Deakin University has partnered with Australian clothing icon Country Road to explore new processes that could change the face of the domestic textile industry.
Deakin’s Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM) and sustainable and ethical textiles company Full Circle Fibres will receive a $300,000 grant from the Country Road Climate Fund to accelerate research into wool cotton production.
IFM and Full Circle Fibres were recipients of Country Road’s inaugural Climate Fund in 2023 for their Mud to Marle project, receiving $147,000 to develop processes to turn low value wool fibre into high quality yarn.
Associate Professor Christopher Hurren said Deakin University had an array of textile processing equipment and was at the forefront of cotton processing and spinning innovation in Australia.
“During the project we wanted to explore methods that reduce resource use while still delivering a viable, high-quality textile product,” he said.
“One of the ways we did this was by dyeing only the wool fibres within the wool-cotton blend, reducing water and energy consumption in this process. The project shows the potential to produce garments in Australia with Australian fibres.”
The project was successful, but Australia’s limited infrastructure currently means end-to-end onshore production is impossible on a commercial scale – an issue the project seeks to tackle with the new Country Road grant.
Full Circle Fibres owner and founder Meriel Chamberlin said there was “growing momentum to revive Australia’s textile manufacturing capabilities”.
“The commercial spinning capacity in Australia is incredibly limited, but the learnings from this project have helped demonstrate demand and investment potential,’ Ms Chamberlin said.
