Kerrie made the drive from Clareborough Station in North West Queensland to Brisbane approximately 12 times, travelling the 3600km round trip in her trusty Suburu Brumby utitility each time with some great adventures especially when it rained!!
With a great team of people from all walks of life getting involved, Kerrie Richards coordinated the “Queensland Festival of Wool” focusing on Brisbane but with many activities all over Queensland showing the importance of of all aspects of the sheep and wool industry to not only the economy but also to local communities from shearing, transport, local shops right through to manufacturing locally.
Whilst the cute cottage on Arthur Terrace in Red Hill, gave Merino Country a city presence it was really just a very small room in a house and we moved to our first shop in Paddington sharing it with some young, country blokes from out near Texas who were using recycled timber to make furntiture, mirrors & hat racks. It was called All Things Wood & Wool offering city customers a taste of the bush with natural crafts, furniture and Merino wool fashion and was located in one of Paddinton's iconic art deco buildings on Latrobe Terrace!
Opening this shop meant a move for founder of Merino Country, Kerrie Richards, from the vast open paddocks of the family sheep & cattle station in North West Queensland, to Paddington in the centre of Brisbane. Kenrick Riley, a renowned journalist of the day penned the expression From Paddock to Paddock about Kerrie & Merino Country which stuck for many years.
Merino Country celebrated the first retail shop in Paddington, Brisbane.
Kerrie was awarded a Nuffield Farming Scholarship to travel in 1998, initially travelling with other scholars looking at a variety of agricultural pursuits in Asia & Europe for six weeks followed by another three months of individual research of the Sheep & Wool industry investigating Primary Producer co-operatives, Manufacturing and Marketing of wool. Kerrie was one of the first female Nuffield scholars even though the first scholarships were awarded in 1947 and since then over 1,000 Nuffield Scholars have completed their studies and travel to make an impact on farming and food.
Whilst there were so many incredible highs for the year, Kerrie was devastated when her parents made the decision to sell their family cattle and sheep station, Clareborough Station.
Kerrie's father, Neil Richards, came up from Tasmania to work as a jackeroo for his Uncle, Colonel Harry Murray on Glenlyon Station in the 1950's, eventually working on Essex Downs with the Kelman's who are still like family. When wool was "a pound a pound", Mr Richards would go out in his spare time picking up "dead fleeces" - wool off dead sheep, and this helped him get enough money for a deposit on a half share of "Clareborough".
Kerrie's mother, Sandra, came up from Brisbane to work on Essex Downs, the next door property, as a Governess to the Kelman' girls and Neil was bowled over by this lovely, vibrant city girl. When they got married they bought out the other half of Clareborough, the start of their pastoral enterprises and the start of an amazing life long partnership, adventures, drought, flood, 5 children, community & family. So many stories and 1997 was the end of an era!
Neil & Sandra Richards successfully grazed sheep & cattle on Clareborough, 60km from Richmond, along with a number of other family stations (farms) through droughts, floods, plagues, 18% Interest rates & educating five children!! Whilst remote and with plenty of heart ache at times, with hard work and dedication, they built an enterprise from nothing and passed on their passion for agriculture & business, an incredible interest in the world and ability to lead the way - an incredible legacy for their children, grand-children and great-grand-children.
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1996 was a very busy year covering a lot of country promoting Merino wool with other passionate Merino Wool Growers to educate people about the fabulous wool products available and their amazing properties and this often meant some incredibly creative wool promotions and parades held in so many different places.
THE DROUGHT BREAKER BALL - CHARLEVILLE
One very memorable wool parade was a fundraiser organised by Trish Agar for the Olympic Games Uniforms held at the Drought Breaker Ball in Charleville, held in conjuction with the Charleville Ram Sale. Kerrie took a range of fabulous Merino products down to Charleville for the wool parade and ended up sitting next to Kay Cottee, the first woman to circumnavigate the world alone & who loves fabrics and made wool liners for her baby's nappy's many moons ago!
