Wool samples taste of luxurious success Harrison Dimitroff, Tom Bull and Kaspar Breuker are among the 60 models who will show off the Ermenegildo Zegna collection in Sydney. Picture: Nikki Short Source: The Australian CONSISTENCY of message is required to reposition Australian wool as a luxury product and get a better deal for sheep farmers, Italy's Paolo Zegna says. The president of Italian luxury textiles and menswear company Ermenegildo Zegna said yesterday Australian Wool Innovation, and its subsidiary The Woolmark Company, which represents growers in the global marketplace, is now behind the message, but it needs to be consistent to educate consumers. Zegna holds its Wool Award tomorrow night in Sydney. "We have been insisting on one point for maybe 20 years now and there has always been a not very common point in the position of what used to be the Australian Wool Corporation and us as users of the high-quality wool," Zegna said. The old corporation used to consider wool as a commodity and the goal was to have wool spread out everywhere to anybody, to sell it as a commodity, so quantity, quantity, quantity. We always said this was totally the wrong approach. You have to sell it not as a commodity but as a very precious fibre. You have to sell it as if it was the Formula One of carmakers and not as a popular car that anybody can buy. And this is fortunately what the AWI has finally understood, and it is starting to really position wool to get a better perception of value in the consumer's mind, to create more demand from consumers. Rob Langtry, global marketing officer for AWI & The Woolmark Company, said because of funding constraints, there was little or no promotion of wool in the years before July 2010, but the past three years have been spent on the education of consumers. "We're back in the market now, and brands like Zegna have been very helpful in doing stories around the fibre for 10 or 12 years," said Langtry. AWI has been focusing on collaborations with international luxury designers, most recently Narciso Rodriguez, along with the reintroduction of the International Woolmark Prize, won by Belgian designer Christian Wijnants in London in February. In particular, Langtry said, emerging luxury markets such as those in China, the Middle East, Turkey and Russia are a focus, as are younger luxury consumers in existing markets, such as the US. The Zegna Wool Award recognises Australian growers of superfine merino wool. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the award, Zegna will recreate its autumn/winter menswear collection show held in Milan in January. Sixty Australian and international male models will hit the catwalk in front of 800 guests.