Woolmark is a wool industry

certification mark A certification mark (or conformity mark) on a commercial product indicates the existence of an accepted product standard or regulation and a claim that the manufacturer has verified compliance with those standards or regulations. The specifi ...

used on pure wool products that meet quality standards set by The Woolmark Company. It is a

trade mark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from othe ...

owned by The Woolmark Company, which has since 2007 been a subsidiary of

Australian Wool Innovation Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

Limited (AWI). The logo was launched in 1964 by the Woolmark Company under its previous name, the International Wool Secretariat.

History

The Woolmark logo was developed by the International Wool Secretariat (IWS), which had been founded in 1937. The logo was launched in August 1964 by IWS, then under the control of two Australians, William (Archer) Gunn (1914-2003) who was chairman and

William Vines William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conques ...

(1916-2011) its managing director. The two main objectives of the logo were to position wool at the top of the textile market and to ensure that products bearing the Woolmark label were made from pure new wool and manufactured to the highest standards. The logo had been selected by IWS following a competition in 1963 won by

Milanese Milanese (endonym in traditional orthography , ') is the central variety of the Western dialect of the Lombard language spoken in Milan, the rest of its metropolitan city, and the northernmost part of the province of Pavia. Milanese, due to t ...

graphic artist Francesco Saroglia (most probably a pseudonym of Italian architect, graphic designer

Franco Grignani Franco Grignani (February 4, 1908 – 20 February 1999) was an Italian architect, graphic designer and artist. He is best known for black and white graphics, particularly the Woolmark logo, which was voted 'Best Logo of all Time' by Creative R ...

). The logo was originally owned by IWS, which in 1997 changed its name to The Woolmark Company Pty Ltd. The Woolmark Company Pty Ltd and Australian Wool Innovation Limited (AWI) were subsidiaries of the Australian Wool Research and Promotion Organisation, which was succeeded by Australian Wool Services Limited (AWS). AWI was de-merged from AWS in 2002 and The Woolmark Company was sold by AWS to AWI in 2007. Since 2007, the Woolmark Company has been a subsidiary of AWI, a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

that conducts research, development and marketing along the global

supply chain In commerce, a supply chain is a network of facilities that procure raw materials, transform them into intermediate goods and then final products to customers through a distribution system. It refers to the network of organizations, people, activ ...

for Australian wool on behalf of approximately 60,000 woolgrowers that cooperatively fund the company. What remained of AWS became Graziers’ Investment Company Limited, which as at March 2020 was in the process of liquidation. The logo has been such a success that it eventually ranked with a large scallop shell or three-pointed-star in terms of consumer recognition and understanding. In 2011, British design magazine, ''

Creative Review ''Creative Review'' is a bimonthly print magazine and website. The magazine focuses on commercial creativity, covering design, advertising, photography, branding, digital products, film, and gaming. The magazine is published bimonthly in print and ...

'', declared the Woolmark number one of the top twenty logos of all time.

Licensing

AWI licenses the Woolmark trade mark to be used by affiliated vendors on their products as a

that the product conforms to the standards set by AWI. AWI claims that the mark is employed on textile products as an assurance that the product is made of 100% pure new wool. It signifies the brand of wool.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Certification marks Trademarks Wool industry in Australia Symbols introduced in 1964