Ep.100: The global wool supply chain

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Ep.100: The global wool supply chain

The Textile Innovation Podcast speaks to Jeannette Cook, communications manager at the International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO), about the global wool supply chain and the main challenges it currently faces.

WTiN: Hi Jeanette, thank you for joining me on the WTiN podcast today. Please, could you give me an overview of the International Wool Textile Organisation and what it works on?

Cook: Sure. And I'll say thank you. Thank you, Abi, for having me and IWTO on the podcast today, it's really a pleasure to be here with you and your listeners. So the IWTO the international world textile organisation, we represent the interests of the global world trade, and that is wool from sheep to the shop. IWTO members are growers, grower organisations, will processors, traders, spinners of yarn Weaver's and retailers. And we have members around the world, about 36 members now in 26 countries. And what we do is, as a membership organisation, we are here for our members. So we connect our members at events twice a year, we do research together, we decide what kind of research we want to do, and then facilitate that. And from that research, we publish facts about wool and the world trade. We maintain the global world testing and trading standards. And that's how gold is traded around the world. And we represent wills interests in global forums like the UN's World Organisation for Animal Health.

WTiN: Can you give me some information on your background? And what led you to IW to

Cook: Well, I always like to wool, and I liked natural fibres. I come from a place in North America where you wear wool in the wintertime and a new change when it gets very hot, and you wear linen and cotton in the summer. And when I first came to IWTO, about 12 years ago, they were struggling to make a jump from mostly traditional and print communication methods. Because that IWTO has been around for a very, very long time, we have a seller full of paperwork that goes back to 1930. So they needed to jump really into the digital world. And I found this very interesting challenge. So that's what brought me to WTO.

WTiN: And what does an IWTO membership entail?

Cook: Well, you can we have different about three different types of membership. So first of all, it's important to understand that individuals are we don't have individual memberships. Individuals can be members, but their members through another organisation, so our members, our organisations. So number one, you can be a national member. So those are wool organisations, they represent the wool industry in a country like the UK, British wool is our member, for example. We also have associate members and these are wool businesses, which are members in their own right. So for example, the Australian wool innovation, the company that owns the Woolmark. That's one of our associate members, and they also belong to a national committee in Australia. And then we have some universities, and we'll Education members, and that's the third tier.

WTiN: Great and going off this, what areas of research and education is the organisation currently working on? And what is the aim?

Cook: I think the most major area we have right now is sustainability. So at the moment, we have two studies going on, and looking at contemporary world production, it looking at both of these studies are are based in Australia. And that's because about 80% of the world's merino wool that is used for clothing and stuff that is made that is grown in Australia. So one study looks long term at nine Australian farms and assesses will excuse me soil, biodiversity and landscape health. And another looks at Greenhouse grass trend greenhouse gas trends. And again, this is in Australia. And it's just really important to have hard data, especially for the soil, landscape and biodiversity. This is new for a lot of there's a new issue. People are very interested in it, but there's not a lot of data at the moment. So we're very, very busy finding this data and collecting it. And what's the aim I have all of this, well, everything is data driven now. So we have to have really solid evidence, solid science to support that. And then we bring that information to people who are going to use it. And we always publish our research and revert your peer reviewed journals. And we make that open source so that people can and find it and use it.

WTiN: And how long has sustainability been a top priority for IWTO? And what initiatives have you already put in place? Aside from the education and the reports you've just spoken about?

