Australian textile industry makes attempt to strengthen wool industry

The Australian textile industry has launched a new product which is made from wool that is eighteen-and-a-half micron or finer to give a boost to the superfine wool industry.

Traditionally, superfine wool has been reserved for the world’s best suits, but now a knitting yarn, using some of the nation’s best wool, has been developed.

The product is likely to bring a success for the 90-year-old Wangaratta Woollen Mills and give superfine wool growers, who have struggled with the declining value of their product, a new market.

Stuart Drinnan from Fibre Fine Merinos at Malmsbury in Victoria is of the opinion that superfine and ultrafine growers need to see there is a long-term future for the industry to keep producing the best quality wool.

Business Manager for Superfine Merino by Cleckheaton, Georgie Waters said that on a commercial scale it’s thought to be the world’s finest hand-knitting yarn because to the best of their knowledge, definitely not in Australia, there is no other superfine wool product like it.

Some of the first to see the product was a group travelling with Vogue Knitting, a quarterly magazine in the United States. According to Executive editor Carla Scott, it’s basic, good quality wool in wonderful colours which everyone generally loves it. For the industry, a new premium product that showcases their produce could not have come soon enough.