LAUNCHING a wool-brokering business the week before the collapse of the Reserve Price Scheme could have been seen as a bold decision.
But 25 years on, Quality Wool has not only survived, it has thrived.
It has grown into Australia’s largest independent, private wool broker and buyer, buying about 140,000 bales a year – just under 10 per cent of the national clip.
Company founder and managing director Mark Dyson inherited a love of wool from his family in WA, who owned and operated a private wool buying and exporting business in Fremantle.
Unfortunately, within a year of leaving school, his father had passed away and the family’s wool business changed direction.
From that point Mr Dyson went to work for Japanese and French wool companies based in WA as a junior wool buyer.
Mr Dyson consistently travelled to wool sales across Australia and internationally, giving him a taste of exporting wool globally.
During this time, the mid-1980s, he recognised that the SA market presented more opportunities with wool types.
Compared to the wool available in WA, the SA market had a large range of wool types from superfine wool through to broad crossbreds and every wool type in between.
He established Quality Wool at Port Adelaide in 1991, buying 6000 bales in the first year, and was joined by long-time associate Glen Forbes.
Today, Port Adelaide remains the company’s main receival site in SA.
Quality Wool buys wool in nearly every state, with 16 stores across the country.
Much of the company’s growth through the years has been organic, but in 2015 it expanded its eastern footprint with the purchase of Western Wool from Queensland Cotton.
A major key to success has been Quality Wool’s brokerage model – the first to introduce flat rate per bale brokerage, rather than commission and warehousing charges.
Mr Dyson insists it is the fairest way.
“A bale of wool is handled mechanically, therefore why should it (brokerage) be based on what is within the bale – it should be the same if it is 18 or 30 micron,” he said.
Mr Dyson also shared wool market intelligence with his clients and staff and kept them abreast of fashion trends throughout the world.
“In the early days there was a downfall in communication between overseas clients and the woolgrower,” he said.
“The brokers separated the intelligence ever getting to the grower.”
Another savvy business decision was the purchase of five large wool stores in Port Adelaide, Geelong, Vic, and Albany, WA.
A bale of wool is handled mechanically, therefore why should it (brokerage) be based on what is within the bale - it should be the same if it is 18 or 30 micron.
- MARK DYSON, Quality Wool managing director
Mr Dyson could see the value of the 100-year-old hardwood timber that made up the framework of the wool stores.
He proceeded to extract the timber, rework it and export it nationally and globally.
The redeveloped Adelaide Oval contains timber from Quality Wool’s Port Adelaide Wool store.
All of the stores have been refurbished and store not only wool, but wine, glass and rural products.
More than a decade ago Quality Wool diversified into a livestock agency and eight years ago consolidated this, taking over FarmWorks.
Quality Livestock, which is still growing, services the the majority of SA and western NSW and sells sheep and cattle at Dublin and cattle at Mount Compass weekly.
Focus remains clients’ needs
Staff and client loyalty has been key to Quality Wool and Livestock reaching its 25-year milestone, according to Mr Dyson.
“We have some wonderful staff and clients who have been so loyal to me and the company who I want to thank,” he said.
Having passion for the business has also been important.
This is evident as Mr Dyson discusses the 21 micron wool indicator charging through 1500 cents a kilogram – the third time Mr Dyson has seen this since 1989.
With his travels to China, Mr Dyson also sees a fantastic outlook for Australia’s red meat industries.
“I still love going to work every day and love the industry I am in," he said.
“Australian Wool Innovation and fashion houses have brought wool into the 21st century with next to skin wear and outdoor wear for the casual clothing market.”
This market requires semi-worsted wools and prem short wools, which are buoyant, encouraging more growers to shear their sheep twice a year.
“This is giving us a more regular flow of wool on a monthly basis with demand slightly exceeding supply,” he said.
The agribusiness company’s latest venture is Quality Foods Australia, taking Gina Rinehart’s Australian premium, full-blood Wagyu to China’s growing middle class.
It opened its first store in Ningbo late last year with a second one planned for Shanghai this year.
Mr Dyson is confident the family-owned company will continue to grow.
“We will take the opportunities that benefit the company most and continue to grow into a sizeable operation but not lose that personal touch,” he said.
“First and foremost, we are about making sure we understand what our clients require here and overseas.”