A consortium, The Australian Games Uniform Company, needed to raise a $1 million to clothe athletes and officials for the Atlanta Olympics and woolgrowers were donating bales of wool and supporting fundraising events around Australia.
In the meantime Kerrie was still very involved with the local wool grower group, Matilda Merino looking at the whole supply chain and the opportunities to value add to their wool clip and promoting wool products around the countryside!
NORTH QUEENSLAND FIELD DAY - Promoting of the beauty & versatility of Australian Merino with the Wool Grower Group, Matilda Merino. TOWNSVILLE 1996.
MARCUS OLDHAM SCHOLARSHIP - GEELONG
Kerrie Richards was one of six finalists contesting a Rural Leadership Scholarship at Marcus Oldham College and was was chosen as a finalist for her work within the wool and agriculture sector. Announced the winner at the Westech Field Days in Barcaldine, the opportunity to participate in the 5 day rural leadership course helped enhance Kerrie's leadership skills enabling her to further contribute to the wool agricultural industry she was so passionate about.
Whilst the Brisbane Royal Show was hosting the infamous "Wool Parades" during Ekka time, many woolgrowers wanted city people to understand how much the wool industry contributes to so many different facets of the economy all year round and to show it's so much more than just high end fashion.
As a volunteer, Kerrie with the support of the Queensland Department of Primary Industries with administration and a great team of other volunteers started coordinating in 1996 the “Queensland Festival of Wool” to be held in 1997.
THE ARTHUR TERRACE SHOWROOM - BRISBANE
Coming down to exhibit at the Brisbane Royal Show in August was great but Merino Country needed a bit more of a presence in Brisbane, so Kerrie opened the first Merino Country showroom in a small (very tiny!) front room of a traditional workers cottage on Arthur Terrace, Red Hill, not far from the city centre. It was invitation only or book an appointment when Kerrie was in the big smoke as only one or two people could fit but it did the trick!
Read Our Newspaper Clippings of 1996
]]>Smoko Time (morning or afternoon) tea while mustering. Mustering was usually an all day job starting well before dawn and finishing late in the afternoon. Kerrie and her parents Sandra & Neil Richards. Clareborough Station, Richmond, Queensland. 1995
This was the year that Kerrie started research & development of her own 100% Merino jersey fabric. A textile chemist from Melbourne, Dougal Pleasance, mentored Kerrie Richards and helped her navigate the complex world of processing raw wool through to fabric. This combined with her in-depth knowledge of the raw product, helped her to develop Merino Country's own user-friendly, lightweight, soft easy-care, 100% Merino Jersey for every day wear. This is what sets the quality of our products apart even today!
In those days we didn't have Internet or mobile phones or social media! We were still on a "Party Line" with 5 other properties. A party line was a telephone line shared by more than one user with . It was not uncommon to pick up a telephone receiver and hear a conversation already occurring. The town's news often traveled this way despite party line etiquette which dictated never listening in on another's conversation - Our phone number was 36N, one long ring followed by one short ring. When we got a Radio Digital Satellite tower it really changed the game for us... we got a "proper" phone number, 077 418 535 and a Facsimilie (Fax) machine, 077 418611
One of our first swing tags with the contact details of Clareborough Station. While bringing some sheep in for shearing Kerrie saw a ewe standing under a windmill in the distance, silhouetted against a setting sun with these vivid outback colours!
Shearing is one of the busiest times of the year with all hands on deck and long days working in extreme conditions. It's also a very social time of the year with the whole shearing team staying on farm at Clareborough Station which is 60km from Richmond in North West Queensland, working and eating together for up to 2 or 3 weeks.
Team work is essential with the family usually mustering (bringing the sheep into the yards) and drafting (putting the sheep in mobs to be shorn) and once they've been shorn treating the sheep for any animal husbandry issues before taking them back to the paddock.
Shearing is similiar to having a hair cut but with whole team to keep things moving smoothingly including
The Penner Up (often a The Shed hand or Presser): responsible for keeping the pens inside the shearing shed full of sheep, moving them from outside yards into the shearing shed into a pen ready for the shearers.
