AWI announces verification of Australian Merino wool textiles
11 Oct '06
3 min read
Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) is pleased to announce Verification of Australian Merino (VAM), the new procedure to assist retailers worldwide who are interested to validate the Australian Merino content of their products.
VAM involves working with leading retailers, garment manufacturers, knitters, weavers, spinners, and topmakers, in collaboration with Australian Wool Testing Authority (AWTA), to ensure the Verification of Australian Merino project is simple, practical, yet precise.
The system utilises the fact that more than 99 percent of Australian Merino wool grown is sold with the aid of test certification provided by AWTA – where the major technical aspects of the wool sold, such as fibre diameter, are quantified.
These Test Certificates, and the unique Certificate numbers for each, allows the measured attributes of top, yarn, fabric and garments to be compared with the wool which is originally grown and sold in Australia.
The value of introducing such a system is that it enables Australian woolgrowers to differentiate their product from that of other producing countries.
This is becoming increasingly important as consumers look for quality assurances; finer, softer garments and a better understanding of the garments they are buying.
AWI has recently redoubled its efforts to ensure the marketing of Australia's Merino wool allows for this type of differentiation.
A critical element of the system is the sharing of extra information between the various commercial players in the wool processing pipeline, and provision of samples for objective comparison against original raw wool test certificates.
marketing@alchempro.com
