Success Demands Constant Innovation

While Christchurch-based wool exporter Fuhrmann is the oldest wool merchanting company in the world, it would not have survived without being a constant innovator. 

	The Fuhrmann team at work. From left director Steve Finnie, managing director Peter Christensen and director John Henderson.

Putting its age into perspective, Captain James Cook was only seven years old and still 34 years away from discovering New Zealand when Fuhrmann started trading wool in Europe in 1735.  

“Even given this wonderful legacy some of the biggest changes have occurred for New Zealand over the last 20 years,” says Fuhrmann NZ director and Wool Exporters’ Council president John Henderson. 

“There has been massive rationalisation in the wool exporting sector to match the reducing demand and diminishing supply. Like every other wool exporter we have to continually adapt and innovate to survive.

“Our business is based on our collective local knowledge of the New Zealand wool clip, readiness to adapt e-commerce efficiencies and our wide international network with trusting customer relationships we’ve built up over the last 273 years,” he says.

Mr Henderson said wool exporting was a tough and highly competitive industry and it was difficult to express the degree of frustration he felt when newcomers like Wool Partners International executives came back from their first wool foray to the US.

“They add insult to injury with breathless stories in the media about situations that can only be described as the everyday bread and butter reality for anyone selling wool internationally,” Mr Henderson said.