MARKETING wool shorn from un-mulesed Merino sheep appears to be what the customer wants. It seems to tick many boxes as an innovative wool sales platform, Peter Vandeleur says
Managing director of the Adelaide-based wool marketing company E-Wool says: “You have to have a strategy to lift prices. And you need to provide customers with consistent product, reliable volume and traceability."
The days of Australian wool growers producing wool for an unknown market are numbered, as he sees it.
“The smaller the industry gets the more highly focussed it will become," he says.
"Growers will be growing a certain category of wool aimed at a particular product group. It’s going to get more highly focussed.
“The retail end wants a stable price and, while many will scoff, under this approach we can stabilise prices.”
E-Wool is the supply chain manager for NewMerino, a direct supply system linking brands and retailers with premium quality Australian non-mulesed Merino wool.
He says the benefit of NewMerino is that it starts with what the brand or retailer wants – non-mulesed, organic, chemical free, traceability - and then it works back.
“If wool needs to get more value, then we need to add more attributes,” he says.
“We can provide organic and chemical free but what today’s customer wants is provenance - a guarantee of authenticity of the non-mulesed wool's origin – which everyone can do.”
Just five years into researching and designing the supply system, the company is achieving results, with woolgrowers from around Australia signing up to be suppliers, with a heavy showing of support from retailers - particularly North American leisure and outdoor brands – coming in.
E-Wool's supply system has achieved some important milestones, he says, with processors and spinners such as Suedwolle already lining up to be part of the new direct system.
Demand for wool from non-mulesed sheep has been bandied around in the market place resulting in many Australian producers shying away from the surgical fly strike prevention practice.
“Rather than being disconnected this gives all parties a chance to participate and come together,” Mr Vandeleur says.
Having grown up on a sheep property near Forbes, NSW, Mr Vandeleurs honed his marketing skills while with Oral B dental products in the US, before coming back to agriculture.
His 15 years with Oral B working through the ranks to heading its manufacturing and product development working closely with the marketing group in Australia gave him, he says, great exposure to the American market and the benefits that a strong relationship between marketing and operations could deliver.
“The company had such strong discipline – a goal would be set and agreed upon by the operations and marketing groups and everything would be done to achieve that result.”
“I don’t see this in wool,” he says.
Passion may have driven Mr Vandeleurs decision to work again in the wool industry, but he is under no illusions about his bottom line.
“We created ClipCare in an attempt to overcome the quality issues of wool and it was then that I realised the power of branding greasy wool,” he says
The market potential for creating traceability is relatively easy to assess - the growing consumer movement has taken care of this.
Ensuring the customer (the brand/retailer) is committed and reassured it can get a price-competitive, consistent supply of wool are bigger challenges.
“Now, behind our brand we have certifications and procedures - it’s a system with some depth as our attitude is if you are going to make product claims they must be real," he says.
"Certified NewMerino growers, or ‘Preferred Producers’ are interviewed, and we create a profile so that our customers can get to know and trust these producers.”
The supply system is based on working from the client back to the producer using a narrow field of select top makers, spinners and knitters and weavers.
NewMerino “Preferred Producers” wool is delivered and tested and Mr Vandeleur's team makes up a consignment of wool with the type specified by a particular retailer.
To date “every single” NewMerino transaction has been at some level of premium pricing.
“Even McDonalds are adding value with its rainforest coffee and Angus Burgers – times have changed,” he says.
He has expressions of interest, especially, from a number of large players in the active wear market.
“This is a market that tends to be more aware of environment, more in tune with performance of the garment and it’s a demographic that doesn’t mind spending a bit of money," he says.
"It also happens to be the market which uses that 18.5-19 micron micron – where most of non-mulesed wool is.
“It’s about building confidence in the NewMerino brand. They say they want non-mulesed wool supply, we say we can provide it and they don’t want to know anymore.
"They just want to be confident that we can deliver and the wool will be as described.”
Email a friend