The innovative Wool Comfort and Wool Handle meters, two ground-breaking machines invented by Australian scientists will accurately measure and rate the comfort, feel and handling properties of lightweight wool garments made from superfine merino wool.

The Australian-led development, funded by woolgrowers and the public purse, has proved to manufacturers that superfine merino can be as soft and comfortable to wear as its more expensive cashmere cousin.

The fabrics made from superfine merino wool are now set to change the way woolen clothes are sold and marketed around the world using the newly invented machines.

Used together, the two machines will each retail for about $25,000 to major Chinese and European textile and clothing manufacturers to provide an effective method of assuring skin comfort for con¬sumers wearing merino garments, particularly in the baby-wear and elite-athlete markets.

Even superfine woolgrowers, wool was used in prototype testing of the comfort meters in the early stages of development are excited about the extreme softness and handling qualities of their wool.

The superfine woolgrowers are gratified to know that the new technology confirms their wool to be extreme soft and have the comfort qualities. They now hope that it will translate into better prices for superfine wool.

The leading fashion and sports brands as well as wool processors and mill have already started showing keen interest in the machines. The industry-owned AWTA has been exclusively charged with commercialising, manufacturing and retailing the meters, although the intellectual property behind their development is retained by the Sheep CRC and the CSIRO.

According to Australia’s Co-operative Research Centre for Sheep Industry Innovation based at the University of New England, the technology is now set to revolutionize the production and marketing of wool garments.