China is Australia's single biggest buyer of wool, the largest single apparel market and the world's biggest apparel manufacturer and exporter – they are the apparel powerhouse of the world so it is an important market for Australian Merino wool. Examples of AWI business partnerships include a menswear manufacturer in China, a knitter and spinner in Hong Kong, a sportswear manufacturer and retailer in China, and a suit manufacturer in Japan.
In December Heilan, China's third largest manufacturer of mens suits, will launch a machine washable wool blend suit with knowledge, technology and point-of-sale marketing support from AWI. The target is to sell 100,000 suits a year, using 50 million kilograms of wool that otherwise wouldn't have been used.
Novetex, a Hong Kong based knitter and spinner, is partnering with AWI to develop yarn that's brighter and softer. This will be used for ladies' knitwear by the end of the year, using around 1.5 million kilograms of wool expected to go into those garments each year.
In Japan, AWI is working with manufacturer Nikke Japan and retailer Aoyama to develop a 'cool business suit using new spinning and weaving technology that incorporates ceramic filaments in the yarn that keep the fabric cool to touch.
He included that another very exciting partnership is with manufactuers Haitian in China, where they are commercialising Merino Fleece.
This fabric was initially developed as 20 percent wool, 80 percent polyester blend with The Woolmark Company, but with Haitian they have developed a 50 percent wool MerinoFleece fabric and gained some cost efficiencies in the processing. They are now working with Lining, the biggest sports brand in China, bigger than Adidas and Nike, and MerinoFleece products will be selling in their stores by the end of the year.
Australian Wool Innovation Limited (AWI) is a research and development organization that works with woolgrowers, researchers, processors and manufacturers. AWI's activities are financed from Federal budget allocations and wool industry levies. The Federal core allocation to AWI in 2003-2004 is around $14 million.
Australian Wool Innovation Limited
marketing@alchempro.com