The Shearers: take a sheep from their pen and position them comfortably on their back. Most shearers can take roughly 3-4 minutes per sheep, working through about 140 sheep each per day.
Wool Handlers or Roust Abouts: As soon as the fleece has been shorn, the woolhandler gathers up the fleece and throws it across a large table. The woolhandlers skirt the fleece. Skirting removes the lower-quality edges of the fleece, which are kept separate from the main fleece wool. This can include necks and pieces, and soiled wool. The remaining fleece is rolled and given to the wool classer
The Wool Classer: The wool classer sorts the wool into five main categories — fleeces, necks, pieces, bellies and locks. Fleeces are also sorted into lines (groups) according to their micron count (fineness of the fibre)
Presser - Once classed the wool is pressed into wool packs and become a bale of wool. All the bales are sealed and marked with a brand that identifies the woolgrower, the classer and the type (breed and category) and quality of wool inside.
When shearing is over and all the wool has been pressed into bales it is then loaded onto trucks and transported off to a wool store in the city ready to be sold at a wool sale.
A local shearing team getting the wool off the sheep in the shed whilst the family usually do the work outside the shed including mustering, drafting and animal husbandry. Shearing Time at Clareborough Station, August 1995.
Kerrie with her brother, Glen at the Waltzing Matilda Centenary, Winton. 1995
In 1995 we exhibited at the Waltzing Matilda Centenary in Winton celebrating this iconic Australian song and all things from Outback Queensland! It was at the Centenary celebration that the Minister for Rural Communities saw Kerrie's Merino business and asked how he could help small businesses in the bush - with no mobile phones, social media and being so far west, she told him that these businesses needed customers in the City and plans were put in place to exhibit at the opening of the new Brisbane Convention Centre with a section called Rural Queensland on Show. This was when journalist, Kenrick Riley penned the term from PADDOCK TO PADDINGTON about Kerrie and Merino Country coming to Brisbane City from Outback Queensland!
With the massive stockpile of wool due to the oversupply of wool and decreased demand for products, many new small businesses were created in the early 1990's but the se fabulous products weren't readily available in the shops and mainly sold on the "show circuit".
Matilda Merino, a group of passionate Wool Growers, wanted to show the public what you could do with wool and where they could purchase it. They sourced Australian Made wool products and went to local Field Days & Shows in North & North West Queensland displaying and selling everything from wool doonas, scarves, teddy bears & jumpers to wool t-shirts and more.
The first POP UP Shops! In the early years Kerrie & other woolgrowers did all the local Field Days and Agricultural Shows in Western Qld which eventually led to bigger things including co-ordinating the Qld Festival of Wool, Wool Parades & Pop Up Shops at Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney & Adelaide Royal Shows and a Wool Shop in Paddington, Brisbane. From Paddock to Paddington!
Passionate woolgrowers showcasing products made from Australian Merino at local Field Days - helping themselves and their neighbours and rural communities!
Matilda Merino Wool Grower Group at the Richmond Field Days
The group went to all the local field days showcasing Australian Made Merino clothing & other wool products. One of which was a range of wool t-shirts, polo shirts & leggings made from an easy-care, machine wash Merino Jersey fabric devoloped by a scientist in Geelong, Ash Marfatia. Some of the members of the group also developed businesses making other wool products including wool doonas, sheepskin motorbike covers and seatbelt protectors. There were so many passionate woolgrowers who made this happen and it just goes to show the power of a community helping themselves and their neighbours!
The Matilda Merino Float showing off the wool processes from raw wool to spinning and the people involved including local shearers, wool growers (farmers). Main street of Richmond.
