Menswear brand M.J. Bale has recommitted to funding extensive biodiversity preservation and land regeneration projects at its wool supplier in Kingston, Tasmania.
In addition to the purchase of up to 80% of Kingston’s annual greasy wool clip, the Australian-owned company will return a percentage of every M.J. Bale Kingston single source wool garment sold via its 84-store network to the farm for habitat investment. Garments include suits, tuxedoes, blazers and ties.
M.J. Bale’s contribution is expected to be up to $300,000 over the course of the next three years.
Kingston owner, Simon Cameron, will use the M.J. Bale store-to-farm rebate for the creation of shelter belts that protect the integrity of the native grasslands, as well as native tree and shrub planting and the propagation of two rare orchids that were recently discovered.
Additionally, Cameron will continue to work with the Tasmanian Land Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund to monitor the eastern quoll population via 30 recently installed cameras.
Kingston is home to approximately 8% of all remaining native grasslands in Tasmania, and at least 12 threatened plant species, Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagles, Tasmanian Devils, eastern quolls, and orchids.
“While I am a woolgrower, I see looking after Kingston as primarily biodiversity conservation work,” Cameron said. “The plant and animal life here is unique to Australia, and if we lose it, we lose it forever.
“Without this M.J. Bale rebate, I wouldn’t be in the position to undertake this important work. It is a unique business model that hopefully shows that a commercial fashion brand and superfine merino wool producer can come together to help rehabilitate our land’s natural values, via the support of a passionate customer base.”
Since 2020 M.J. Bale, Kingston and Sea Forest Tasmania have been working together to produce what is believed to be the world’s first methane-reduced wool.
To date, a total of 548 free-grazing Kingston sheep have been fed a dose-dependent diet of asparagopsis taxiformis, a native red seaweed used as a supplement for ruminant animals to reduce methane (CH4) emissions.
The yield of total methane-reduced greasy wool produced is 1.4 tonnes. A portion of the processed wool has been made into hand-knitted sweaters in Victoria, with the majority of wool being woven into worsted suiting cloth by Vitale Barberis Canonico mill in Italy.
In addition to the current suite of ‘Kingston single-source wool’ suits, blazers and ties are two new farm-traceable garments: the Black Wattle Tuxedo and Black Wattle Suit. Both garments are created from superfine merino wool grown entirely at Kingston in Tasmania that has been woven in Italy by Vitale Barberis Canonico into Super 150s twill cloth.