Online giant to stitch up wool sales

And while seemingly steeped in tradition, the global wool industry and marketing of wool products is rapidly and inexorably, being drawn into the digital age.

These were messages taken away from the International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO) annual meeting and conference in Harrogate, Yorkshire, in the United Kingdom, last month by a contingent from Ruralco Holdings.

The contingent included Ruralco executive general manager rural operations Matt Pedersen, Primaries of WA general manager Andrew Lindsay and wool technician Carl Poingdestre, wool manager at Rodwells & Co, Melbourne, Michael de Kleuver and the Calvert brothers from Roberts Ltd, Tasmania -– operations manager Robert and State wool manager Alistair.

“The theme of the conference was wool in the digital age and the message was clearly that online sales are growing at a massive rate – digital is the future and it includes wool products,” Mr Poingdestre said.

“We learned that Amazon will be the biggest seller of garments in the world by next year.

“It is massive, and for all types of garments,” he said.

“(Other) big names such as Net-A-Porter (London-based international online women’s designer fashion and accessories retailer) and Zara (a Spanish-based international online clothing and accessories retailer) have increased their online sales substantially in the past few years.

“Online shops are starting to release their own brands and to become raw materials buyers.”

Mr Poingdestre said delegates learned that even if consumers ultimately bought from a regular bricks-and-mortar clothing store, many went online first to check price, styles, colours and availability.

“Seven out of 10 store purchasers look online before visiting the store,” he said.

Mobile phones and phone apps also had an impact, he said, with 35 per cent of web purchases made from mobile phones.

While mainstream wool apparel, particularly trendy wool and wool-blend active wear and athleisure items, would increasingly sell online, Mr Poingdestre said the general opinion of the conference was that digital retailing was unlikely to have significant affect on high-end wool fashions and men’s suits where personal service was “a part of the overall shopping experience”.

“We don’t think any of that will change for the very wealthy, the full service will still be a part of the deal of buying an expensive suit,” he said.

Apart from the way many wool products will be sold, the digital age was also changing the way wool was marketed, Mr Poingdestre said.

“We were told the internet is predicted to take over from TV this year (as the main advertising platform) and the prediction is 90pc of advertising will happen on social media.

“With the digital age, they’ve (UK knitwear and wool clothing manufacturers) had a very successful marketing campaign with high profile athletes such as (road racing cyclist) Chris Froome and high-profile English soccer players promoting wool.

“They were also having a lot of success with high-profile bloggers – they call them influencers – a lot of the millennials (people born 1982-2004) out there follow the bloggers and believe anything they say.

“It’s a bit like word-of-mouth recommendation, but on steroids,” he said.

There was also a move to further promote wool’s environmental credentials as a natural, sustainable fibre with “some work” being done on recycling woollen clothing.

“The aim is to promote wearing wool as socially responsible and get away from fast fashion – people wear a synthetic shirt a few times then chuck it out and get another one.

“The industry is trying to get a message out to the millennials that you can actually help save the planet by thinking about what you wear, the type of clothing you buy.

“We have to continue to get the message out that wool is sustainable and biodegradable.”

Other trends discussed at the conference were the potential of the United States as a wool market, with strong consumer confidence and its population using only 0.01 of a kilogram per head, and a Chinese fashion fake fur made from finer wool.

While only small growth was expected in the amount of wool China purchased, India was seen as a growth market and Turkey had been a major buyer of new processing machinery last year.

“Overall, the feeling (at the conference) was quite positive about wool,” Mr Poingdestre said.

Before the three-day IWTO annual meeting and conference the Ruralco contingent visited spinners and weavers in nearby Bradford, home of the UK wool processing industry and destination for much of Australia’s wool clip in the era when the country was said to ride on the sheep’s back.

“The Bradford mills are alive and well and they do produce a beautiful product, a very nice fabric,” Mr Poingdestre said.

One of the most interesting tours, he said, was of the “mending department” of Dormeuil, a prestigious Paris-based manufacturer of luxury fabrics for bespoke men’s suits and boutique women’s fashions.

“There was a group of about eight ladies in this room and they were running the cloth over something like an architect’s board and picking out foreign fibres, or mending any broken fibres or any piling or discoloration.

“They were hand sewing it back together and fixing it – every piece of cloth.

“The mending department manager emphasised that any reduction we could achieve in the amount of contamination in the wool would be greatly appreciated.

“It reinforced for us how much work post farmgate goes into producing a piece of cloth – there’s an enormous amount of investment in machinery and people,” Mr Poingdestre said.

The Ruralco contingent also met with wool processor clients in Munich, Germany, and in Italy on the way home.

US-based Amazon in April announced it intended opening a branch in Australia in 2018 and was said to be looking for massive warehouse space in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.