The business under sole director Andy May is promoting the cashmere option to sheep and beef farmers to restart the industry after it broke up in the late 1980s.
More than 40 farmers are on the books and more are needed to reach the goal of supplying 1% of the international market dominated by China and Mongolia fibre.
A woolshed presentation was made to farmers at a field day at John and Jane Harrison’s sheep, beef and deer property near Mid Canterbury’s Mayfield.
The couple invested in 150 mixed-age cashmere does for their fibre and to help develop a spray-free programme at their 650ha hill-country farm Temora Downs for thistles to improve their pastures.
Mr May is chief executive of Woolyarns, a 78-year old business in Wellington supplying premium knitting yarns internationally which developed the possum merino industry 25 years ago into a $150 million industry.
He said leading European fashion houses were looking to source sustainably produced cashmere and their strong interest in New Zealand fibre was a "bit scary".
"All we have done the past four years is stockpile fibre. We haven’t gone to the market with any fibre or any yarns at this stage. It’s just a bit dangerous if we go supplying yarns to the market and they come back with an order of 2000 kilograms and we say we’ve got 20kg or 100kg our credibility will be shot."
Cashmere prices are up to $150 a kilogram for a grade between 14.5 and 15.9 microns with 16 to 16.7 microns selling for $125/kg and 16.8 to 18 microns $110/kg.
Mr May said the international market pricing was difficult to work out as it was tied up by China with buyers having to pay 70% for orders before it got on the boat.
"A lot of that is controlled by the Chinese Mongolian market.
"They have most of it and are not prepared to let everyone play them off against them.
"So it’s hard to get a read on pricing and the price we know is what we pay."
The idea to restart cashmere came to him when he sat down with the sustainability team from the French luxury group Kering about six years ago.
"It was the scariest moment of my life and I just sat there and didn’t say anything when this lady tore shreds off us because we had presented a yarn with possum and cashmere from China," Mr May said.
"We had been importing cashmere from China for close to 40 years and ... we thought we were going in there with this beautiful product.
"But we soon learned that they are faced with a lot of issues around the environmental aspects of cashmere growing in China and Mongolia."
A plan was hatched to build cashmere numbers when he was contacted by veteran South Otago breeder David Shaw a few months later.
Mr May said the global industry was worth $US3.2 billion ($NZ5.6b) with much of the 6500 tonnes of raw fibre available each year coming from China and Mongolia.
A Scottish company used 400,000kg yearly alone so there was huge demand, he said.
"Our target is 1% of that market. Now 1% seems really small, but it’s huge for NZ."
The goal was to create a better cashmere industry this time.
"We are still living in the bias of what happened so it’s important what we do this time works.
"We have proven we can grow a fibre that is whiter, longer and brighter and softer in its fibre."
The industry nose-dived when the share market crashed, Chinese regions becoming more protective and locally after angora bloodlines added to cashmere flocks increased micron levels.
Mr May said the fibre would be fully traceable to provide fashion brands with security.
Woolyarns has invested in its own scouring and processing facility with cashmere’s double fleece removed of the outer layer of guard hair before it goes to the spinning plant.
Mr May said the challenges of building cashmere goat numbers and convincing farmers they were good animals were being worked through.
The building blocks were in place with fashion brands "banging on the door" every two weeks to supply fibre.
"We just now need the volume — that’s the next important piece of the puzzle."
Business development manager Olivia Sanders said most growers were attracted to their yarn returns, weed control and ability to tie in with sheep and beef systems.
The emerging market was unable to supply large orders of more than 150 cashmere goats.
"Everybody started with relatively small flocks because we had a small population of good cashmere goats nationwide and the majority of growers are holding on to every animal ...
"Most of our growers are looking to grow their flocks to about 300 to 500 goats."
Another option was to source "foundation" does from the wild population and put a cashmere sire over them, she said.
