What a year with some incredible highs! The Queensland Festival of Wool showcasing the importance of the Qld Sheep & Wool Industry, Kerrie is awarded a Nuffield Farming Scholarship, plenty of media attention followed by the end of an era with the main family sheep & cattle station being sold!
1996 was spent promoting Merino wool with other passionate Merino Wool Growers and this often meant some incredibly creative wool promotions and many miles travelled around the country including raising funds for the Olympic Games Uniforms at the Droughtbreaker Ball in Charleville, a Leadership Scholarship at Marcus Oldham College in Geelong & a wool parade in Townsville plus trips to Brisbane & beyond!
Adversity is often the mother of invention and with drought, low wool prices and the need for an off-farm income, founder of Merino Country, Kerrie Richards, jumped the farm gate to develop her own user-friendly, easy-care Merino knit fabric. From the heart of the outback in North West Queensland, vertigal intregration from the sheep's back to the end product was the answer!
The first POP UP Shops! Frustrated with the lack of wool products in the stores and with so many innovative products being made developed to utilise the oversupply of wool, Members of the wool grower group, Matilda Merino, promoted and sold a fabulous range of Australian wool products made by other small businesses...
Kerrie Richards has always had a passion for Merino wool, life on the land, the people and animals in these rural communities. Adversity is the mother of invention and it was from drought, low wool prices and an exodus of young people from the bush that Merino Country Australia was born 30 years ago & is still going strong today.
Ben Dobbin speaks with Kerrie Richards about how Merino Country turned their Merino clothing and underwear factory into making 100% Merino personal Face Masks in response to Covid-19.
Queensland Country Life recently published an article about our Face Masks and local manufacturing. Sally Gall wrote about how we turned our clothing and underwear factory into a full time Face Mask factory.
Coronavirus is a catalyst for change. The world has shrunk and supply chains are under threat at this time of global disruption. Local manufacturing is coming into its own, and being niche, nimble and natural are key ingredients for success, says Kerrie Richards from Merino Country.
