Clean and green: how the wool industry is speaking out on labelling laws

Australian Wool Innovation global sustainability manager Emma Gittoes Bunting said following the recent European Union election, the wool industry would continue to advocate to the new green claims directive did not give synthetic fibres an unfair advantage over natural ones.

Wool industry representatives have spent years battled against the proposed product environmental footprint methodology, which has been included in the EU Council's general approach to the directive.

"The way that the European legislature works is it has to have agreement between the three institutions- the European Commission, the parliament and the council of the EU," she said.

"They all have their individual positions they've agreed to... the next phase they will go into is trilogue where they will all come together and agree on a final position... that is likely to kick off around September.

"Almost 50 per cent of the parliamentarians are new in after the election... so we will be ramping up the advocacy come September to try and get in front of those new members of the European parliament.

"This is probably the last shot to try and get the PEF not adopted in its current form, we have been pushing for improvements consistently so hopefully that will be seen and be recognised, then we can focus on improving the PEF outside of it."

France has been developing its own environmental labelling, the Ecobalyse, sparking similar concerns that wool's eco-credentials might not be given enough consideration.

Ms Gittoes Bunting said she believed that French officials had been quite receptive to methodology improvements.

"They're seeing that PEF is not a tool that is going to stop fast fashion," she said.

"While the basis of Ecobalyse is still in PEF, they are making these methodology improvements to try and factor in how you combat fast fashion, including things like a microplastic report and different indicators like naturalness and emotional durability- reasons why people keep products in their wardrobes for longer where they have an emotional attachment to clothing.

"This is obviously where natural fibres, especially wool, far out-perform synthetic fibres.

"They've been really receptive and have actually adopted some of the recommendations we've been working with our researchers."

Meanwhile AWI's marketing arm The Woolmark Company is celebrating the ongoing success of its Wear Wool, Not Fossil Fuels campaign.

In under two years the campaign has achieved 850 million impressions across the US, the UK and France, with with the 60-second video at the heart of the campaign viewed 131 million times.

AWI CEO John Roberts said the campaign, which launched in 2022, had an amazing reception and will continue to be a prominent part of the company's marketing going forward.

"The eco-campaign has been aimed at helping reverse the rise of fast fashion, which is dominated by synthetic fibres such as polyester, and increase demand for long-lasting clothing made from wool," he said.

"As a natural, renewable, biodegradable and the most recycled apparel fibre, wool is well placed to take advantage of the profound market shift towards environmentally products - it is a great opportunity for wool.

"However, the market's rush towards sustainability also presents a threat to wool, due to the large amount of greenwashing that is being undertaken by those brands that are heavily reliant on synthetic fibres, to make synthetic fibres appear more sustainable.

"AWI has been investing in research right across the supply chain to produce robust scientific evidence to counter this greenwashing and misinformation, and support the company's marketing initiatives to increase the demand for wool."

In 2023, The Woolmark Company also launched the Filter by Fabric eco-campaign, urging fashion brands to commit to transparent, accurate product names that reflect fabric composition.

That initiative has amassed more than 330 media clippings, four million impressions, and pledges from consumers and brand partners such as global fashion giant Benetton and Australian brands Iris & Wool and Merino Country.

Mr Roberts said it was vital that the wool industry continue to invest in marketing to address the opportunities and threats it faces.

"Marketing campaigns such as our 'Wear Wool, Not Fossil Fuel' and 'Filter by Fabric' initiatives have been very successful, but the industry needs more campaigns like this in the future to continue to increase consumers' knowledge about the attributes of different fibre types and to promote the environmental benefits of wool," he said.