Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) believes the USA fashion industry is ready to embrace the relaunched Woolmark brands following a trade mission by senior executives.

AWI's strategic adviser, Rob Langtry and Regional General Manager for the Americas, Edwin Nazario, met with more than a dozen major retailers in New York over three days and said their reaction to the new branding had been so positive that several have already made commitments for the coming seasons.

AWI management sees the USA as a vital market in its three-year campaign to build up demand for Australian Merino wool, and to reposition it as an affordable luxury fibre. The meetings held with retailers, designers and fashion media indicate that the market has been waiting for the wool industry to jump back into the market after what some international retail leaders term being left in the dark for a decade.

"The brands' launch built on the business to business strategy which has been underway for the past 12 months and this was the first trade mission since last month's launch," said AWI CEO Craig Welsh.

"We had done the research and we knew that we had got the marketing right, but the reaction from the USA industry was even more positive than we had anticipated."

AWI's market research showed that while worldwide recognition of the Woolmark remains reasonably high, the decay in the brand’s equity had dropped to the point where only around 48% of American consumers recognised the brand. Even fewer knew it stood for quality wool apparel.

“The US market has been searching for quality alternatives to cashmere and the ubiquitous wool blends that have been available for the last few years," Mr Welsh said.

"With both designers and retailers trying to sell consumers up to a higher quality and price point, there was no help from the wool industry available on the ground due to the Australian industry having two companies.”

He said the meetings in New York have led to a number of initiatives and commitments by some leading retailers to work with AWI in its pursuit of making Australian Merino the leading luxury natural fibre in the marketplace.

The market sees the commoditisation of cashmere, and its poor quality performance on wear characteristics as a good reason to begin to invest in a “new” fibre story around Merino.

The new “Superior Merino” brand attracted specific interest from a number of leading edge designers.

“Overall, I was very impressed by the enthusiasm and openness with which the news of the revitalisation was greeted, and with the interest that both the Merino story and revival of the Woolmark generated both in the media and with potential partners. I would expect to see a very rapid growth in this interest as our US team builds the business to business program and expands our contacts and active programs into the luxury apparel, sports and high street fashion sectors," Mr Welsh said.

He said it bodes well for a mid-term expansion of demand for Australian wool and paves the way for our Australian Merino to upstage the luxury positioning of the fading cashmere cachet.