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Source: NZPA / R Tucker -
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Some carpets made with New Zealand wool will be launched at the big Surfaces Trade Fair in Las Vegas in February with a new "fibre integrity brand", Laneve.
The Laneve mark will be used by manufacturers working with Wools of New Zealand to show compliance with specific standards on farming practice, animal welfare, sustainability, traceability and the environment.
Wool Partners International, which owns both the Laneve mark and Wools of New Zealand, said on Thursday the label will provide carpet customers in global markets with assurance on the origins of the wool used in their manufacture.
It was unveiled on Thursday at the announcement of supply agreements with two carpetmakers, Glen Eden Wool and Bellbridge, who will use the label.
Wool Partners chairwoman Theresa Gattung announced last year the label would not be specific to New Zealand to allow for the possibility that overseas wool will have to be imported to meet customer demand.
She said consultant Brian Richards had been involved in designing the brand around cocooning a person from the troubles of the world. Gattung promised that though it wasn't in the name, New Zealand would "resonate" in the brand.
The launch effectively downgrades the Fernmark brand - created at huge cost to the now-defunct Wool Board - to the role of a quality mark. Fernmark was itself established after marketers complained the Australian-owned Woolmark was only a quality assurance label.
Wool Partners chief executive Iain Abercrombie said the company is negotiating with several other carpet manufacturers interested in similar agreements, which will be announced as they are completed.
Abercrombie said Laneve will become a key element in the branding and marketing by the carpet-makers, supported by promotional and technical services from Wools of New Zealand.
"The combined programme will raise awareness of the unique attributes of New Zealand strong wool," he said. Over time, this would generate a price premium.
Intended to be 50% owned by farmer-controlled Wool Grower Holdings, Wool Partners bought PGG Wrightson's strong wool business for $37.5 million, and Allied Farmers Wool, in a bid to consolidate the New Zealand strong wools clip.
The Companies Office website today showed 27.5 million shares in Wool Partners are owned by PGG Wrightson, and 10 million by Wool Growers.
Glen Eden president Stewart Hay said he was delighted to help build on demand for wool as a sustainable, high-quality raw material.
"Consumer preference for wool will grow substantially, along with the world-wide trend towards sustainable and ethical products," he said. Glen Eden is a high-end carpet manufacturer and marketer based in Georgia with distribution across the US and in Europe, and was an early-adopter when the Fernmark was launched last decade.
Glen Eden will buy its wool from a group of 20 farms on Banks Peninsula, the Southern Bays Farm Discussion Group. A spokesman for the farmers, Chris Chamberlain, said the group had pooled its combined wool clip under a strict quality assurance programme to establish a link with a top end user, to supply high quality wool, and market a niche fibre linked with a unique Banks Peninsula story.
The wool will be scoured by Kaputone Wool Scour in Christchurch and spun by Christchurch Carpet Yarns before export.
The president of Bellbridge, Bruce Bell, said the Laneve brand will help customers recognise high standards of product quality and integrity.
