Here at Barkers we're committed to producing garments that prove top quality and sustainability can go hand in hand. A significant part of this is ensuring we form partnerships with people and businesses who are truly on the same journey as us. Through our love of everything merino and our dedication to developing more responsible business practices, we formed just that – a relationship with the folks at the New Zealand Merino Company.
It’s here that we were introduced to ZQ, a wool standard that is a marque of integrity for New Zealand merino growers who are committed to ethical wool production. Since then, we have been transitioning our entire range of merino to the ZQ standard and, we are extremely proud of this achievement.
The New Zealand Merino Company’s new ZQRX programme provides our customers with traceable, sustainable and ethically produced merino and the platform to support those farmers who are dedicated to a regenerative approach to farming. For all involved, ZQRX is a journey of improvement, accurate measurement, and shared wisdom – something we value highly at Barkers.
By supporting The New Zealand Merino Company’s ZQRX programme, we champion a new benchmark in improving the wellbeing of growers, generating biodiversity, and actively protecting the land for future generations.
Working with the likes of ZQ growers Tony and Jenna from Mount Benger in Central Otago, ZQRX challenges growers to go beyond sustainability by deeply understanding the complex interactions between their livestock, soils, climate, ecology, and community.
For Tony, the reasoning for joining the ZQRX programme was easy, “ZQRX builds on what we were doing on farm anyway. There are some things we have to change a little bit, but apart from that it’s a great fit for us.”
For growers like Tony and Jenna, being on the ZQRX programme provides them with the framework to set aspirational goals for their property, tools to help them achieve these goals and a system to measure and quantify their journey of continuous improvement.
Yet another New Zealand success story, we’re proud to be supporting The New Zealand Merino Company as they move forward with the ZQRX programme to collectively drive meaningful action towards a better, kinder, more positive future for the planet.