senior Auckland-based business, features and investigations journalist, former assistant editor of NZ Herald and former editor of the Weekend Herald and Viva.
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