Cook: Yeah, so we started working on sustainability, I would say maybe 14 years ago, 1314 years ago, there, back then there was an organisation, and it no longer exist. And I put out a fibre comparison, it was one of the first comparisons of fibres, and they've ranked these fibres on a grade from A to E, on sustainability. And wool got a D. And this was very shocking to the wool community will industry because we pride ourselves on being a natural fibre. And the entity wasn't open with us about how they arrived at that scoring. So we said we're going to, we're going to have to do this for myself. And so we started our little journey of sustainability there. And we established a working group and IWTO and a technical advisory group to direct the research and prioritise the research. And that that is the start of what we've been doing with sustainability. And we have covered a lot of ground we have solid evidence and back, we have solid evidence now about biodegradability, for example, out about how you can allocate if you're on a sheep farm, if you're on a sheep farm that is producing wool and milk and meat, how can you allocate the impacts to each product. And probably one of the most major achievements was about two years ago, we finally finished seven years of work and published a wool LC a full wall LCA. And this is the first one that had ever been done. And it this particular lifecycle assessment analyses the life of a 300 gramme wool sweater, made of Australian wool, processed in China sold in the European Union. And that's a very typical pathway for a garment of wool. And the main finding there was that the number of times you wear a garment, that's the most influential number and determining its environmental impact. This is the key to sustainability for clothing, how many times you wear something. And in terms of initiatives that we put into place? Well, Ark, the concept that we have at IWTO is to empower our members. So the members create initiatives in their own countries or in their own businesses. And in the first instance, they help identify through our working groups and committees, they identify the gaps in the research or the need, and then we bring things together we facilitate we get a result and then the members use the results and support their own campaigns. So a really good example is British wool. Very recently, they just launched a 100% traceable wool programme. And this means that purchasers of certain products with British wool in them can understand fully where that will comes from. The British wool people tell me that just for the launch of this new programme, about half of all of British rolls, wool is going to be involved. And it it's it these products are in their bedding products. So there's a Devin do vase. They supply 100% British wool bedding and a mattress manufacturer called Harrison Spinks, they provide luxury natural mattresses. There, these are two brands involved in that particular programme.

WTiN: How are the way animals are looked after important in terms of animal rights and the quality of product?

Cook: So where maybe in the past maybe 50 years ago, many things would happen in one country. Now the wool is, you know, sent all over the world. So first of all, you have the wool being grown on sheep on farms, and most of wool, most of the wool that you would see in, in your clothing, for example, would be grown in the southern hemisphere is a very, very fine wool is able to be grown there, because of the conditions and the environment. The and then of course, there's wool grown in the northern hemisphere, too, that can be used in garments, it can be used in codes, and it can also be used in things like carpets and bedding. So, somewhere along the line there, there are shapes and they are grown, and the world grows and then the fleece is collected and from there, the fleece has to be cleaned. So it has to be we call it scouring and it comes out it's all nice and clean. Now all the mud from the farm is gone. And then it has it starts its little journey to be either become a worsted product or a woollen product. And depending on where it's gonna go, it goes through a carting process or a combing process. And in both cases, this is to make the fibres long and uniform. So they can be spun into yarn, or spawn, and they become yarn. And then they're either knitted on machines now, or they're woven, and of course, some fabric some, excuse me, some yarn goes into being hand yarn, hand knitting yarn, so it's, it stays as yarn, it's putting little balls and you get it when you knit. But if it's going to be put into a product, it's either knitted, comes to your sweater, it's woven, it becomes a coat, or, or something else. So along the way, in terms of looking after the sheep and, and the quality of the sheep and a wool, so there's a long standing relationship between humans and will sheep. And so we've been us as we, as human beings, we've been caring for sheep for a very, very, very long time. And they're probably the first domesticated animal. And we have to take care of them so that they can provide the bowl for us. And just like your hair, if you are stressed, you will see it in your hair or your, the person who cuts your hair will see it in your hair. And it's the same thing with wool. So when that when the sheep are happy, they're eating well, they're well cared for the wool is good, and they thrive, the sheep are thriving. And it's hard sometimes for people to understand because we, if you're an urban person, I'm an urban person. A lot of Europe is urban. If you're an urban person, you're not coming into contact on a regular basis with farms or farm animals. So it seems kind of, you know, might seem strange that we're animals are involved. But actually, this is a very, very old thing. We have this relationship together. There's a sort of heritage. Across Europe, there's a heritage of having of sheep, and things to do with sheep and in the United Kingdom. So we have sheep on green pastures. And if you've imagined England, you know, you'll see little sheep in the background. And all although not all the rules will shake live on green pasture. The southern hemisphere is a lot less green. And it's okay because Sheep are super versatile, they can live on land, which wouldn't, for example, support cattle or wool, a wheat crop. And, and this is this, they really the world's sheep support people all over the world. And in turn, will shape welfare is taking incredibly seriously by the supply chain and by growers. So in for it WTO, for example, the all of the countries that are considered grower countries, countries where a lot of wool is grown. In those places, there's either national or regional legislation where abuse of sheep welfare is a criminal offence, you probably find that just about anywhere, mostly around the world, this kind of legislation is based on the five freedoms, the five freedoms of animal welfare. And these have been codified in the World Organisation for Animal Health. They have a codification of this, of these standards. So they ensure that animals under human care, get the right food, get the right water, that they are not stressed, they, they are treated if they are sick, and they can express their normal behaviour. So we have a, we have a booklet about this because we get a lot of questions about this. And it it's a Best Practice Guide to mole sheep welfare, and that's available on IWTO's website.