In 1994 we exhibited at the Waltzing Matilda Centenary which celebrated this iconic Australian song and all things from Outback Queensland! It was at the Centenary celebration that the Minister for Rural Communities saw Kerrie's Merino business and asked how he could help small businesses in the bush - with no mobile phones, social media and being so far west, Kerrie told him that they needed customers in the City and plans were put in place to exhibit at the opening of the new Brisbane Convention Centre the following year and we exhibited a range of Merino products for the first time at the EKKA (Brisbane Royal Show)
Waltzing Matilda Centenary - Wool Wares & Matilda Merino. Kerrie with her brother, Glen Richards. Winton, Queensland, 1994
Later that year we organised our a Tropical Wool Parade in Townsville on Melbourne Cup Day at Cluden Race course followed by a series of parades in the Flinders Street Mall. The theme for this parade was Cool Wool to help promote the wonderful cooling properties of wool clothing. We sourced all Australian made clothing - one of which was a wool t-shirt from a scientist in Geelong. We were able to display and style lightweight wool clothing to show how you can wear wool in any season. The fashion parade was styled by Kerrie Richards and was a great opportunity to educate people on the properties of wool in a fun way.
Kerrie Richards grew up on the family's sheep & cattle station, "Clareborough" , south of Richmond, half way between Townsville & Mt Isa, North West of Winton. She went to boarding school in Townsville, then on to University on the Gold Coast and when she couldn't get a job in the Big Smoke in Brisbane, went home and worked on the family farms and also went rouseabouting in the local shearing sheds before getting a job with Golden Casket in promotions and marketing.
Founder of Merino Country Australia, Kerrie Richards. Clareborough Station. 1992
Working in the city was great fun and you can take the girl out of the country but not the country out of the girl. Kerrie went home to Richmond in 1992 and set up the "Kerrie Richards Rural Business Services" providing computerised record keeping and financial management systems to local graziers and small businesses - one of the very first mobile book keeping services utilising computers (Kerrie had a Brumby Ute and would drive from Longreach up to Julia Creek to see her clients!)
Kerrie Richards (with her infamous horse, Harry), her mum Sandra Richards and the Sheep Yards, Clareborough Station.
The early 90's were pretty tough for a lot of Graziers (farmers who graze sheep or cattle) in Western Queensland with drought, low commodity prices, removal of the the floor price of wool and many young people leaving the bush.
The Queensland State Government of the day decided to help rural communities to help themselves and initiated a program called Future Search. Georgie Somerset, current Agforce president, helped initiate a whole series of these brainstorming "Future Search " workshops around Queensland and in Richmond out of a district of eight hundred people, 80 turned up for the first workshop in May 1993.
The idea was for local people to have their input on what they wanted to see in their area in the Future and to look at value adding & business opportunities. Out of this a number of working groups were formed including Tourism, Beef, Horticulture, Water, Arts & Craft and of course a Wool group.
Kerrie was the local co-ordinator working with Georgie Somerset, current President of Agforce, of the Richmond Future Search workshop and the subsequent working groups with the discussions being how to value-add products from local resources such as sheep, cattle, sandalwood, pigs, prickly acacia and kangaroos. Many of the ideas that grew from that day are now evident in Richmond today - eg. Fred Tritton Lake, Kronasaurus Korner - great example of community backing itself!!
29th May 1993. Richmond Future Search Work Shop with Eighty Passionate locals. Community backing themselves.
Whilst Kerrie initially worked with all the groups, Merino wool held her attention and the Wool Grower group, Matilda Merino was born with passionate Merino producers from Richmond, Hughenden, Julia Creek, Winton, Longreach and Blackall connecting to try and take some control of their product & promote wool locally.
At the time when wool growers sold their wool they would have to pay a compulsory 8% marketing levy on their gross sales of wool, prices were low, there was a huge stockpile of wool, you couldn't actually buy Merino wool products in the shops and as synthetics had flooded the market, there was no understanding of the qualities of wool.
As education and knowledge is powerful, Matilda Merino decided to run a two day forum and key players from the Wool Industry including wool buyers, brokers, processors, knitters, designers etc came to Richmond to share with wool growers exactly what happens on the other side of the farm gate. This included a Top Making workshop to understand the blending requirements of lots of wool in processing.
Whilst the forum was incredibly interesting the attitude from the brokers at that particular time was basically "don't you worry what happens, you don't need to know" which obviously made the wool growers resolute to find out more!
