I am Associate Professor Chris Harron. I do research into textiles here at Deacon Institute for Frontier Materials. Deacon has a really long history of working with wool. Some of our initial projects when we set up the textile group, were with wool. 

And working with Michell Wool is an incredible way to help them take their product to market. Up until now, it's been very hard to combine wool and cotton together because the wool is far longer in length. The eqwools product is designed to be used on cotton spinning equipment.

So it means that you can put it straight onto your spinning line and make a yarn that has the warmth and the comfort of wool, but also the wearability and the robustness of cotton. 

So we see this as a game changer for the industry. Because we are tapping into the cotton spinning market, which is the most efficient and the most available spinning systems in the world.

We are also using a very low value input fibre. So the wool we're using is low value, but still high premium quality, but at a much lower cost. So working with Deakin gives you a technology centre of your own. We have all the equipment, we have the people, we have the analytical equipment to really delve deep into your problem and give you a solution.

If we need to tap into a particular type of wool blend, we know the skills are here. So what that allows us to do is to grow Michell as a wool supplier into other fibres. And not just that, but also give the technical knowledge and experiences that are required to develop those fibres and process those fibres.

The big benefit of Deakin is it's a proof of concept before going live. And what it does, it allows us to keep credibility. One thing with Michell we have a great heritage in 155 years. 

We're not wanting to tarnish that name or that branding. So to have the ability to partner with someone like Deakin to create fibres that work prior to going to commercial, I think it's a brilliant thing.

There will always be a role for new clothing and new fibres, but we can't continue to do it the way that we've done it before and we shouldn't. We can be better than that. We can be smarter. We can be more innovative. Embedding sustainability in the product is absolutely essential. And obviously that starts with the fibre.

We need to continue to innovate through designing new products and reducing the environmental impact. Innovation is critical in the textile industry.