Superfine fibre promises big returns

A small Tauranga company hopes to shake up the international fashion industry with a superfine natural fibre made from the winter coat of red deer.

The fibre - thinner and smoother than cashmere - is called Cervelt.

Douglas Creek has spent the past five years mastering the collecting and processing of down fibre from the coarser outer coat of deer.

New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Bay of Plenty manager Lionel Crawley said, "I'm told that a genuine new fibre like this comes along only once in 50 years.

"They have developed a high-quality, value-added product that is creating a lot of excitement and they can place themselves at the top end of a competitive global market."

Douglas Creek is now producing commercial quantities of Cervelt and is making arrangements to supply the strong, lightweight textile to Europe's leading design houses.

Bert McGhee, a director of Douglas Creek, said clothing manufacturers were blown away when they saw samples of Cervelt.

"They were shocked at how fine it was. We are fielding a lot of interest."

This year, the company will produce 1.5 tonnes - the equivalent of 6000 sweaters or 20,000 scarves.

Cervelt fibre has a diameter of 13 microns compared with Cashmere's 15.5, and the finest Merino wool's 18 microns.

Douglas Creek is unsure what the fibre will fetch, but another 13-micron fibre from the South American vicuna, a cousin of the llama, commands US$800 ($1144) a kilogram.

- NZPA