WHEN Jo Nathan has looked out the window of her design studio in recent months, across the paddocks of her NSW Riverina farm, she has seen parched earth and faded grass.

So it’s no surprise her 2019 winter fashion collection — for her Woolliwoolli label — features jumpers, scarfs and cardigans inspired by muted colours.

“I’ve taken on the colour palette of the environment and because we’ve been living through a drought where colours get muted by dust, the colours I’ve used this year are muted, softer shades of pinks and grey greens,” she says.

“There are also some pretty, bright colours added in the mix.”

Even though Jo and her husband, Matt, run a cattle property on 1210ha at Deniliquin, Jo’s love has always been wool. Her 20-year fashion career has included her designs being showcased by Australian Wool Innovation and appearing on catwalks and at trade fairs from Milan to Paris, London to Sydney. For two years running she even won the Australian Wool Fashion Award.

From her studio, the 45-year-old uses a knitting machine to make her garment collection, as well as taking up needles for handknitted creations.

She uses only wool, with occasional blends of cashmere, silk or alpaca, but never acrylic or cotton.

“Living in this area, with wool growers, classers and shearers, I understand how important the sheep industry is, how important it is to so many people’s lives,” Jo says.

“But I also prefer wool. It’s such a beautiful fibre, it knits up beautifully, holds colour so well and there are lots of different ways to manipulate it, like felting.”

Furthermore, Jo says wool is a sustainable fabric, underscoring her philosophy against fast fashion.

After growing up on a dairy farm in Cobram, Jo studied textile design at RMIT. She graduated in 1996 and for two years worked for Australian Country Spinners, the parent company to Wangaratta Woollen Mills, creating knitwear designs for patterns and even designing yarns — blends of fibres, textures and colours.

For a year she lectured in textile design at RMIT before meeting city-boy Matt and moving to the farm in Deniliquin in 1998.

“At that time the sheep industry was flat — tough times for growers — but also wool in fashion, and I saw an opportunity to do something exciting with wool.”

Jo launched Woolliwoolli, initially knitting beanies and scarfs on a knitting machine — sourced from a garage sale — in a spare room, and selling at local markets.

After a fashion industry insider spotted her talent, Jo began making spring/summer and autumn/winter garment collections, with up to 30 pieces at a time. The garments were showcased around the globe with the help of AWI, who could see Jo was ahead of the trend in terms of value-adding Australian wool.

Jo admits the fashion industry is a fickle one and travelling to global fashion shows was not financially sustainable in the long term.

Then, last year both her parents passed away — within five months of each other — and design took a back seat for Jo, who is only now just recovering.

“Last year did change how I see my designs. I think being forced to take a break I now realise how much I miss it and I feel reinvigorated about it again.”

Jo says she is content to work from her farm studio, selling online through her website and gaining inspiration online. She even photographs for her own fashion shoots, this year approaching Deniliquin local Sophie Connallin to model her winter 2019 collection, with photos taken around the Nathans’ farm.

“Sophie’s grandfather is a wool grower, her Dad is a shearer and the model spent part of her gap year travelling around Australia working in wool sheds as a roustabout, so Soph has a deep connection to wool,” Jo says.

“I don’t think living in regional Australia limits me in any way any more. When I started I would travel and read lots of fashion magazines, but now I use social media — it’s all online, it’s all there — and when I go to the city I absorb as much as I can.”

Given the recent drought, the Nathans have destocked from 250 breeders down to 12 and Matt has taken off-farm work at Ruralco and as a stock and station agent at Rodwells.

Jo works one day a week doing office work at the Deniliquin saleyards, and for the past four years she has been the manager of the Naponda Store in Deniliquin.

The non-profit shop — opened almost a decade ago — showcases the work of 35 local producers, earning them extra income, but also donating all profits to the Deniliquin Hospital.

So far the store and its associated fundraisers has donated on average $20,000 per year to the hospital, which has gone to buying equipment for the maternity ward, as well as the oncology and kidney units.

Jo says the store was started by the hospital auxiliary as a pop-up, but become a permanent shop after being embraced by local residents.

“It was also established to look after people’s mental health. If people are occupied and creative, able to make an income, that also keeps them out of hospital,” Jo says.

Naponda’s bestsellers include cakes and preserves, as well as handmade children’s and baby clothes.

“There’s a lot of creative people in this area. The men’s shed sell their wood- work here and there’s even a mechanic who makes mini utes and tractors out of recycled materials.”

After two decades in the fashion industry, Jo says she has seen “considerable changes” and cheap imports from China made it difficult for small, quality design businesses to stay afloat.

“But I still believe in the quality of hand-made and the quality fibre of wool,” she says.

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