So Matilda Merino decided to have their own wool processed to follow it through the supply chain and eight growers put in 5 bales of wool each (approx. 10 tonnes of greasy wool) and sent it off to Italy to trial Kerry Packers new Non-Aqueous scouring process, it then went on to England as woven into fabric and then made into suits which were then sold in Marks & Spencers. Each grower also got back fabric and many had their own garments made up in their own wool.
Some of the members of the group also developed businesses making other wool products including Merino T-shirts, wool doonas, sheepskin motorbike covers and seatbelt protectors. There were so many passionate woolgrowers who made this happen and it just goes to show the power of a community helping themselves and their neighbours!
Out of this grew "Wool Wares Australia" later becoming Merino Country Australia. A textile chemist from Melbourne, Dougal Pleasance, became Kerrie's mentor and helped her navigate the complex world of processing wool through to fabric and Kerrie developed her own lightweight, easy-care 100% Merino Jersey for every day wear!
Based in the shearers quarters at the family sheep & cattle station, “Clareborough”, in North West Queensland, our first brand name was "Ewe Too" and eventually this and the business name morphed into MERINO COUNTRY because that's where we came from and Australia is also "The" Merino Country - growing 80% of the world's Merino wool.
In those early days we didn't have internet, mobile phones or social media and Kerrie's family were still on a Party Line with 5 other sheep & cattle properties sharing one phone line (Clareborough's phone number was 36N - One long ring and One short ring). When they got Radio Digital Satellite towers and each station got their own telephone line and phone numbers things really changed especially as the family got a fax machine - modern technology connecting to the world!!
Passionate woolgrowers showcasing products made from Australian Merino at local Field Days - helping themselves and their neighbours and rural communities!
The first POP UP Shops! In the early years of Merino Country Kerrie did all the local Field Days and Agricultural Shows in Western Qld which eventually led to bigger things including co-ordinating the Qld Festival of Wool, Wool Parades & Pop Up Shops at Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney & Adelaide Royal Shows and a Wool Shop in Paddington, Brisbane. From Paddock to Paddington!
Founder of Merino Country, Kerrie Richards, has always loved her sheep and often had poddy (orphaned) lambs that needed looking after! Clareborough Station, North West Queensland.
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.
Tune in HERE to hear the full interview
]]>Queensland wool garment maker Merino Country is rapidly repurposing its business and machines into the production of masks in order to help meet demand from the public for personal protective equipment.
Among one of its first bulk orders was Walkamin-based horticultural company, Howe Farming Enterprises, for its workforce of nearly 600.
The high temperature heat treatment that Merino Country uses to make its famous Wundies, which sets the fabric and gives it a tight fit, makes it different from any other woollen fabric, according to Ms Richards.
"I'm very conscious that we don't sell these masks under false pretences.
"They're not surgical or P2 masks so we're not making claims, but the properties of Merino wool are a natural barrier as well as being a breathable fabric and having wicking and anti-microbial qualities.
"A face mask will provide a barrier and make people aware of touching their face."
Ms Richards had prototype masks in development when coronavirus began spreading outside China, thanks to a request from Dr Dimity Dornan, the founder of Bionics Queensland.
She had a need to protect a family member from allergens and approached Merino Country for help.
"So we had already started work on the masks when this happened," Ms Richards said. "We had done a lot of experimentation, making up versions and getting people to wear them."
Kerrie Richards in the Merino Country, Brisbane based factory
As a previous supplier of thermals for Victorian police, the Australian Defence Force, Border Control and the Australian Antarctic Division, Ms Richards said her business was experienced in dealing in big quantities and delivering quickly.
The business has ceased production on its other products to concentrate on mask making, and is putting on experienced out-of-work machinists who had been employed in sports uniform production to meet demand.
James Howe said his Walkamin staff had been making makeshift masks out of Chux wipes prior to being supplied with Merino Country masks, and had been eyeing off the precious supply of P2 masks needed for chemical spray work.
"The anxiety was there, they were feeling concerned about what's ahead," he said.
His enterprise grows bananas, avocados, coffee, sugarcane, blueberries and peanuts, and while he said paddock workers didn't feel the need to wear masks all the time, they did while in transit to and from work.
