How wool could ride the eco-friendly wave to become fashion’s next ‘It’ fabric
With rising global interest in sustainable lifestyles, Woolmark looks to present wool from its Australian producers as a versatile and modern fibre in premium fashion markets as well as fast-growing areas such as China
The fashion industry is hungry for more eco-friendly and natural fabrics. It’s a hunger the cheap, fast- fashion sector has not been able to satisfy. Now, after years when synthetic fabrics dominated production, high-quality wool is making a serious comeback.
While the food industry has its farm-to-table movement, which promotes serving locally sourced food, there’s no equivalent for fashion – not yet, at least. The conscientious customer, though, is a potential gold mine for producers of wool – which, let’s not forget, is a natural, sustainable, fire-retardant fibre that’s biodegradable, renewable and recyclable.
One company with plenty of chips in the game is The Woolmark Company, which represents Australia’s finest wool producers. It has earned kudos in high-fashion circles through marketing initiatives such as reviving the annual Woolmark Prize, whose early winners in the 1950s included Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent.
Since 2012 the International Woolmark Prize has been presented to some of fashion’s brightest talents, for whom it has served as a launchpad; among these are Belgium’s Christian Wijnants and India’s Rahul Mishra. In 2015 a menswear category was added, with New York label Public School named winner of the inaugural award.