A big day for Hawke’s Bay’s ‘Mr Wool’

Hawke’s Bay’s “Mr Wool” had wondered if he’d ever hear such words from a politician.

Thus, when Hamish de Lautour heard the Government’s commitment to use wool instead of synthetic carpets in Government buildings and refurbishments, it was with a measure of optimistic hope.

“It’s a start,” said the director of the Primary Wool Co-operative Ltd.

In 1974 the co-op was set up as East Coast Wool Co-operative, to support New Zealand Woolspinners Ltd’s new wool-spinning plant in Dannevirke and farmer returns from wool, in particular the strong wool common to Hawke’s Bay.

Hamish de Lautour, after a lifetime in the wool industry, still has a smile, pictured last month as a sponsor at the New Zealand Shearing Championships in Te Kuiti. Photo / Doug Laing.

At the time New Zealand had a sheep population of 55.5 million, which reached more than 70 million in the early 1980s.

In 2025 the population is estimated at under 24 million.

Wool prices have dipped to barely covering the cost of shearing, and despite bouncing back, have a long way to go.

New procurement requirements will apply to construction of government-owned buildings that cost $9 million and more, and to refurbishments of $100,000 and more.

The requirements will apply to about 130 agencies.

Wool has been de Lautour’s life – he “loves the feel”, and he “loves the smell”, to the point, he says, when a house is newly carpeted, he can sense the smell of the woolshed.

Hamish de Lautour back in the day, in the woolshed in 2013, just loving that wool. Photo / NZME.

He remembers father Bay de Lautour frequently going to wool meetings, sometimes flying his own plane.

Hamish’s mum Shona reckoning she hated flying, but when she went she knitted all the way.

“The faster the flight the faster she knitted,” he says.

De Lautour would say you can’t beat the natural fibre that is wool – it’s safer for children, fire resistant, biodegradable.

However, despite the “great work” of the global Campaign for Wool, started by King Charles III in 2010, there are missing pieces.

He hopes the Government initiative – which he says is one politicians have struggled to get past bureaucrats for years – will draw attention to the benefits.

He says the wool industry doesn’t have the resources to “lobby in Wellington” the way that the synthetic fibre interests have.

“We have to be more innovative,” he says.

“And we’ve still got to change the way we sell wool.”

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 52 years of journalism experience, 42 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.