Strong wool: Fashionista creates clothing label from her Otago sheep farm

Ater clothing label founder Georgina Lawson. Photo / Cosmo Kentish-Barnes

By Cosmo Kentish-Barnes of RNZ

A sustainable fashion label was born and now grows on Georgina and Willy Lawson’s sheep farm in Otago.

The wool from their Romdale hoggets is crafted into Ater designer coats and blazers.

“Ater is my grandmother’s name backwards,” the label’s founder, designer and mother to three young boys, Georgina said.

Her grandmother, Reta, was a professional dressmaker who specialised in wedding dresses.

“I spent lots of time in her sewing room as a child, fiddling around with her. She tried to teach me a thing or two. She was pretty clever. Very clever, actually.”

It was Lawson’s inspirational grandmother, and also the low value of strong wool, that gave her an entrepreneurial lightbulb moment.

“I was grumbling at my husband about declining wool prices and he said, ‘Well, why don’t you try to do something with it?’ And that’s how I started finding out what I could do with this great fibre that we grow here on the farm.”

Woollen coats were a natural fit for the budding designer.

“When we were living in London, I got a bit of an obsession with coats so I thought, ‘I’m going to start making my own’.”

A lack of strong wool innovation has been a major frustration for New Zealand growers. Lawson is bucking this trend.

She said her coats require a medium to high-micron fibre for strength and the weaving of the fabric.

“Strong wool has been used in carpets forever, and I thought, ‘Why can’t we use that in the fashion industry and make a great piece that is going to last forever?’”

Georgina Lawson models an Ater coat at the sheep pens. Photo / Cosmo Kentish-Barnes

One of the biggest challenges she had to overcome was turning the raw fibre into a designer coat within the country.

After much research, she mapped out a manageable production process for the wool.

It’s scoured in Timaru, carded and spun in Wellington, then it goes to Auckland to be woven into fabric before cutters cut the pattern and it’s sewn into the end garment.

Image 1 of 5: Willy Lawson checks on sheep on the 1400 hectare property. Photo / RNZ / Cosmo Kentish-Barnes

“It didn’t make sense to have this great product here and then send it overseas, and then bring it back and sell it as New Zealand wool.”

Lawson pulled a wheat-coloured coat off a long rack in her farm-based studio.

“We go for a slightly oversized look, so it’s a relaxed fit.

“We’ve got patch pockets, [which are] nice and handy for phones and keys.

“It’s a good length and very simple and classic.”

She has several other designs on the rack and is planning to release a new style next year, which she’s already working on.

“I still can’t believe that people say that I’m a fashion designer.

“It was sort of a childhood dream that I never thought would actually come true,” she said with a big smile.

- RNZ