Renewable, warm, odour-resistant, non-flammable,
hypoallergenic, elastic, soft, wrinkle-free: wool is
a natural fibre with a lot going for it. Yet according to
a 2017 report by the global non-profit organisation
Textile Exchange, wool and down accounts for only
1.3 per cent of the world’s fibre production. This is
partly due to a communication problem: ‘Over the last
half a century, consumer messaging on wool has been
confusing,’ says Alberto Rossi, business development
manager of Organica, a new arm of French company
Chargeurs Luxury Materials, one of the world’s leading
suppliers of premium wool fibre. Cheap synthetic
alternatives now have a 68.3 per cent share of the
textiles market.
Increasingly savvy luxury consumers understand
the environmental cost of producing and disposing
of synthetic materials, but they are also often aware of
some of the downsides of wool production, including
animal cruelty, worker exploitation and pollution.
Which explains why, as the luxury goods groups get
serious about sustainability and look to overhaul their
manufacturing and supply chains, producers are busy
polishing their environmental credentials.
Chargeurs Luxury Materials promised a traceable
and sustainable supply chain when it launched its
Organica precious fibre last autumn. ‘Through the
development of new global standards, we want to
become the game changer of the luxury natural fibre
world,’ says Michaël Fribourg, the Chargeurs group’s
chairman and CEO. Establishing those standards
means hitting suppliers with a lengthy list of protocols,
covering animal and environmental welfare, land
management and corporate social responsibility.
This value chain begins with over 3,500 growers
across Patagonia, Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand
and the United States, many of whom Chargeurs has
worked with for generations, and some of whom will be
certified with the Organica standard. One of them is
Estancia Cerro Buenos Aires, an 11,000-hectare farm in
El Calafate, Patagonia, which produces 25-30 tonnes »EL GAPON, A SMALL SHEEP
FARM IN EL CALAFATE,
PATAGONIA. THE SOUTHERN
REGION IS ARGENTINA’S MAIN
WOOL-PRODUCING AREA,
AND IS HOME TO AROUND TEN
MILLION SHEEP, OF WHICH
75 PER CENT ARE MERINO,
PRODUCING 28,000 TONNES
OF MERINO WOOL PER YEAR∑ 123