COUNTRY COUTURE - New Luxury fashion label puts Australian wool and sustainable manufacturing in the spotlight!

Story written by Annabelle Cameron with photos captured by Nadinne Wilkinson

Regionally based fashion designer Emily Riggs has converged her passion for high-end fashion and her love of merino wool, in the new label ‘iris + wool’. Australian grown merino wool is synonymous with superior quality and luxury, which was exactly what Emily wanted to channel through her elegant collection.

Emily embarked on a journey to source the most premium Australian merino wool she could find and a domestic manufacturer to champion the local wool and fashion industries. She secured a Melbourne based manufacturer to bring her designs to life and all ‘iris + wool’ garments are manufactured locally in Australia using superfine Tasmanian Merino wool. Emily is also vigilant in ensuring environmentally friendly manufacturing techniques are employed to eliminate wastage. The heritage of the brand’s name highlights its use of 100 per cent merino wool and dually honours Emily’s late mother who loved irises.

The ‘iris + wool’ label heroes Australian merino wool through an elegant collection comprising knitted women’s jumpers and tops. The full range is available to pre-order online and will be delivered in early May.

Rural Room was fortunate enough to go exclusively behind the scenes with Emily during her photoshoot for the new women’s knitwear range at her property in Burra.

These images are a sneak peak of what is yet to come. To keep up to date with developments, head over to Emily’s Instagram account @emily_irisandwool and her website.