Hoping the acquisition of Victorian knitwear manufacturer Hysport will enable it to pay premiums to wool growers, the Australian Wool Network (AWN) wants to create consumer demand for wool under an ‘Australian Made’ logo, accessing the world’s second fastest growing retail sector. AWN managing director John Colley said that the development will give AWN’s wool growers a new platform to trade wool and provide a channel for feedback from retail. Hysport’s pure wool and wool blend Merinosnug and Emaroo products are marketed directly to overseas tourists through the world’s largest airport retailer Lagardere, Colley said.

Lagardere also owns the airport retail outlets, Purely Merino, Purely Australian and Australian Made. AWN is the largest supplier of woolen goods to Lagardere and they would like to see the Purely Merino brand go worldwide to all of their airports in the 25 countries that they operate in, Colley said.

Australian Pastoral Investments shareholders, Colley and his partner, AWN chairman and Yass wool grower Brendon Lunney, own AWN which was established in 1999. It ranks as Australia’s third largest wool broker, marketing more than 235,000 bales of wool a year for over 5,000 growers. The acquisition will allow AWN to move from brokerage services to vertically integrated wool marketing throughout the pipeline.

The AWN spent years investigating the ways to add value to wool growing businesses and proactively drive demand for client’s wool. Hysport has been buying mainly 17-24 micron wool and its future product lines would continue to be structured around Merino types, though there are plans to extend the company’s wool usage at the finer end, Colley added.

As per Rod Murray, CEO, Hysport, the factory ranked among the two largest knitwear manufacturers in Australia and used seamless technology. The alliance with AWN has enabled Hysport to attend its first wool auction.