Woolmark
{{Short description|Trademark indicating 100% pure new wool}}
File:MIDTOWN MANHATTAN - NARA - 548402.jpg in 1973, with a large rooftop billboard for "Pure Wool" and the Woolmark]]
Woolmark is a wool industry certification mark used on pure wool products that meet quality standards set by The Woolmark Company. It is a trade mark owned by The Woolmark Company, which has since 2007 been a subsidiary of Australian Wool Innovation Limited (AWI).{{cite web|url=https://www.woolmark.com/working-with-wool|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130522180801/https://www.woolmark.com/working-with-wool|url-status=dead|title=Australian Merino Wool and the Woolmark brand|archive-date=2013-05-22|website=www.woolmark.com}} 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.{{cite web |url=https://vads.ac.uk/collections/LCFWOOL.html |title=VADS: the online resource for visual arts - London College of Fashion Woolmark Collection|website=vads.ac.uk}} The logo was launched in August 1964 by IWS, then under the control of two Australians, chairman William Archer (Bill) Gunn (1914-2003) and William Vines (1916-2011) as 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 not blended with synthetic fibres.
The logo had been selected by IWS following a competition in 1963 won by Milanese graphic artist Francesco Saroglia (most probably a pseudonym of Italian architect, graphic designer Franco Grignani).{{cite web|url=http://hivehealth.com/the-greatest-logo-of-all-time/|title=The greatest logo of all time?|first=Matt|last=Chorlton|access-date=2014-03-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140315012235/http://hivehealth.com/the-greatest-logo-of-all-time/|archive-date=2014-03-15|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://www.estorickcollection.com/exhibitions/franco-grignani-art-as-design-1950-1990|title=Franco Grignani: Art as Design 1950-1990 - Estorick Collection|website=www.estorickcollection.com}}
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 that conducts research, development and marketing along the global supply chain 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 of March 2020 was in the process of liquidation.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sheepcentral.com/20m-gic-payout-to-wool-growers-set-for-march/|title = $20m GIC payout to wool growers set for March|date = 21 February 2020}}
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.Ted Henzell, Australian agriculture: its history and challenges. CSIRO Publishing, Australia, 2007. {{ISBN|9780643993426}} In 2011, British design magazine, Creative Review, declared the Woolmark number one of the top twenty logos of all time.{{cite web |title=Top 20 Logos |date=30 August 2016 |url=https://www.creativereview.co.uk/landing-page/top-logos-of-all-time/ |publisher=Creative Review |access-date=13 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221014075010/https://www.creativereview.co.uk/landing-page/top-logos-of-all-time/ |archive-date=14 October 2022}}
Licensing
AWI licenses the Woolmark trade mark to be used by affiliated vendors on their products as a certification mark that the product conforms to the standards set by AWI.{{cite web|url=http://www.wool.com/About-AWI.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090910073125/http://www.wool.com/About-AWI.htm|url-status=dead|title=About AWI|archive-date=2009-09-10|website=www.wool.com}} AWI claims that the mark is employed on textile products as an assurance that the product is made of 100% pure new wool.{{cite web|url=https://www.logodesignlove.com/woolmark-logo|title=The Woolmark logo, 100% wool|date=6 July 2009|publisher=}} It signifies the brand of wool.{{cite web|url=http://www.wool.com/|title=Quality of wool}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- [https://www.woolmark.com Official website]
{{Certification marks}}
{{Authority control}}