Three Springs farmers proud to have their wool in high-fashion brand Vivienne Westwood’s latest collection

Home-grown Merino wool from the Mid West is making its way to the international stage, with high fashion brand Vivienne Westwood showcasing the luxury fibre in its Spring-Summer 2022 collection.

The wool off the back of the 3000-head Hill Padua flock is now in the fine tailoring of the London-based brands boutique garments, on the brands mission to provide sustainable and traceable fashion.

Stud co-principals Geraldine and Anthony Thomas breed for both meat and wool qualities with their Poll Merino stud, with adult sheep cutting 6kg of wool.

The regenerative farmers have had their wool certified through the NATIVA traceability program, which details and certifies every step of the supply chain.

It is through the program, which looks at environmental sustainability, animal welfare and corporate and social responsibility of the farms the fibre is sourced from, that the passionate WA wool growers have made waves on the international fashion curcuit.

“It is exciting and great for us to know that high-end designers like Vivienne Westwood are using our wool,” Hill Padua stud manager Fred Echaniz said.

“In the past, we have had designer Stella McCartney also select our wool through NATIVA. It is very rewarding for us to know that our wool has been used at the highest level of fashion.”

It has been used in a selection of the brand’s 100 per cent wool jackets, skirts and trousers in the latest collection.

Australian Wool Innovation’s subsidiary The Woolmark Company put the brand in contact with NATIVA to help source the fibre.

Seeking wool growers using regenerative practices, the Mid West enterprise, which has been implementing such methods for years and ceased mulesing in 2004, stood out.

“In the ‘pasture paddocks’, where the animals live, we do not use any chemicals or synthetic fertilisers,” Mr Echaniz said.

“We are using organic ways to fertilise our soil, like compost and we are also using NutriSoil (a biological stimulant produced from worms) to feed microbes that are continuously working to build a healthy soil.

“We have also invested in more than 30km of fencing to protect bushlands and natural habitat reserves on the property.”

Mr Echaniz said it was rewarding to be part of such an operation.

“At Hill Padua Polls, we do not consider our animals as just numbers, every single animal on this farm is important. We need them as much as they need us,” he said.

“We work with our animals in a peaceful environment, where we interact with them frequently.”

Being certified has also led to better prices for Hill Padua’s wool.

“Hill Padua Polls has been using ASBVs to breed animals with high quality wool,” Mr Echaniz said.

“The wool is very white, with very good length and very high strength. We have been selling our wool clips for 10 to 20 per cent more than market price.”

It allows the high-end brand to provide provenance to its customers from paddock to boutique, telling the story of precisely where in the world the fibre for the tailoured garments was sourced.

With consumers driven by the eco-credentials of the clothing they buy, Mr Echaniz said they believed “strict traceability” was “very important.”