Elders District Wool Manager and St George wool grower, Brett Smith, was joined last month by a Japanese delegation from fashion brand and retailer, Uniqlo.
As a global retailer with over 2000 stores globally, Uniqlo is a brand committed to better understanding and optimising the sustainability of their clothing supply chains.
Brett, who both works with wool clients and on his family property “Tralee”, said that fashion brands like Uniqlo are keen to better understand the environmental footprint of wool and its credentials as a sustainable fibre.
“They hear all of this terminology associated with wool quality, but I think what helped them is hearing the qualitative story to be added to the quantitative data by walking them through that supply chain process,” said Brett.
The delegation was very interested in the practices that Australian growers use on-farm, particularly in the areas of methane emission reduction and traceability.
“One of the main points I raised with them was that emissions can’t be looked at in isolation. Emissions reduction should be viewed as part of the larger farming system, where we look not just at output from the animal, but what is happening on-farm that is sequestering carbon or reducing the overall footprint,” he said.
“I’ve worked with many clients on carbon accounting, which is working out their footprint and matching that with how much they can sequester with the potential of attaining credits.
At the end of the day working out net emissions, working out where you sit with carbon year-to-year, and getting a baseline. From there you can figure for emissions intensity and what drives that. It’s a whole of system approach, particularly when other factors such as land condition and biodiversity are considered as well.”
In terms of traceability, the delegation was taken through some of the initiatives in place to make Australian wool more traceable to origin.
“AWEX’s Woolclip software is certainly improving the traceability of wool, as are the QR codes which are in the process of being introduced and will begin to be seen on Elders bales by September 2023,” said Brett.
“The wool that we produce on-farm is a very long way from a consumer buying a garment. The chain is long so it’s important to understand the whole system initially to work out traceability.”
With an already well-established brand and reputation for being environmentally-friendly, Australian wool has strong legs to stand on in terms of its “green” credentials. Brett states that understanding what the end consumer is looking for in this regard is important for brands to be able to strengthen their supply chain, and to ensure that as many growers as possible are being recognised for their great products and as businesses being sustainable.
“Wool is the quintessential renewable product, it’s very clean and low impact, and sheep can utilise a lot of country that is otherwise unsuitable for other enterprises” he said.
“This makes it desirable for consumers and brands seeking a more sustainable fibre. As growers it’s our job to ensure we understand the standards and work with industry to put in place processes that keep stakeholders accountable across the supply chain.”
Meet Brett
