It will soon be possible to trace your beloved Australian Merino wool garments’ entire supply chain journey.
June 28th, 2023
Written by FibreTrace®
In a transcontinental, multi-company collaborative effort, Vietnam-based manufacturers, Fashion Enterprise and R&T Industry, have successfully guided a project to apply FibreTrace technology to Australian Merino wool, courtesy of a generous wool donation from The Woolmark Company.
“The FibreTrace® platform offers the perfect solution to tracing the textile and fashion supply chain from farm to consumers. Not only are we proud to be the first to offer this solution in Vietnam but we are very excited to offer FibreTrace® for both Australian Merino wool along with Good Earth Cotton® regenerative cotton from Australia.” – Rodney Thanh, CEO Fashion Enterprise, CEO R&T Industry, said of the successful pilot.
In addition to the 200 kilograms of Australian Merino wool fibres donated, The Woolmark Company provided vital support by sponsoring the testing undertaken by Indorama Ventures, a Woolmark-certified spinning expert based in Thailand. The sponsorship is part of The Woolmark Company’s Emerging Markets strategy, to identify and encourage new manufacturing hubs in Southeast Asia and the Indian sub-continent.
The successful result of the completed pilot puts the manufacturer on track to provide a seamless traceability solution for the entire Australian Merino wool supply chain: from Australian scouring to Chinese top-making; as well as dying, yarn-spinning and garment knitting in Vietnam.
With the successful proof of concept — and promising progress on a second phase of testing, applying the technology at the scouring stage — R&T Industry plans to launch traceable Australian Merino wool as soon as October, with the manufacturer citing Cue, Veronika Maine and Country Road among the brands interested in the groundbreaking product.
