SPINNING TO THE TOPFounded in 1978, Mauritian company Ferney Spinning Mills (FSM) has firmly establisheditself as one of the world’s most prestigious names in carded yarns. Since last speaking toEuroasia Industry over two years ago, General Manager, Mr Mushtaq Sooltangos, recountshis firm’s ever-increasing successes in conquering the European market, its unwaveringcommitment to quality and its solid dedication to sustainable practices. Written byHelena Haimes.

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Part of the multi-national, diversi-fied CIEL group, Ferney Spinning Millswas originally set up nearly four decadesago to supply yarns to its sister company,Floreal Knitwear Ltd – already a leadingname in the industry back then, special-ising in woollen sweaters for the Europeanmarket. By the early 1990s, Ferney hadbecome a six-line factory producing over2,000 tonnes of woollen yarn and, throughFloreal, had started to partner up withEuropean retailers on the high street.And in 2004, the prudent decision wasmade to enable the company to supplyand export to other knitwear and weavingwoollen manufacturers – a move that has

enabled Ferney Spinning Mills to estab-lish an impressive customer base inEurope and beyond.For Mr Sooltangos, it is the organisa-

tion’s refusal to place limitations of itsambition that has served the firm so well for so long in such a notoriously chal-lenging and competitive industry. “Ourdirectors, despite being local Mauritians,have been worldwide visionaries sinceday one,” he explains. “They’ve providedexcellent support in the good times andthe bad. We’ve also developed a mutu-ally supportive relationship with oursister company, Floreal Knitwear, whichis a leader in its business segment. I think

we’ve kept that level of quality and man-ufacturing excellence in wool and yarns,and we’ve also managed to diversify in theweaving business outside of Floreal inEurope and elsewhere. Our future todaylies in our capacity to innovate, createnew products, and to build new marketswithin the wool and wool blend niche.”

Forging collaborationsThis ability to identify and effectively col-laborate with an impressive roster ofdemanding European clients is one ofthe clearest reasons for the firm’s impres-sive position in its sector today. It uses itstechnical experience to manufacture thetotal easy care knitwear range for UK-based retail giant Marks and Spencer; isseeing order volumes increase from UKhigh street merchandiser Next, and hasdeveloped a closely integrated workingrelationship with British luxury woolmanufacturer Abraham Moon. “In the UK, we’re reaching many

small weaving mills – in Scotland, inIreland and in England,” Mr Sooltangostells us. “Increasingly therefore, Ferneyyarn is going into factories in the UK.Then we have our collaboration withWooltex – they’ve just invested in a verybig finishing plant and dye house in

General Manager, Mr Sooltangos

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Huddersfield, UK – while in Germanywe’re still working with Biederlack. InItaly meanwhile, we’re now developingour business with the Marzotto group,and we have three target customers inItaly: Pontetorto, Milior and Emimaglia.”As well as the myriad prestigious

European connections it has cultivated,one of Ferney’s most exciting new collab-orative avenues has developed via itsongoing close relationship with sisterfirm Floreal, which is currently imple-menting a strategy to conquer mid- andhigh-end markets working in the woolniche. To that end, Floreal has come to an exclusivity agreement with NewZealand-based, high-end leading brand‘Escorial’. The Mauritian firm will man-ufacture Escorial’s knitwear productsfrom its new, state-of-the-art factory inMadagascar, which includes cutting-edgeknitting machine technology. Ferney,meanwhile, will provide the knitting pro-ject’s carded woollen yarns as well as spin-ning yarns for the weaving mill Joshua Ellis.

Nurturing innovative advancementsThis drive towards innovative, collectiveworking has also recently been extendedin an academic direction. Ferney hasforged a connection with ProfessorXungai Wang from the Institute ofFrontier Materials at Deakin Universityin Australia. The project is to carry outresearch work with masters and doctoralstudents for three to four months in Ferneyfacilities. The resulting research papersare then published in collaboration withFerney. The project is clearly drawing

attention from the most cutting-edgequarters – leading research and develop-ment organisation Australian WoolInnovation (the owners of the Woolmarklicence) have expressed a strong interestin becoming involved.“The main aim is to promote research

work in the wool and carding area, andwe want to be at the forefront of that,”enthuses the General Manager. “It’s a very niche business and people areinvesting more in cotton, synthetics orother types of fibres where there’s morebusiness and more money.”As well as being at the cutting edge

academically, the company is also lookingto develop a ‘fab lab’ over the next twoyears by renovating its existing workshopwhere it produces its own spare parts. “Itwill be one space where engineers anddevelopers can work together on aproject,” explains Mr Sooltangos. “A fablab normally consists of 3D printing andscanning facilities, linked to three axismilling machine where you can mill allthe parts, as well as a laser cutter andsmall circuit printing machine. This willalso be useful for the other companies in our group and for students from theUniversity of Mauritius and other technical institutes.”

