A FINE YARN
Learn what motivated Pip Smith to establish Lovemerino, the winner of our Top 30 Award for Fashion, while the owners of Eva’s Sunday share tips on starting a fashion label in regional Australia.
WHEN PIP SMITH BOXES UP one of Lovemerino’s fine woollen garments, she tucks in its certificate of authenticity along with a tiny envelope holding a lock of raw fleece. The fleece provides the instant tactile connection between the unique luxurious item and the origins of every ethical fibre of wool that went into its making. Yet for Pip and her husband Norman, fourth-generation farmers on their 2800-hectare Merino property Glenwood in Wellington, NSW, it also tells the story of their 20-year journey of regenerative and ethical farming — the fruition of a dream to trace their wool from flock back to beautiful finished fabric. “When we used to shear, our wool went to auction. When we’d get the call that our wool was being sold we’d go down to watch it being sold, and that was that. We never saw it again,” says Pip. “We always thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be lovely to see where our wool ended up?’” In 2016, Pip took the plunge and started Lovemerino, a collection of limited-edition scarves made in Australia from pure Glenwood Merino wool. In good seasons, Glenwood can carry up to 14,000 sheep, producing 200 bales of wool, but due to drought, they have destocked to around 3000 sheep. The wool is processed offshore, with the spun yarn from around 20 bales sent back to Lovemerino for its seasonal collections, which now include scarves, ‘pashminos’, throws, baby wraps, neck warmers that become beanies and shrugs, each traditionally hand-dyed by Sydney boutique design house Shibori. “It’s very rewarding to hold the finished product and think, ‘Wow, this is our Merino wool’, and it’s been a great learning curve for me to understand the whole process of the wool, right from the soil and grass on Glenwood,” Pip says. She and Norman have five children and already, some of this fifth generation of Smiths are showing signs of wanting to become involved in the family farm. Chloe, 22, studies fashion design in Melbourne, while Amber, 21, is an animal science student who hopes to specialise in sheep genetics. Of the 19-year-old twins, Maggie is doing nursing while William is spending a gap year shepherding in the hills of Wanaka on the South Island of New Zealand. “William wants to do agriculture business and come back to the farm to be a grazier like his dad,” Pip says. Twelve-year-old Daisy is in year 6 at school. Norman’s brother Ian, who works in regional development, is also involved, doing Lovemerino’s marketing and social media. Pip herself grew up on a mixed farm some 20 kilometres from where Norman lived at Glenwood. Pip’s grandmother was governess to Norman’s father and siblings, and their two families remained close friends. “Norman and I have known each other all our lives; we went out as teenagers and it’s a very close connection between us,” says Pip. It was after they married in 1996 and started assisting in the running of the farm with Norm’s parents that they realised they couldn’t sustain the rising costs of hired help, machinery and inputs, and they looked for an alternative system. “Then in 1998, we had a terrible drought. We lost a lot of lambs trying to get them off the mothers so the mothers would survive, and we didn’t want to go through that again,” she says. “We did a course in holistic management based on the theory of Allan Savory [Zimbabwean ecologist, livestock farmer and co-founder of the Savory Institute], and it really rang a bell with us. It gave us the opportunity to decrease our costs, and holistically manage the land, the water cycle and the animals. Doing the course also made me think, ‘Why don’t we just get our share of the wool and do our own thing?’” Glenwood sheep are pasture fed and moved from paddock to paddock every three to five days. Each paddock is rested for 120 days before the stock return. Twenty-plus years of monitoring native grasses, some thought to have been extinct in the area, has revealed regeneration has increased from around six to over 70 different species. “Norman is always monitoring what’s ahead of him and what he’s leaving behind when he moves the flock, and what will be there in three months’ time,” Pip explains. “If he feels like there’s not going to be rain events, then there’s not going to be a lot of feed, and that’s when we start destocking. The idea is to look after the ground cover so you’re catching every drop that falls, and not overstocking and creating bare ground.” In 2005, Glenwood ceased mulesing (a surgical procedure to protect against flystrike) when they changed to soft rolling skin genetics or SRS, developed by the late CSIRO researcher Dr Jim Watts. An SRS ‘plain body’ sheep has less skin folds than a traditional Merino with more area for wool to grow. “The company in China that processes our wool loves it, and we get a premium price for it,” says Pip. “I think Norman is a bit ahead of his time. He believes in genetics and is in the process of forming a committee to keep Dr Jim’s work going. And the love and passion he has, not only for the land but the sheep and wool, makes me feel lucky to be married to someone who loves what he does when he gets up in the morning.” Recognition as winner of Country Style’s inaugural 30th anniversary award in the fashion category is further confirmation that they’re on the right track, she says. “We have the softest, most exquisite beautiful products made from the best SRS Australian Merino. I feel very proud to be able to set an example to our five children that hard work and being passionate about what you do leads to success. We are using the best Merino wool we can produce. And that’s our point of difference and our story.” Lovemerino products are available to buy online and at selected outlets, with the 2019 collection now live (turn to page 16 to see an example). For more information, visit lovemerino.com.au or follow @lovemerino on Instagram.
“It’s very rewarding to hold the finished product and think, ‘Wow, this is our Merino wool’.”