Strong wool shoe deal a step up for NZM

wool from state-owned Landcorp farms for Danish company Glerups to make indoor shoes.

More than 90 tonnes of wool has been committed as well as nearly the same amount of mid micron wool to be made into felt shoes exported to 20 countries.

Until the deal, NZM, a wool marketing and innovation company, had worked with merino and mid micron wool.

Brakenridge said the felted shoes provided a market for strong wool and a dedicated team would explore ways to go to new markets in the same way the company found the active outdoors market.

‘‘If we wind back the clock we didn’t have an active outdoors market and now we have a strong market. We are approaching it from working with a small group of aligned growers who are buying into the strategy.’’

He said they were also looking for ‘‘crossover’’ areas where fine and strong wool might be compatible such as research on fibre attributes, sustainability and wool’s fire retardant and wellbeing benefits.

The latest initiative with strong wool would give the company more scale and greater room to invest in new apparel business, he said.

NZM is looking at strong wool branding and is likely to bring in its ZQ brand with its farm accreditation programme and farmers having to follow quality and good farming guidelines.

He said the farmers NZM would look at would have the same values of taking pride in producing wool and looking after their livestock.

The Danish felt shoes retail for about $190 in New Zealand stores and the company sells about 150,000 pairs worldwide each year.

Marketing manager Gretchen Foster said the New Zealand story needed to be backed up by highlighting farm standards, wool’s ‘‘eco validation’’ and finding creative concepts to help brands sell.

NZM has a three-year partnership with Landcorp, signed in December to manage its wool.

Landcorp wants to make a connection with markets and tailor production to the needs of wool buyers. It produces 3500 tonnes of wool a year as well as a large amount of milk, sheepmeat, beef and other livestock production from 376,942 hectares. The country’s largest farming outfit owns or manages 137 dairy, beef, sheep and deer farms, including 67 wool producing farms.