New organisation puts Women in Wool in spotlight

Starting as a series of annual events for International Women's Day in 2020, Women in Wool will now enter a new phase as an incorporated body with a group of passionate industry leaders on the board.

Founder Bianca Heaney said the Women in Wool events had started as a way to celebrate women's contributions to the wool industry but last year an event didn't happen as organisers became busier post-COVID.

"In October I approached my committee and asked if we wanted to continue this or not do it all," she said.

"I had actually registered the business a couple of years prior and I suggested to them I could actually transfer the business name from my name into an incorporated association and they were all pretty excited about that.

"From that first meeting we organised a board and started planning to get Women in Wool incorporated and to start looking at what we can do to help women in the future."

Ms Heaney said as well as events, Women in Wool would be looking at other ways to empower women in the industry and help them share their stories.

"I must say this is not just a women's organisation...my whole plan was to get men involved as well so that we can all work together and build this industry into one that's going to fabulous," she said.

"We need to get the ducks on the pond turning into beautiful swans and running the show.

"We've got women who do research, we've got women who are specialists in fibre, women who are designers, women who work in biosecurity... we cover so many different areas and we're all fairly powerful sort of women but for some reason we need that extra inspiration to keep going and keep telling this story."

An official launch event is being held in Melbourne this Friday, with about 100 people expected to attend, including some from interstate.