WTiN: Thank you for going through that. Could you also discuss traceability in wall supply chain? And where those challenges lie? And how IWTO is planning to tackle them?

Cook: Sure. So as you I kind of outlined the supply chain, and it's long. So that's one of the main challenges is that the supply chain is long, and the wool passes through many hands. It's super important, though, because people want to know, quite rightfully, where are things made, who made my things, and was it were those people who made it paid properly. So probably the number one challenge to traceability in the wall supply chain is you have to prepare for that in advance, it has to be flagged from day one, if you want to know where the wool in product X comes from, then you have to tell your supplier of wool, I want to do this. And that. So you confirm that in advance. I'm a retailer, I confirm that in advance with the people who are providing my product, they are going to go and code back to their supplier. All right, guys, we need to know where this meal is coming from. And so we'll go back and down the line. And eventually the person who is buying the wool from the farm will take that well from the farm and it will be kept. It will be flagged or tagged. And because what happens is in any bull product, you know, like your sweater, this is a blend of Wolf and many farms, many different maybe even different, let's say like rounds of wall. So to get a perfect recipe so as to be done in advance.

WTiN: Great and kind of switching topic a bit. Could you tell me more about IWTO’s events? I believe that the last two in Tokyo and Canada, Canada, where and when will the next ones be and what will they focus on?

Cook: Sure we had one. We had our last wall roundtable that was in Montreal. That was in December. And we just had an APR a Congress. So we have two events each year. And the Congress was in Adelaide, Australia. So we have these two events. One's a big one in Congress for all our members. Well, both are for all our members. But usually almost all the members come to the Congress. And we also invite non-members and then we have a smaller, more intimate event towards the end of the year. So this year, we will go to Turkey will be in Istanbul at the end of November. There'll be more information out on this very soon. And then we're planning the next Congress for 2025 that's going to be held in France in northern France. I don't know where yet. Exactly. So we Yeah, we're these are open To members, but also people who are working in the business overall, we try to focus, each event has a little bit of a local flavour. So we try to understand what's the, what's the industry like there. And we always meet people who, you know, who would never come to another who would never, for example, go to Tokyo for an event, we're always meeting new people. And we're a little bit more about what what was like, in another location.

WTiN: Great, and what do you find at the moment are the biggest opportunities and challenges in the woollen industry?

