26/08/2026
When the best Australian wool meet the best Australian Tailor -magic happens- I was lucky enough to be invited and photograph the experience
‘I’m proud to call myself Australian and to surround myself with the greatness that Australia can produce. What could be better than wearing an Australian bespoke suit made with the world’s best wool made by one of the world’s finest tailors,’ said Radil.
Floyd Legge is a sixth-generation farmer whose family wool business stretches back 150 years. Floyd and his sisters, Ruth and Isabele, run RB & JF Legge.
Many places around Australia produce world-class wool, of course, including Forbes, New South Wales, 500 kilometres west of Sydney. It is here something truly special is happening in the sphere of Australian wool.
From the Legge farm the wool goes to a store in Parkes, NSW, for core testing, then it’s scoured (washed) in Geelong and carded and combed at Cashmere Connections in Bacchus Marsh, both in Victoria. By this stage, Floyd has pure new wool, with no impurities. The wool is then produced as a sliver, a rope – called “wool top”. This is air freighted to Xinao in China and prepared and spun into yarn. It returns to Geelong for dying and processing to reinstate the feel and softness lost after the dying process. Geelong Textiles weaves the wool. Geelong Dying dyes it.
And – voila! – a length of world-class 220-gram Super 140s cloth is spun and woven and immaculately presented in carefully folded rolls. But who is going to take the cloth and make clothes worthy of this material?
Enter Bespoke tailor John Cutler , JH Cutler is an Australian institution. Founded in 1884, the venerable tailoring firm is recognised worldwide
‘The quality of the cloth and its full traceability mean that its retail value is higher than some commercially available products. But being wholly Australian made puts a higher price on it. The provenance also gives it added value.’
This project shows what this country can do, and it is the best in the world,’ John said.
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