Primary Wool Cooperative Premier Feature Sponsor at Fieldays

17 March 2011

Primary Wool Cooperative Premier Feature Sponsor at Fieldays –
Centrepiece is Wool Industry

A passionate statement about wool as a supreme natural fibre is the centrepiece of NZ National Agricultural Fieldays this year (Mystery Creek, Hamilton June 15 to 18, 2011).

Primary Wool Cooperative, a farmer owned cooperative which invests in adding value to wool, announces its Premier Feature sponsorship at NZ National Agricultural Fieldays. The Cooperative will create an exhibition in the Mystery Creek Pavilion on the premier site, showing the way the best wool from New Zealand is farmed, right through to the way carpets made from wool are sold worldwide. The exhibition will also show other uses of wool.

“We will pay homage to wool as a nation-builder and as a focus for a huge future for the farming sector in export markets,” says Bay de Lautour, Chairman of Primary Wool Cooperative. “Primary Wool Cooperative believes we are witnessing the beginnings of a major renewal of this wonderful, sustainable fibre. We want to salute that for all New Zealanders who visit NZ National Agricultural Fieldays, and raise the awareness of wool for carpets and rugs. We also want to remind farmers that they have a high value product which they need to farm carefully, to conserve its supreme quality – in order to get top prices.

“The entire value chain for wool will be laid out in our exhibition, so that visitors will understand how the simple fibre we see ends up in some of the finest garments, textiles, homes and premises in the world, and is revered for its beauty.”

The theme of the Premier Feature Sponsorship is “Breaking barriers to productivity”.

“This is particularly relevant at the moment to wool farming,” says Mr de Lautour. “Over the past two years Primary Wool Cooperative has literally broken the barrier to productivity on the farm as far as strong wool goes. At NZ National Agricultural Fieldays in 2009, in partnership with Elders Primary Wool, we launched a new, wool brand Just Shorn for the marketing of high quality carpets and rugs. The supporting marketing strategy, which links New Zealand farmers and their wool directly with the customer in the USA, has begun to sell in upmarket carpet retailers in International Design Guild stores there. It is a strategy to get the customer to respond emotionally to the quality, beauty and sustainability of this natural fibre, and to choose wool carpets.

“Just Shorn is also a major break away from the historic model of wool marketing. It gives one retailer in the USA – the upmarket International Design Guild – exclusive use of its brand Through Just Shorn, and its well-developed in-store and consumer marketing tools, Elders Primary Wool aims to sell more wool carpets at higher value, producing a better return to sheep farmers.”

Exhibitors in Primary Wool Cooperative’s exhibition space are expected to include leaders in the wool industry, Elders Primary Wool, the Campaign for Wool and members of Textiles New Zealand. Merchants, wool scourers and processors will also be invited to exhibit. They will be displaying a wide range of local wool initiatives covering all wool types.

Primary Wool Cooperative is a 36 year old, innovative farmer-owned organisation. Through its shareholding it seeks to achieve unity in the sheep industry, and through its investments it promotes increases in the value of wool. It has 50% ownership of Elders Primary Wool, the vehicle under which Just Shorn is being marketed worldwide. Elders Primary Wool also handles fine wools for clothing and textiles.

The Campaign for Wool is a worldwide initiative to revive interest in wool, and is championed by HRH Prince Charles. The Campaign for Wool expects to hold a wool week in New Zealand just prior to NZ National Agricultural Fieldays and this will conclude in its exhibition at Fieldays, as part of the Premier Feature Sponsorship opportunity created by Primary Wool Cooperative. Elders Primary Wool and its farmers pay a fee to The Campaign for Wool to participate in this worldwide wool marketing initiative.

ENDS

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