HISTORY

Key milestones in our history:

• 1991 WSI was formed for the purpose of creating an independent company to market New Zealand wool worldwide and at that time was a wholly owned subsidiary of the New Zealand Wool Board. 
   
• 1992 WSI commenced trading - we are now the largest exporter of New Zealand wool, exporting in excess of 40% of the coarse wool clip and 30% of the total wool clip.
   
• 1994 WSI acquired scouring operations at Kaputone and Whakatu.
   
• 1996 The New Zealand Wool Board distributed all of the shares it held in WSI to nearly 14,000 woolgrowers.
   
• 1997 WSI issued 40 million new ordinary shares, the proceeds of which were partly used to commission a new three-metre scouring line and build a new storage complex at Kaputone.
   
• 1999 10% of Kaputone Wool Scour Limited and 50% of Whakatu Wool Scour Limited were sold to privately owned Auckland-based wool exporting company, RDWM.
   
• 2000 Further share issue to raise capital.
   
• 2002 - 50% ownership of Rural Wool Link.
   
• 2005 Introduced a branded marketing strategy under the 'Red band' label.
   
• 2007 WSI purchased the remaining minority interest in Kaputone and Whakatu wool scours, and the trading and marketing interests in RDWM.
   
• 2007 Established the Purelana Direct Supply Initiative for wool growers to participate in vertical processing and marketing.
   
• 2011 First raw wool processer in NZ to have its own stand at the prestigeous Domotex Flooring Textile Fair in Shanghai.