KEY POINTS:
"Oh my go-oood," groans designer Miranda Brown, when asked why she likes wool so much.
"It's got life in it, it's a protein fibre, it's animal."
Brown works largely in wool and uses the Japanese shibori dye method to create her range of textiles and apparel.
"It just soaks it up, we use all the dye out of the pot, nothing goes down the drain. So you get a depth of colour."
In garment making "no other fibre will give you that fit and that cut, it's very crisp, you can really mould it", she says.
But one of the main reasons for Brown's love affair with wool is because it's home grown and natural. She says New Zealand needs to focus on a growing demographic in the Northern Hemisphere who want to consume consciously. "They can't do anything about it, they live in New York or London, they're not a part of their food chain. How can we give them that opportunity?
"We're talking sustainable, boutiquey, high-end, high value-add, story-filled.
"You're talking to a greenie, but I think there's real economics in green,
I don't think you can separate the conversation out any more."
While Brown works mostly with fine wools she is big on seeing more local manufacturing of the fibre in
all its forms, using blends and other product developments. "We have lost a lot of our manufacturing base. If we could have some real commitment to innovation in this field, then we could build something technically really strong. There are people in place but I'm not feeling the round circle at the moment."
The "round circle" as Brown calls it is not so easy to create. The new stab and flame-resistant fabric made from strongwool, which was developed by AgResearch and launched with much fanfare at Fashion Week in September, is a case-in-point. Outdoor clothing company Line 7 has taken up the
contract to commercially manufacture products such as stab-resistant vests for police, but the trick is finding someone to knit the fabric.
Line 7's general manager of sales Paul Spicer says AgResearch has a new and expensive machine capable of making large amounts of fabric, and it will produce enough in coming months for the clothing company to make an initial commercial run of the protective garments.
But to take it to the next level - and to consider exporting - Line 7 would have to find a long-term manufacturer.
Sadly, the textile industry has been shrinking and the plant required is pricey, Spicer says. "Getting people to invest say half a million dollars in something is probably quite difficult."
Waipukurau sheep farmer Andrew Haldane has taken matters into his own hands. He has set up a business called Fieldmark to process his own wool into carpets and rugs. It's small so far, but Haldane did it "to prove it's possible", he says.
"I believe farmers need to invest in processing equipment and sell their own carpets, in a nutshell."
Fieldmark caters to interior designers and architects, and supplies customised carpets and rugs through a London showroom. It hasn't been all smooth sailing - factories that can process the wool on a commission basis and return the finished product are mostly in Asia and Eastern Europe, and "unreliability is the name of the game", Haldane says.
Theresa Gattung says Wool Partners International's plan to create a premium brand for the raw fibre, and adding value to the product before it leaves our shores, are not mutually exclusive strategies.
"The more those initiatives are successful, that's great, because it will give growers hope. Eventually these things will all be part of the same mosaic. But we've got so much wool to shift."
