In Conversation with Kerrie

In conversation with Kerrie Richards, by Robin McConchie, GraziHER Magazine

In the June/July 2024 issue of GraziHER magazine, Robin McConchie, spoke with Merino Country CEO, Kerrie Richards. This is one of the most personal interviews Kerrie has given covering the influences of her family, growing up on a remote sheep & cattle station, rural communities, outrigger paddling & the ingredients that have contributed to Kerrie & Mal making Merino Country  such a success! Pip Williams - Photographer took some great photos of Kerrie & Millie with the backdrop of Redland Bay! 

“You can do amazing things if you just say yes,” says Kerrie Richards of her 30 years spent promoting Australian merino wool. In our latest issue, she’s in conversation with @robinmcconchie — here’s an excerpt:⁠

ASK KERRIE RICHARDS about the story behind Merino Country, and her answer is simple. “Adversity is the mother of invention,” she tells me. ⁠

The small business that eventually became Merino Country was born in 1993 as a result of drought, low wool prices and the inability to find Australian wool products in the shops. Thirty years later, the company is one of Australia’s leading manufacturers of easy-care Australian merino wool clothing. The brand is promoted as 100 per cent Australian merino wool, grown and sewn locally.⁠

⁠“We don’t just make clothes — we produce Australian merino products that make people’s lives more comfortable. It is gratifying to employ local people and help customers with skin conditions, or who are having chemo or radiation treatment, travel comfortably, work safely or feel good every⁠ day... naturally,” she says.⁠

⁠A Nuffield scholar, a Queensland finalist in the Agrifutures Rural Women’s Award and an international guest speaker at the 2001 Commonwealth Agricultural Conference in South Africa, Kerrie has been tireless in her promotion of the fibre and is a strong advocate for the wool industry. Last year her service to the industry led her to being a finalist in The Weekly Times Shine Awards in the Belief category.⁠

⁠Merino Country has won contracts to supply the Australian Defence Force (ADF), Victoria Police, Australian Border Force and the Australian Antarctic Division with merino thermals and fire-resistant undergarments.⁠

⁠The journey has not been without personal challenges, and Kerrie says that if she and her husband, Malcolm Pain, had been able to have children, their story may have taken a different trajectory.⁠

⁠Read the story in Graziher’s June/July issue. Subscribe & make sure you never miss an issue - you’ll go in the draw to win a GlamSwag if you sign up this week. Link in bio!⁠

Photography @_pipwilliams⁠

Words @robinmcconchie⁠

#graziher #merinocountry #womeninwool #australianmerino