Sheep farmers have paid about $1 million to buy back the Wools of New Zealand group of companies lost with the demise in 2003 of the Wool Board.
News earlier this month that Wool Partners International has agreed to buy the group of companies, including the Fernmark brand, from Wool Research Organisation of New Zealand, was being viewed as positive for the fledgling organisation, charged with resurrecting the fortunes of crossbred wool.
Meat and Wool New Zealand chairman Mike Petersen accepted the deal meant farmers were repurchasing a company they spent $260 million developing and promoting, only for the Wool Board to give it away when it (the Wool Board) was dismantled.
It is understood Wool Partners International (WPI) paid about $1 million for the Wools of New Zealand (WNZ).
Mr Petersen would not confirm the price other than to say, "We're not talking millions of dollars here."
But he said it meant WPI had a quality mark brand with integrity, but more importantly that the brand remained New Zealand-owned. The Fernmark provides a guarantee that products contain at least 80% wool with 60% of that New Zealand wool.
Mr Petersen said two overseas companies were interested in buying the Fernmark, one to shut it down and the other to use it but not with New Zealand wool.
"For us, that was not palatable at all."
He said WPI was getting more than just a brand from its purchase.
"We are talking an incredibly valuable contact list of users of New Zealand wool, and a brand that hasn't been invested in, but has a valuable quality mark and integrity."
WPI chairwoman Theresa Gattung agreed.
"This acquisition is an important milestone for the company. It provides an international network of market relationships and capability which will assist WPI."
That contact list identified 70% of the world's users of New Zealand crossbred wool who pay a fee to be a branded partner of WNZ and to use the Fernmark brand.
In addition, Mr Petersen said WPI was getting a high quality wool testing facility and the Ilkley testing centre in the United Kingdom, although there have been murmurs that it could be closed.
The history of WNZ goes back to 1994, when the Wool Board stopped funding the International Wool Secretariat.
Instead, it focused on the new Fernmark brand, which was used to promote interior textiles, carpets, rugs and bedding.
In 1996 the fine wool part of the programme was handed over to Merino New Zealand, now New Zealand Merino.
When the board was dismantled in 2003, WNZ became part of Canesis, which ran it as a partner network with the intention of using it to promote new wool technology; and for the last two years Wool Research Organisation of New Zealand has been the company's "caretaker".
Mr Petersen said he always felt WNZ should be used as an entity that bought and sold wool and wool products. That has now happened.
Even though farmers were buying back something they had invested money creating: "The beauty of where it is going, is that it will be linked to the transaction of wool."
Farmers supplying WPI can decide to invest in the brand and share in the returns, he said.
Ms Gattung said WPI now comprised the former wool operations of PGG Wrightson and Allied Farmers, wool exporter Bloch and Behrens, and WNZ, which provided WPI with a "full farm-to-market capability."