Oamaru couple Lyndon Armstrong and Kimberley Bray are using South Island crossbred wool, including fibre sourced in North Otago, as an ingredient in their Sub & Tarctic skincare range. That range was on display at the Otago Field Days in Palmerston.
It was while working in the agricultural sector that Ms Bray met people working at AgResearch, looking for different uses for wool, particularly crossbred fibre.
Part of that research was the extraction of wool cortex, also known as keratin, and how to turn it into digestible keratin and then also into ingredients.
The couple got the idea of creating a New Zealand skincare brand and launched Sub & Tarctic, moving from Christchurch to Oamaru in April and opening a shop.
They now have a range of products to support skin, hair, nail and joint health using ingredients such as manuka honey, marine algae and sauvignon blanc extract.
The extraction is done at Lincoln, their supplements are made in Christchurch and their high-performance range is made in Auckland, although they hope to bring that closer.
They said they hoped to enter the American market and had been to the United States several times to talk about their product range and ingredients.
''They are quite advanced in the way they consume and think about skincare,'' Ms Bray said.
Ms Bray was frustrated by the poor returns crossbred growers were getting. They were keen to do anything they could do to support the rural sector, Mr Armstrong added.
They were also believers in making high-value products in New Zealand, Ms Bray said.
