It’s all about speaking to the right people to find exactly what you want.

Wool Impact is an all-encompassing advocacy and resource hub for inspiration and information about the best natural fibre in the world. We’re setting out to solve problems with wool, and in doing so reinstate demand and value for New Zealand’s strong wool and wool growers.

Demand and value starts with the brands, influencers and innovators that design and place products in the homes, workplaces, and lives of people. Wool Impact makes it easier for these brands to use wool by furnishing them with the information and eco-system they need.

Today, what brands need is complex. Our work aims to help attract attention to the versatility of wool as the solution to the challenges we face; to connect to people’s health and environmental drivers; a proven track record of performance in use; assurances of quality of care on-farm; impacts through the life cycle – from farm to floor, furniture, foot, or face; and, connect into New Zealand’s 200 odd years of hands-on research, experience and innovation in producing the world’s finest agricultural products.

We can rightly say our wool is cleaner, greener, longer, stronger, brighter, whiter – but it’s a lot more than that. We have excellent conditions in Aotearoa New Zealand and a worldwide reputation for animal welfare, generations of breeding for quality wool and sustaining our land and beautiful environmental conditions to do that in. Happy healthy sheep produce feel-good carpet – and the rest.

Wool Impact is connecting value chains, innovation and research investment and advocacy groups. Our strong wool growers ability to keep producing this quality fibre, is contingent upon connectivity with the needs of local and global brands, and their discerning end users. We want to see strong wool growers have sound market intelligence and pricing signals that sure up their future investment in wool.

New Zealand’s Government is right behind us, investing $4.5 million through their Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund alongside like-minded sector investors such as WoolWorks, Silver Fern Farms, Alliance Group, ANZCO, AFFCO and Progressive. We’re proud to be running alongside these partners, and working in support of those individuals and brands that are creating new possibilities and value for New Zealand’s strong wool here in New Zealand and around the world.

How can we help?

Contacts

For media enquiries

Andy Caughey

andy@woolimpact.com

The head of the Wool Impact team, Andy leads the revitalisation of the wool sector by connecting and collaborating with wool businesses here in Aotearoa New Zealand, brands globally, government, our funding partners and media. Andy provides wool growers and value chain partners a line of sight to new demand and value for New Zealand’s strong wool by sharing market intelligence and the teams’ market development and sector enablement outputs.

Andy’s well placed to address the challenges of the strong wool industry, having championed the transition of New Zealand merino fibre from faceless commodity to branded, high quality component for The New Zealand Merino Company, and latterly global merino brands such as John Smedley, Ibex and Armadillo Merino. Hailing from a farm in West Otago, Andy understands that connecting growers with brands and vice versa is the key to sustainable partnerships for wool.

For brand support

Gretchen Foster

gretchen@woolimpact.com

Brands will be the influencers of demand and Gretchen is working in support of brands through insights and tools that make it easier for their customers to say “yes” to wool. A key component of this is validating wool’s natural status in a world that is increasingly regulated for environmental impact and where businesses and consumers need to know their purchase counts towards a better future; for their health and that of the environment.

Gretchen’s no stranger to this line of work having developed partnerships between brands and growers of fine and strong wools at The New Zealand Merino Company, and marketing outdoor clothing, equipment, and bedding products for Arthur Ellis’ Fairydown brand. Gretchen wants to see the daily efforts of growers rewarded with greater value, so they can continue to invest in the sustainability of their land, the welfare of their animals and the vibrancy of their rural communities.

For sector support

Ross McIsaac

ross@woolimpact.com

Ross is working across projects covering on-farm assurance and certification; training and workforce development; data; market access; and innovation. Get in contact with him about these topics and any other enquiries relating to the vital foundational services that are required to support a flourishing strong wool sector.

Ross has a background in finance and government funding and has worked across the private and public sectors in roles working directly with customers and funding partners. His time with central government was mostly spent with the Ministry for Primary Industries in their Investment Programmes team working in support of commercially focused research and development projects – Wool Impact builds on Ross’s commitment to making our primary sector successful.