Australian brand Toorallie, is emerging as one of the bright stars of Australia's wool industry and it is the younger consumers who are propelling its growth. Run by two identical twins Simon and Steve Smith, Toorallie is well aware of this emerging market.
The brand flourished for a decade — making colorful, bulky knit jumpers and classical knitwear. But by 2004, cheap Chinese clothes were flooding the Australian market. Sales of woollen clothing had stagnated. Fashion, ever fickle, had moved on. The business collapsed under a mountain of debt. But Steve and Simon Smith had devoted their prime years to the brand and never considered walking away.
The brothers brokered a business partnership with Peter Small, a veteran woolgrower who had spent decades processing Australian wool into fine yarn. Small became a co-owner with two other silent partners and the re-born Toorallie has gradually gone from strength to strength.
The company now supplies more than 250 retail outlets in Australian and New Zealand markets. All its fleeces are sourced from Pooginook, a famed wool growing property near Jerilderie in southern New South Wales. The Smith brothers are excited about the growth prospects for Merino clothing, domestically and in emerging markets such as the Asian middle class.