Shed staff insist on wearing masks at all times.
"I had worn one of Kerrie's Merino scarves on a flight back from Japan, and her Merino masks were what came up when I googled for a supply for staff," Mr Howe said.
"They were a great find. The delivery was fast, I could buy over 500 and I'm stoked that they're Merino and supporting a great Australian company."
Mr Howe said they were having regular toolbox talks with staff and trying to keep everyone educated about what they needed to do to protect themselves from coronavirus.
"We've made it very clear these masks won't stop them getting it, and we have local supplies of ethanol on hand too," he said. "The masks are a good reminder for them of what we're dealing with."
He said they could be washed each night and reused.
"We've never had anything like this to deal with before," he said. "It's usually cyclones that get us this nervous, or Panama TR4."
Head to @qclnews website to read the full article. Read the full article here.
]]>We spoke with them about our experience and response to the Covid-19 situation and lockdown in Australia. To read the full article along with other local Australian business' responses during this period please head to the digital copy of Beyond The Bale HERE.
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Watch the full Landline segment HERE.
We had the Landline camera man, Alex, come into our factory to film our face masks being made by our machinist and we connected with Lucy over the phone for the interview.
Here are some behind the scenes photos of the filming.
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Jane Milburn's philosophy is to slow down, take stock and consider the substance, not just the style, of the clothes you choose to wear. Become conscious of your wardrobe: buy less, choose natural fibres, mend what you have, value story, love second-hand and vintage, refuse cheap fashion, avoid toxic dyes, read labels, restyle what you have, share and swap, or buy ethical brands. Jane wears a wrap made from Merino Country fabric offcuts that have been hand dyed and hand sewn
NICHE, NIMBLE and NATURAL by Jane Milburn, Textile Beat, and first published in Ruth magazine Issue 31 Winter 2020
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.
“We are people of action, and actions speak louder than words. It is not who you are, it is what you do and how you make a difference in the world,” Kerrie says.
For 27 years, Merino Country has been a small but sustainable Queensland natural-fibre clothing manufacturing business kicking big goals after being set up in 1993 as an outcome of the Future Search Program designed to develop innovative regional businesses.
Now suddenly, with abrupt and indefinite upheaval in global supply chains, all eyes are on local production and manufacture to fill basic requirements for our health and wellbeing. Essential services and simple requirements for everyday health and wellbeing are all that matters for survival in the face of this coronavirus pandemic.
Kerrie and partner Mal, and their factory team at Shailer Park just south of Brisbane, just got a whole lot busier but their routine is the same – they go to work and they go home.
A country upbringing means they are used to lockdown and being prepared for anything, as well as applying skills for problem-solving, resilience and out-of-box thinking. This is a time when preparation meets opportunity, when their online business systems and protocols are coming into their own.
Merino Country is a diversified local business that thrives on niche product development. In addition to their world-renowned wool Wundies, they produce protective clothing for employees, health products for people with special requirements, easy-care travel wear and active wear.
They’re using what they have to make things happen at this time of need, pivoting to produce Merino Country wool face masks for personal (non-medical) protection. The style of their masks took just three days from development to sample trialing before being in production the following week.
Kerrie has been working with the Queensland Government and Dr John Fraser from Prince Charles Hospital who is leading an international team of medical specialists fighting COVID-19 and has been getting fabric tested at The University of Queensland.
“Mal and I are can-do country people and we don’t see that you ‘’can’t do” something. We love it when we have a problem and work backwards to find a solution. When people come to us looking for something we don’t already offer, we say what is it you need?’’
Kerrie grew up at ‘Clareborough’ in Richmond, north Queensland, in a family which makes things and makes things happen too. They are a family of leaders in their respective fields, with brother Glen Richards, founder of Green Cross Vets, entrepreneur and mentor on Channel 10’s Shark Tank and mother Sandra Richards nearly 80 and still innovating.
