Pure Aussie Merino scarves from India

Raffal was founded in 1999 in Victoria by former product marketing manager of the Australian Wool Corporation, Helen Webster, as the result of her enduring love for Australian wool.

“After working for many years at the Australian Wool Corporation, I wanted to explore the possibility of creating a collection of beautiful, sustainable and fashionable scarves and wraps made from pure Australian Merino wool,” Helen said.

“I had years of experience understanding fashion, presenting trends to the local industry, liaising with retailers, and the promotion and advertising of wool products – and wool is such a wonderful, natural fibre. It has spring and elasticity, it is lustrous, breathes, and keeps you fresh and safe.”

Raffal scarves and wraps are all Woolmark-certified and made from 100% fine Australian Merino wool.

Raffal founder Helen Webster on one of her regular trips to India to work on design concepts.

Grown in Australia, made in India

Helen developed her idea of producing wool scarves and wraps after travelling to India, a leading producer of high quality wool fabrics, where she had seen the widespread use of shawls. In the Northern state of Punjab, manufacturers, mainly family businesses, have been weaving beautiful shawls for many generations.

Helen chose the name Raffal for her brand, because it is the name of the type of Kashmir shawl made from Merino wool.

“India buys fine micron Australian Merino wool for its domestic shawl industry and has both hand looms and fast electronic fully automatic looms. This enables me to source a wide variety of products for my Raffal brand,” Helen said.

“Our shawl and scarf range includes such things as embroideries, tie-dyeing, dip-dyeing, jacquard fabrics, prints, fancy yarn and modification of fabrics.”

Raffal produces two ranges each year – Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer – which means that Helen travels twice each year to India.

“I work closely with the manufacturers in India, coming up with design concepts, tweaking them until we get what is suitable for the Australian market. Concepts and a kaleidoscope of colour ways are chosen by me, using forward colour forecasts tempered with more wearable and versatile elements, such as size and weight.”

Quality, Woolmark-certified products

Helen believes very strongly in upholding the quality of Raffal scarves and wraps, which are made from only pure, fine Australian Merino wool of between 19-21 micron.

“We only use the best quality, specified yarn, which is mainly sourced from Jayashree Textiles, a large producer of Woolmark-certified yarns,” Helen said.

“The scarves and wraps are made by experienced and accredited manufacturers in India and all our products carry the Woolmark logo which provides customers with an assurance of quality and pure new wool content.”

After import from India, the Raffal scarves and wraps are distributed for sale at about 70 retailers across Australia, in rural areas as well as metropolitan areas – see the Raffal website for outlets.

“I make a point of selling to speciality boutiques and other outlets such as tourist destinations and galleries, rather than to large department or chain stores.”

Helen says wool is the ideal fibre for scarves and wraps.

“It virtually never needs washing, only a light steam iron to get it back to its original look, and it doesn’t crease which makes it ideal for travelling,” she said.

“Our products are a great finishing touch to an outfit and can be worn for warmth or purely decorative reasons. They are affordable and go on performing year in, year out.”

More information: www.raffal.com.au

This article appeared in the March 2024 edition of AWI’s Beyond the Bale magazine. Reproduction of the article is encouraged.