Oritain, the product and supply chain traceability specialist, has signed a partnership with Australian retailer Country Road to verify that the fiber in its new Traceable Merino Knit range has been sourced from Australian farms, helping to ensure their quality and authenticity.
Oritain has now mapped the chemical fingerprint of most of the world’s wool, allowing it to verify where a product has originated. In turn, retailers and brands can work with Oritain to verify the origin of the wool used in their garments. The company says its “fingerprint” traceability method cannot be forged or altered and is unique to the country of origin.
“There is a strong story about traceability in fashion and the Country Road customer is increasingly keen to know the origin of their purchase,” Country Road managing director Elle Roseby said. “At Country Road, we value the provenance of our products and strive for visibility of where and how our raw materials are farmed. For the first time in Australian history, we’re proud to not only be able to trace every fiber of this range to local farms, but to verify that every garment is made of 100 percent Australian merino wool.”
Oritain Australia managing director Sandon Adams said the geochemistry of the environment differs worldwide. Some environments are nutrient rich, some aren’t, while some are high in elements and some are low.
“These differences are what we measure, using the results to create a chemical fingerprint,” Adams said.
Oritain also recently mapped all Supima cotton growing regions with the aim of tackling fraud in the global cotton supply chain, and enabling the first true authentication of premium cotton fiber.
Using this technology, Country Road has created a collection of men’s and women’s knits in all fiber of the garments can be verified to have originated from farms in Australia like Beaufront in Tasmania. Country Road’s Traceable Merino Knit range will launch in stores throughout Australia this month.
“We have an opportunity to create an amazing garment for the fashion industry and it’s coming from an animal on our farm,” Julian Von Bibra, owner of Beaufront Station, said.