Tracing cotton from fiber to fabric is in vogue for a long time but no such progress was made on other fibers like wool. Australian wool growers funded by The Woolmark Company(WTC) have taken this in collaboration with, two other partners.
The other two partners in the project are the Italian wool fabric mill Vitale Barberis Canonico (VBC), and the Swiss traceability company Haelixa, which will start trials to trace Australian wool fibres up to the final fabric. The WTC primarily focuses on profitability-enhancing investments to ensure the competitiveness and sustainability of Australian wool.
TWC seeks to be transparent and accountable. The WTC considers traceability a requisite to ensure transparency and maintain the credibility of Australian wool producers. The traceability company succeeded in December 2021 to mark wool fibers with its DNA tracing solution. Different markets were used to indicate the origin, supply chain, or particular collection. Through two different marker DNAs, it was able to determine the Australian wool origin from one marker and the manufacturer where the wool was processed through a second in this case at Vitale Barberis Canonico mill. The VBC has produced quality wool fabric since 1663.
Haelixa collected samples at various stages of production. A qPCR test was used to detect each specific DNA marker. To make the system tamper proof Haelixa uses a “Key-Lock” system to detect a marker; particular DNA to screen has to be known. The DNA markers like in other traceable fibers stay safely embedded in the wool product, enabling traceability of greige fabric and finished fabric, through the value chain. In the current global scenario, traceability is becoming a prerequisite to proving authenticity and origin.
