In September, the AWI's marketing arm, The Woolmark Company, launched a powerful eco campaign - "Wear wool, not fossil fuel".
The aim was to highlight to consumers that synthetic fibres are made from oil, whereas wool is a 100 per cent natural, renewable and biodegradable fibre.
The ongoing campaign centres around a minute-long advertisement showing three people struggling to escape an oil-filled swimming pool, before stripping off their oil-soaked clothing to reveal clean woollen garments.
The clip revealed the shocking statistic that every 25 minutes, an Olympic swimming pool's worth of crude oil is used to produce synthetic clothing, which amounts to almost 350 million barrels a year.
The global campaign urged consumers to consider the fibre composition of a clothing product - and choose wool - when they are thinking of making a purchase.
Interim results from the campaign have showed an impressive response with around 68.8 million views of the video and 123 million impressions.
An impression is counted each time the advertisement is shown on a search result page or other site on the Google Network.
Earned media statistics, basically a form of word-of-mouth recommendation, showed a reach of 193 million.
In this instance, earned media response refers to media that mentioned the Woolmark brand, product, or service outside of owned channels; for example - blog posts, referrals, influencer marketing campaigns, or reviews.
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AWI chief executive officer John Roberts said the campaign had a simple but powerful message.
"It aims to show people the hidden impact of synthetic fibres on the environment and how choosing natural fibres such as wool can be a solution to reducing fashion's impact," he said.
"The campaign features a series of powerful visual messages that highlight the link between fabrics made from synthetic fibres and the crude oil used in their manufacture," Mr Roberts said.
Visually striking 3D digital advertising was placed in iconic sites in London's Piccadilly Circus and New York's Times Square, along with other global outdoor advertising, such as on bus shelters and newsstands.
A partnership with like-minded companies such as popular computer file transfer company WeTransfer have also boosted recognition of the message.
By December, YouTube showed more than 4.5 million views on the short advertisement with reviewers using words such as, "brilliant", awesome to see" and "the message is on point".
Mr Roberts said AWI were extremely pleased with the initial results of the revealing, yet honest campaign.
"It certainly gets your attention and shows that we will defend wool's fantastic story, not just in terms of comfort and quality, but also in terms of sustainability," Mr Roberts said.
"It is predicted that in just ten years' time, 73 per cent of the entire clothing market will be made from synthetic fibres, which are derived directly from fossil fuels.
"The impact these clothes have during the use and end of life stages of their lifetime cannot be underestimated.
"It's been said the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles' worth of microfibres enter wastewater every year just from washing.
"Science shows that wool fibres biodegrade in both land and marine environments, so we know that Merino wool does not contribute to microplastic pollution."
