In a world that is increasingly questioning its sustainability and environmental friendliness, what better natural product is there but wool?
New Zealand produces the best crossbred wool in the world, renowned for its strong, white bright fibre.
It ticks all the boxes as a free-range, natural, renewable, ecofriendly product, coupled with fire protection and health properties, yet strong wool growers have been beating their furrowed brows in frustration at the lack of decent returns.
With dismal prices for strong wool - and don't lets start on the current state of the meat industry - it is hardly surprising that dairy conversions continue.
Wool might have once formed the backbone of the New Zealand economy, but those days are long gone. Nuffield scholar Sandra Faulkner accurately summed up the state of the New Zealand wool industry when she described it as ''weak and fragmented, to the point of being dysfunctional''.
When Wools of New Zealand announced in December it had extended the deadline for its share offer to wool growers to February, remaining short of the $5 million minimum level required, it was not a big surprise.
One could hardly blame farmers for not hurriedly reaching for their chequebooks, given the millions that have been spent in the industry over the years - and to what gain? In a sector that is struggling with prices for both lamb and wool, a minimum subscription of 5000 shares at $1 per share was still a reasonable cheque to write.
But Wools of New Zealand did meet the threshold last week, a week before the offer closed, allowing it to proceed with establishing a 100% strong wool grower-owned sales and marketing company.
It might not have achieved its $10 million goal, but there is likely to be a flurry of last-minute applications before the deadline for the capital raising of 5pm today that will help reach the figure.
In welcoming the news last week, Federated Farmers meat and fibre chairwoman Jeanette Maxwell said it was possibly the last opportunity for the strong wool industry to do something positive to help itself and secure its future.
To survive in today's fast-moving global economy, industries needed to have strong brand identities and that was what WONZ planned to develop, while also building on existing market connections, she said.
She was sure farmer shareholders, of which she was ''proudly one'', would see a huge amount of benefit as WONZ grew demand for New Zealand's strong wool textiles and carpets.
Strong wool may not be as sexy as its fine wool cousins; it is not being snapped up by the high fashion or outdoor adventure markets, but, surely, it must have a bright future.
Federated Farmers national president Bruce Wills makes a good point when he says home owners, architects and construction companies do not seem to know wool is a product which keeps sheep on farms and Kiwis in the type of jobs lost recently at Summit Wool Spinners, in Oamaru.
In a recent impassioned spiel on the wool industry, Mr Wills questioned whether - with ''green'' wool going backwards - green consumerism was real or marketing hyperbole. With the Christchurch rebuilding needing two million square metres of floorcoverings by 2016, he rightly asked what was being done to promote ''green'' woollen carpets and wool insulation.
Wools of New Zealand says it is focused on moving shareholders' wool into high value branded product sectors such as premium carpets, upholstery fabrics and bedding products.
Chairman Mark Shadbolt is right when he says New Zealand should not be selling wool as a commodity, where poorer wool and synthetic substitutes are competitors; rather it does need to focus on markets outside of that bargain-basement price bracket.
Wools of New Zealand might not solve all of the industry's woes, but at least it is a step in the right direction. For if growers don't take ownership of the industry, who will?
