Woolmark | 1974

“Czysta żywa wełna” literally means “pure living wool”: the Polish way of saying pure new wool. In this ad from December 1974, two men pose in wide-lapelled jackets, bow ties and flared trousers, and the Woolmark label presents itself as “znak najwyższej jakości” (the mark of the highest quality).

The Woolmark was launched in August 1964 by the International Wool Secretariat, founded in 1937 to promote wool on behalf of sheep farmers in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Uruguay. Its purpose was to guarantee that a garment was made of pure new wool, not blended with synthetic fibres, at a time when acrylic, polyester and nylon were gaining ground.

The ad appeared in Magazyn Rodzinny (“Family Magazine”), a monthly published in communist Poland. The same issue carried an ad for sweaters made of anilana, a Polish acrylic fibre: wool and its rival, a few pages apart.

Today the mark belongs to The Woolmark Company, part of Australian Wool Innovation since 2007, and it still appears on wool garments all over the world.