Entrepreneur whose conviction benefits New Zealand wool

Press, 25 August 1983, Page 16

Entrepreneur whose conviction benefits New Zealand wool

John Packer is a good friend to the New Zealand grower. He is a wizard with crossbred wool, transforming it into what he modestly claims “is the most expensive twist suiting in the world.”

His view of New Zealand however, is slightly jaundiced. Her policy of excluding his fabric is, together with the tariff barriers in the United States and South America, an irritant. How, he asks, can he increase sales when countries with the appropriate climate and some wellheeled consumers, exclude or over-tax his product.

John Packer is the managing director of Reid and Taylor. He is internationally famous as hosting, every two years, a fashion spectacular.

This year when promotional events are infrequent or small, John Packer is spending more than ever.

When his 500 guests, after a fashion show in London’s Mansion House, banquet in the Guildhall, they will be joined by the Duchess of Gloucester, and addressed by Secretary of State, Cecil Parkinson. John Packer will have splurged a quarter of a million pounds promoting his cloth.

As nearly 40 per cent of his wool comes from New Zealand he will have invested some 80,000 pounds on her behalf. It’s not all his own money, but enticing it from the wallets of others, for the benefit of New Zealand wool, is no bad Ploy. John Packer’s aggressive marketing brings results. He is frank. Reid and Taylor may only make 82 to 83 per cent of their 1965 production, and exports rose from 75 per cent to 95 per cent.

Reid and Taylor figures are good compared with other mainly wool processing companies, which on average in 1982 exported 60 per cent of the volume exported in 1978. Reid and Taylor was born in the early nineteenth century. The mill sits in a comfortable valley with clear water, green hills and refreshing movement in the air.

ployment has been reduced from 220 to 100.

Capital changes have been significant but not only in plant and people. Reputation, and the quality that supports it, has received major investment. Selling a product which is only bought by the public after it has been made up by a garment manufacturer presents special problems.

As John Packer comments, “the garment has to perform.” “So the Reid and Taylor cloth has to have guts — and that means substance, weight, and volume. What we make will, and has to, endure. Its strength is the basis of its reputation.” Strength comes from the twisting of 4 or 5 strands into a yarn before the yarn is woven. The combination of coloured yarns (each

Discreetly occupying a fold on the edge of Langholm, it typifies industrial production at home in the Scottish borders.

The mill employed John Packer as assistant to the managing director in 1959.’ In 1967 he succeeded to the top job.

In 1959 the “new” machinery had been bought in 1912, some was circa 1898. Now completely re-equipped, em-

John Packer, self-styled exhibitionist, mixes New Zealand wool with osprey feathers and swan’sdown in his search for sales. ANGUS STEWART reports from London on the man who makes wool the theme of ah internationally renowned theatrical experience.

strand can be a different colour) gives a rich and subtle interplay of tone, as well as providing substance and strength. The standards of today are yesterday’s standards, but this product is very much of now.

Against the wool industry's conservative consensus John Packer votes with his purse.

Eighteen ounce cloths have reduced to 15 ounce, wool has been mixed with cashmere, mink, sable, chinchilla, ermine, and vicuna. Twist suitings are very male, and Reid and Taylor were men only until re-

cently. Now they have fabrics suitable for women. John Packer describes the fabrics as classic, for the twinset and pearls women, for skirts that are pleated and jackets that are tailored. This is a natural extension into the women’s wardrobe, but with the traditional quality, the feathery colouring, and the inbuilt longevity. Two years ago this woollen mill went into pure silk production, a natural step from mixing wool with silk. The silk has a wool quality which states its own originality: it is without lustre, dull, and rather “woolly,” like a tusser, reminiscent of Victorian weight and pouching. The Japanese have accepted the silk, recognising its freshness and immediacy

Japan, an avid user of Reid and Taylor’s cloth, provides three of the designers whose work will be included in the fashion extravaganza. Although a Scottish company, Reid and Taylor sell cloth and buy design internationally, from Japan, for example Hanae Mori, Kovi and Yuki, will be stars at the Mansion House.

But Packer already smells a swing back to the ethnic Scottish. Having held his promotions in West Germany, France, and Italy, after London he will return homewards. His first move is in terms of wool. He has reserved, on an exclusive basis, all the blue cheviot from Rosshire. He will capitalise on its Scottish origin, its purity as a fibre, and the particular whiteness that comes from being blue/white instead of yellow/white. This October, the Packer spectacular is in London, the city for all seasons. Now London is sweltering, there is little traffic, and tens of thousands of tourists are on their feet. In October, the season will be cold, the roads clogged, and the people inside.

Colour floating on top of the first days of winter will be in Reid and Taylor twist suitings, and the panoply and fun of John Packer’s courtly entertainment. John Packer spends to sell. He has the product, he innovates, but he always maintains Reid and Taylor’s known standards.

His selling is so good that support in cash or kind comes from the Crown jewellers, Garrards, Rolls Royce, Moet and Chandon, the International Wool Secretariat, and the European Commission for the Promotion of Silk. John Packer is a salesman in the world league. His industry, Britain’s wool processors, has voted against increasing its promotional levy. More than half of those who voted opposed an increase. Against that industry consensus John Packer is voting with his purse. Onlookers are left gasping by this man, dazzled by his theatricality, awed by his energy, foresight, and conviction. It is only that he succeeds, for he also explores paths that others can follow to their success.