Our story starts with a frustration. As New Zealanders my brother and I have always been drawn to wool. Our grandmother knitted our jumpers for school and the stories of famous kiwi sailor Peter Blake wearing his lucky red woolen socks for weeks straight was etched in our collective “kiwi” consciousness. We often wondered if the natural, anti-bacterial, anti-odour properties of wool were the answer to our smelly shoes and it led to the question: “Why had wool never been used to make the upper of a shoe before?”