Cook: So well, we probably are looking at transitioning to a healthier way of living for our human selves and for the planet. And this is, I think, the biggest opportunity for will because it has so, so much to offer for this wool fibres incredibly positive. It's made of protein, for example, like our own hair, it biodegrades, and soil and water, it doesn't shed microplastics. So all of this microplastic pollution that's being that's being created constantly, wool doesn't do that. And in the days when wool was the number one fibre, there wasn't microplastic, pollution, textiles. So something, this is something really, really important. There's carbon sequestration. There are brands, for example, where customers can buy a wool sweater that is carbon negative. And I think this is just the start of things to come, we're going to see a lot more than that. Yeah, we know that we're getting lots of requests to on the transparency, the traceability. That's a huge opportunity. And okay, we just talked about the challenges there. More opportunities, electric cars, in need. In cooler weather, they need warm seats, but they don't want to drain the battery. So if you could put wool underneath that you're going to get, you're going to get warm and cosy really fast, we see. We see innovations and packaging for wool for pharmaceuticals, because it's a was a natural insulator. So there's a pack of wool packaging company, they've won awards for their packaging innovations. And we see well being used in extreme conditions. For example, Formula One, the E Formula One drivers, we see fire fighters, we see astronauts are all using wool in some way. So there's a lot of opportunity, the challenge is going to be keeping the sheet numbers up. Because there are droughts, there have been a lot of droughts in the southern hemisphere. This is, in part caused some of the wool sheep flocks to shrink, ensuring that the growers get good prices in return for doing a lot of work, like filling out paperwork for traceability standards, that is going to be a that's a challenge. So that's really important.

WTiN: And how does IWTO plan to navigate that challenge?

Cook: Yeah, well, we keep talking about it, we, we people bring the problem to us and, and we say okay, we first of all, we have to become aware that there's a problem. And with you, first of all, you know, you can you start to hear a little bit about it, okay, they're traceability, it's a great thing. But wait a second, all this paperwork, oh my God, I've got to comply to two or three standards. This is just an example. Finally, it reaches the level of okay, we need to do something collectively about it. And so, we will, as a as an organisation, we bring the people together and discuss it and find a way forward that works for everybody. That's, that's how we usually navigate all the changes, or WTO is like, like a family in a way though. There's a big wall family. So we will thrash it out and and then come up with something sides to hear.

WTiN: Can you tell me about what you've been working on lately, such as raising awareness about well in schools?

Cook: Yeah, we are a couple of our members are super active in this area. So in New Zealand, for example, we have campaign for wool, New Zealand, they're super engaged with students on like all levels from, you know, school kids to university aged kids. So in the primary level, they have developed programmes where children are introduced to well they get to touch it and squeeze it and smell it and stuff and then The older students can apply what they learn about will to art and design and science. So they're extremely active, we're going to be talking about them on our social media. And we also have our member, the Walmart company, they have a host of, of education projects, ones coming up in the autumn would be the Walmart performance challenge. And that's, that is for students who are post high school as a challenge for a wall innovation. And we're gonna be talking about that on social media too.

WTiN: And looking forward, what is IWTO working on at the moment? And what is in the pipeline?

Cook: All right, one of the biggest things we just decided that we're going to start is something called the Green Book. And to back up a little bit why, what's a green book? Well, in the industry, we have a red book, and a white book, and a blue book. So the red and white book have to do with will test methods and regulations and, and the blue book has to do with World Trade arbitration. And these are the foundations of the oil industry and trade. So with the green book is going to bring together eco credentials for wool. So this is the first time we're gonna gather everything together in this official way. And it's going to it will be it's not completely firm yet, but we'll something along the lines of a protocol, a compendium of protocols and definitions to pertaining to the supply chain, and establishing a global sustainability standard for wool, probably drawing on existing standards and protocols that our members are already using. So will be nice. This will be very nice to see this shipping up.

WTiN: And finally, my last question is what is IWTO’s vision for the future of the wool industry?

Cook: Well, our mission is to make sure that the next generation has a thriving wool industry and the one after that. So that's our vision. We carry it forward.

WTiN: Amazing. Thank you so much in that that was really interesting. And I'm so excited to see what's going to come from the organisation going forward. Thanks so much for joining us on the podcast today.

Cook: You're very welcome. My pleasure to be here.