Mohair South Africa, an organization established to promote and safeguard the standards of the country’s mohair industry, has introduction a registered international trademark, the Mohair Mark, to appear on mohair products.
South Africa is the world’s leading producer of mohair, the natural fiber made from the fleece of the Angora goat. Prized for its luxurious, lustrous and resilient qualities, mohair is one of the country’s main exports — about 50 percent of world production of mohair comes from the country, specifically in the Karoo region in the Eastern Cape province, where Angora goats have been raised since 1838. Port Elizabeth, the principal city of the Eastern Cape, is considered the mohair capital of the world.
Just as the wool industry has Woolmark and the cotton industry has its own recognizable symbol, Mohair South Africa felt it was important for consumers to recognize when they were buying and wearing genuine mohair products.
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“Natural fibers such as cotton and wool have long reaped the benefits of making use of their unique symbol on their products,” the organization said. “The increasing demand for mohair has offered an opportunity to join the family of natural fibers by introducing a distinguishable mark, the Mohair Mark.”
Mohair South Africa aims to establish mohair as a luxury natural fiber of choice and to secure its sustainability in the market place.
“Currently, there is no recognizable mark attached to products available on the shelf which allows consumers to easily identify whether a product contains mohair,” Mohair South Africa said.
Mohair is enjoying increasing popularity in the fashion and interior design worlds. In addition to the fiber’s natural luxuriousness, it is also a sustainable and renewable resource with several properties that set it apart, among them its versatility, dye-responsiveness, durability and breathability. As a lightweight, breathable fiber, it keeps the wearer warm in winter and cool in summer, and it is notably nonflammable, rendering it safe to wear all year round, the group noted.
As “a symbol that should be treated with respect and worn with pride,” the Mohair Mark will validate that the product contains mohair, “but will not be a quality guarantee.”
The Mohair Mark logo is a stylized “M,” with several undulating loops, visually incorporating several elements: a cue of yarn, simplified into an eternity symbol; a classic knitwear pattern, the knitting technique, and “the softness and unique shape of mohair spinners tops.”
Free applications for the mark have just opened with Mohair South Africa’s Web site, and manufacturers with approved applications will be allowed to use the mark “via sewn-in labels, swing tags, brochures and marketing material at trade shows.”
The final sale of the 2015 winter season yielded healthy prices for mohair, stated a Mohair Market Report released Dec. 1 by Cape Mohair and Wool, the world’s largest mohair broker. While 2014 saw record prices and “the best price level ever,” 2015 saw “healthy competition from all buyers with a 100 percent sale clearances with no stock carried over.”