Summary
Sam catches up with Lucas from WoolAid the Fieldays 2024 Innovation Award Winner for Growth and Scale.
Find out how Lucas came up with the idea of creating the worlds first merino wool bandage and what makes it so much better than the plastic alternative.
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Sam [00:00:03]:
Hey, guys. Sam here. I am at field days at The Tent. Now, you’ve heard of First Aid.
Sam [00:00:09]:
Have you heard of Wool Aid? Yeah. I am with Wool Aid, and it’s the Outdoor Retailers Innovation Awards winner, according to their sign. I’m gonna have to believe him on that. I don’t have time to research it, but I’m here with Lucas. They have an amazing product. Think of your standard, plaster that you will put on a wound, but instead of plastic, which is nasty for the environment, this is made of merino.
Lucas [00:00:31]:
Indeed. Merino, Walt, you wanna hear what’s the best fiber on earth. Right? Sure is. and. Absolutely. So, yes. They’re putting plastic on your wounds, which is obviously pumped out of an oil well used once, and then thrown away. 58,000,000,000 of those go into our ecosystem each year.
Lucas [00:00:44]:
Whereas merino wool, sheep eat grass, grow our bandages, and then when you’re finished with them, they can return to the soil and they degrade within 4 months. So, yeah, much better material.
Sam [00:00:53]:
Really simple concept, really good benefit. It’s almost a no brainer. They’ve been sticking these plasters on anybody that’s keen at field days. Everywhere you go, somebody’s got one of these plasters on their hands, and they’re like a muted gray, I guess.
Lucas [00:01:08]:
Yeah. Lots of different lots of different colors. We take our inspiration from the the fashion houses and Milan, so lots of beautiful different colors. Because if you did if you got a wound, you have generally and a pretty good story as to how you got it, so you kinda wanna show it off. That’s true. Yeah.
Sam [00:01:20]:
Yes. I believe in that. How’s the feedback been going at field days so far? And chris is first time you’ve been here?
Lucas [00:01:27]:
Yep. First time at field days. The feedback’s amazing because you get to talk to people who are on the front lines actually using it. Builders, farmers, crew that need a bandage to actually stick, heal faster, and then they can just throw it in the soil and it degrades instead of having to peel off a nasty bit of plastic to put in the The bin. They can heal better, and they can actually feel better about the end use of the product.
Sam [00:01:44]:
All very good stuff. What was I going to say? It has popped out of my head. How long have you been around, and how did this start?
Lucas [00:01:53]:
So 2016’s when we started with it took a long time to protect it and with intellectual property. So been re retailing since 2021, and it started I used to be a mountain guide on the Milford track. And when you’re out there, it’s a pretty special part of the world. And the people I was guiding, they’d come there for like a honeymoon trip or like a bucket list trip, and they’d get on the trail for 5 days, and the first day they a blister, and their entire focus would go to the blister. And the option for that was plastic, plastic, or more plastic. And so here I am as a mountain guide, you can buy wool socks, you can buy wool clothing, and it’s like, well, why can’t I buy a wool bandage? And in 2016, that was the idea of, well, why can’t I buy a wool bandage? And so, yeah, that’s been our innovation journey ever since.
Sam [00:02:33]:
How hard was it to start that journey?
Lucas [00:02:35]:
It’s a big job. It’s it’s a big journey. Obviously, we’re a medical product, so keeping it sterile and clean, it’s it’s a big it’s a big mission. But the cool thing is is we just provide a platform for the wall to do its thing. The whole thing with healing wounds is breathability, so you wanna get that airflow going, airflow circulating, and that’s what merino wool does best, right?
Sam [00:02:53]:
What’s next for the growth of, Wulaid?
Lucas [00:02:56]:
Oh, man. It’s look, at the end of the day, a lot of plastic bandages have these forever chemicals on The, so there’s a real awareness of going, oh and, plastic bandages aren’t too bad for the The. They’re actually really quite bad for people. And so, especially here at field days, there’s a lot of real time feedback going, well, I actually need it to to breathe better, to to heal quicker. And, so, for us, it’s just fulfilling that market need, really. It’s a massive, massive market. Obviously, everyone needs a bandage, and so it’s just getting it to market.
Sam [00:03:22]:
That’s awesome. Where can people pick up Woll And currently?
Lucas [00:03:24]:
So in New Zealand, the main retailers are Bivwac and Torpedo and. But if you head to wollaid.com, there’s a massive list of our small independent retailers throughout throughout New Zealand.
Sam [00:03:32]:
That’s awesome, Az. During your, process of coming up with the idea and coming to market right now, how much did AI play in any of it?
Lucas [00:03:41]:
We live, probably more in the The tech world, so not a lot to be honest with you. We’re a very old school product. It’s it’s kinda like making whiskey or wine. Wools are very old fiber, and there’s a lot of technique and production that goes into it. So some of the machinery we use is is probably powered by AI, but us personally now, we keep it old school. We keep it close to nature as we
Sam [00:03:59]:
can. Awesome to hear. Whereabouts are you guys based? Just randomly? Lake Tekapo.
Lucas [00:04:02]:
Yeah. Tekapo is home for us. But we have offices in Denver, Colorado, so America’s a massive market for us. So yeah. That’s awesome.
Sam [00:04:10]:
Now, here’s a main important question for the end of every interview. Do you listen to podcasts? Yep.
Lucas [00:04:15]:
Give us your top 3. Or, probably, How I Built Thris.
Sam [00:04:20]:
Yes.
Lucas [00:04:21]:
Acquired to be another good one. Good long form podcast. And then Chris and Sam podcast. I mean, always out there. That’s what we like to
Sam [00:04:29]:
hear for people that have never heard us.
Lucas [00:04:33]:
We’re happy to be happy to be happy to be around. Thanks so
Sam [00:04:36]:
much, Lucas. You’re probably the best person I’ve interviewed Oh. For a long time. Cheers. Thanks so much. Stay
Lucas [00:04:41]:
hydrated. Catch you soon. That’s right. Yeah. Thank you. Thanks, mate. Yes. Appreciate that.
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