AUSTRALIAN Wool Innovation (AWI) chief executive officer Stuart McCullough said the International Woolmark Prize (IWP) has proven to be AWI’s most successful marketing strategy, based on global media exposure generated from the annual event measured by AC Nielsen tracking surveys.
“It ranks ahead of Campaign for Wool (supported by Prince Charles) as our two highest-profile media campaigns,” Mr McCullough said.
He said the intention was to profile wool fibre and the Woolmark brand on the world stage through event-based, stunt-based and public relations-based campaigns.
The success of IWP was due in part to the calibre of the 11-member judging panel, which included some of the world’s best known and most influential fashion industry identities who gave their time at no cost and garnered enormous media attention ensuring cost effective exposure for wool.
“It is a major coup for us to have the likes of (fashion designer) Victoria Beckham and Franca Sozzani on our panel,” Mr McCullough said.
Ms Sozzani is editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia, L’Uomo Vogue Italiaand Vogue.it, editorial director of Conde Nast Italia and goodwill ambassador for the United Nation’s fashion 4 development.
Other judges were Angelica Cheung, editor-at-large of Vogue China; Anita Barr, Harvey Nichols; London-based fashion commentator Colin McDowell; Colleen Sherrin, Saks Fifth Avenue; Justin O’Shea, mytheresa.com; Malcolm Carfrae, Ralph Lauren; Cristina Ventoura, Joyce; Sophie Clark, David Jones; Shinji Kakakita, Isetan and Mr McCullough.
This year’s IWP event also featured visiting media from the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, Germany, Italy, Spain, China and Australia representing all facets of the information spectrum from television, print, digital, online and social networks.
“We don’t apologise for pitching at the top end of the fashion and retail scene,” Mr McCullough said.
“It’s where we need to be to extract maximum dollars for every kilogram of wool.
“Wool is not a mass commodity - it’s a luxury fibre that needs to be targeted at the pinnacle of the fashion triangle.
“We want consumers who are prepared to pay $10, $20, even $30 a kilogram for wool,” he said.
“Top end buyers don’t float in and out of the market, they buy regardless and they spend well.
“In the past five years since we adopted our new marketing direction, including these global events, wool has risen from an average of 870 cents (a kilogram greasy) in October 2010 to over 1000 cents a kilogram and has not dipped below the 1000-cent mark since 2010,” Mr McCullough said.
He added that the Australian wool clip was worth $2.7 billion shipped greasy, and considering the raw material in a garment on average accounted for just five to eight per cent of its cost, that equated to about $100b at retail level.
Mr McCullough said targeting young designers through IWP sought to expose them to the unique qualities of wool, new technologies and varied uses for wool to give them an appreciation for the fibre which they would carry throughout their designing careers.
“That’s why an important part of the competition criteria is to demonstrate some business acumen and future planning for their label, not just design expertise and talent,” Mr McCullough said.
“It’s not just about a trophy on a shelf.
“There has to be a business element to their work and they need to show they can merchandise their product to avoid mistakes of letting romance get in the way of finance.
“The winner gets to sell their garments in some of the world’s leading retail outlets through our competition partners in Saks 5th Avenue in the US, Harvey Nichols in London, David Jones in Australia, Colette in France, Joyce in Hong Kong, mytheresa.com and our most recent partner 10 Corso Como, owned by Franca Sozzani’s sister Carla Sozzani in Italy.
“We have seen the retail success with last year’s IWP winner (Indian designer) Rahul Mishra, whose collection sold out in just three weeks in Harvey Nichols and Colette, which is unheard of for a new designer.”
Mr McCullough said this provided enormous spin-off for wool’s profile.
“We do this event for our woolgrowers to profile our fibre and our brand specifically to lift consumption and get more money for wool,” he said.
“Our woolgrowers’ contribution (through levies) is why we’re here and it’s interesting that in China the symbol for sheep is similar to the symbol for money because money is very important for our growers.”
Wendy Gould travelled to Beijing courtesy of AWI.