“Mum makes me tired with what she does! Her recent wood plastics project is amazing and it came about by solving problems. She’s creating a new product at the same time as reducing waste from her African mahogany tree plantation and agricultural plastics on local farms. She’s chair and founder of the QPlas business based in Bowen which will produce hardwood-based composite for building, flooring, fire-resistant products and railway sleepers.
“In business, we get where we are because we actually do things. We step up and give them a go. A lot of people don’t do that because they are too afraid to fail. We look at the worst possible scenario of what can go wrong, do a risk analysis and then do it. I love that saying – some people watch what happens, some make things happen, and some just wonder what happened.”
Kerrie says more manufacturing is coming back onshore and the number of clothing businesses manufacturing locally has increased in the past two years. Wearer attitudes are shifting to a smaller wardrobe of better quality, the buy once buy well approach, which is not exploitative or wasteful.
“We are working with a fibre that we grow here in Australia and works for Australian conditions. In a bushfire, drought, flood, or virus outbreak, a wool t-shirt will get you through all those. The properties of merino are so versatile and it’s a homegrown product so we should be doing more processing here.”
Early stage processing through to yarn stage went offshore in the mid to late 90s, and Kerrie was forced to travel to Europe and Japan to find alternative factories. But now she has a long-term goal to bring it back onshore and has spent the past 18 months looking at what can be done locally.
“Although our processing is still done offshore, our knitting and dyeing is done here and we are investigating options to have mobile processing done here so farmers can shear wool and clean it on-farm using an innovative bio-cleaning process. This is a first step towards self-sufficiency in fully local manufacturing,” Kerrie said.
“The wool supply chain is long and complex, the equipment involved at each stage is expensive at big scale. We are doing niche production at a micro level, but the bio-cleaning processing could be replicable if we can make it work for our business. The next stage to look at is local spinning, then we would be fully onshore.
Although there’s very traditional thinking in wool industry and things have not changed in a long time, we have to think and do differently. We don’t have to do what’s always been done.
“We work with growers who want to have more control over their marketing and do more value-adding here in Australia, so we can be self-contained. We always looking for alternatives, different products, production methods and animal husbandry. We use all non-mulesed wool because it is ethical and in demand from conscious customers.
“Ï recently re-read my Nuffield report from 1998 about the potential for industry and individuals to value-add through provenance, where our product is from and its natural attributes. Queensland can grow wool that is naturally chemical-free, running animals in big open spaces without the problems of cold, wet weather down south. There is a marketing opportunity for Queensland product.’’
Economies of scale are the problem and bigger contracts are needed to make change happen. When contracts go offshore, supply chains can be fragile and vulnerable to interrupted availability.
“Like any small business, farming or manufacturing, you put in many hours that you never see a return on. It has taken a long time to get to where we are now and with the daily grind in the business, it is hard to get out of the business which is what you’ve got to do to innovate.”
Kerrie says one of their strategies for success is to treat big customers the same way as small customers, the same as they themselves want to be treated – responding promptly and providing quality product at a fair price.
As a community-building initiative, Kerrie makes offcuts available for artists and craft groups and with 2020 being QCWA’s Year of Sheep she can dispatch bundles of wool offcut for upcycling into creative products if branches are able to cover the postage cost.
WHY WOOL? The natural properties of wool are many: anti-microbial, easy care and quick dry, naturally elastic, locally made, machine washable, moisture wicking, 100% natural and safe, no colour, plastic free, fire retardant, recyclable and biodegradable, SPF50+ protection, thermo-regulating, can be worn all year round. Kerrie is also introducing a naturals range, made with cotton label and thread, and with the rubber elastic fully encased.
Written by Jane Milburn, Textile Beat. This article was first published in Ruth magazine Issue 31 Winter 2020
]]>Listen to Kerrie's conversation with Ian McNamara below:
Audio belongs to ABC On Australia All Over with Ian McNamara
Listen to Australia All Over segment HERE
]]>Sydney Morning Herald has done a feature on our Merino Wundies and how they are used by the Australian navy, army and air force...
]]>Sydney Morning Herald has done a feature on our Merino Wundies and how they are used by the Australian navy, army and air force.
For the full article:
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