Improved facilitiesFerney Spinning Mills certainly convinceswhen it comes to a willingness to investin the most impactful, advanced equip-ment available. Since we last spoke to MrSooltangos back in 2014, the company hasmade some key purchases to maintain

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his company’s position at the cuttingedge of weaving and yarn production, as he describes: “We’ve invested in ourwinding and preparation departmentwith new German and Italian state-of-the-art technology. We’ve also bought anew large-capacity radio frequencyStalam dryer from Italy to give us anedge on the quality of our wool drying; asteaming and conditioning machine; anew hank dyeing plant, which we hopewill give more flexibility to Ferney andFloreal; and new micron-testing equip-ment for our lab from Ofda.”The firm is also planning to make a

heavy investment in a new carding linefor sampling and yarn design, yet anotherexample of its constant dedication tomanufacturing the highest quality prod-ucts to impress the most exacting of UKand European buyers. “These investmentswill impact directly on the improvementof quality and flexibility – I think suchan investment now, in a depressed market,just shows how confident Ferney and itsDirectors are in the future of our business.“Today, we have an installed capacity

of about 2,000 tonnes per annum, andwe’re using about 1,600 tonnes of thatcapacity,” he continues. “However, ouraim isn’t to grow volumes – today we’regoing upmarket and are therefore tryingto grow our margins with new customerswho are in the upper and middle market,

both in the knitting and weaving busi-nesses. However, we shall also soon be increasing volumes with new poten-tial customers in the UK.”

Driving sustainabilityFerney Spinning Mills places an unusuallylarge emphasis on environmental andsocial responsibility – an ethos that MrSooltangos attributes to the company’sMauritian roots: “Sustainability is partic-ularly important for us because Mauritiusis a tourist island and tourism is one of thepillars of our economy,” he explains. “Thismeans we can’t afford to pollute our islandbecause it would really affect this industry,so the government here has very strict lawsin place. Today, in our group, we want to take the lead.”Certainly, when produced responsibly,

wool itself is a much more inherentlysustainable product than, for example,cashmere (with the vastly increasingpopulation of grazing goats in parts ofMongolia leading to desertification);synthetic fibres manufactured usingpotentially polluting processes; or GMcotton – the production of which hascaused notable damage throughout theregions that produce it. “Our view is thatwool is sustainable,” emphasises MrSooltangos, “and we’re helping in a wayto preserve the environment by stayingin the wool business.”

New, external investors – such as thePSA Group – are also playing a key rolein shaping Ferney’s sustainability cre-dentials. These backers were initiallyattracted by the organisation’s excep-tional environmental policy, but havepushed it even further, with annualaudits now the norm. “We’ve now imple-mented these systems both at corporateand local level (within the factories), andnow we have an environmental manage-ment systems policy manual covering anumber of areas such as energy, water,waste and solid waste reduction, along-side incorporating an air emissions andenvironmental procurement policy,” MrSooltangos says. “Also, regarding ourtransport policy, we’re trying to buy carsthat are less polluting for employees. So,it’s filtering down to little things as wellas looking at the bigger picture.”The site of Ferney Mills’ factory, too,

is a model of environmental conscientious-ness, with the company recently aligningitself with Mauritian nature conservationNGO to ensure the preservation of the22 indigenous plants that were alreadypresent there, as well as planting manymore. Water usage is another area wherethe firm’s commitment to conservationshines through – it now uses only 70 litresof water per kilo of wool in its dyeingprocess, compared to the industryaverage of about 120 litres.There are also solar panels installed on

the factory roof – additions which Ferneyhas a policy to continue to support, evenif low oil prices mean investment returnson them could take a little longer. “Also,with the University of Mauritius, wehave a study in the mill involving a windturbine at experimental level, and willpublish the results in two months’ time,”says Mr Sooltangos. “If it’s positive, wewill invest in a wind turbine.”

Struggle against inequality and povertyBeyond its efforts towards boosting sus-tainability, Ferney Spinning Mills – underthe leadership of parent company CIELTextile’s CEO Mr Harold Mayer – hasmade the fight against inequality andpoverty one of the group’s battle cries.With the decentralisation of corporatesocial responsibility (CSR) activities, allof the group’s textile units have their own‘Act for Community’ committee at eachsite. “Ferney has been very active at thatlevel and, together with the workers,management and suppliers, has already‡

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raised funds to support well-establishedNGOs active in different areas, con-tributing to the alleviation of poverty inso doing,” advises Mr Sooltangos. “Overand above those activities mentioned, weare already contributing two per cent of ourprofits to sustain the fight against poverty.”

The skills for successEvidently, quality has been the key factorat the heart of Ferney’s achievements overthe decades. As evidenced by its enviablesuccess in the scrupulous Europeanmarket, it has a stringent approach tosourcing, as Mr Sooltangos describes: “It all starts with the choice of raw mate-rials – wool supply is obviously a veryimportant part of our business, and wemeet suppliers regularly to ensure wemaintain our standards,” he advises. “Weare also increasing our supply base as wefind there are specialists everywhere inthis business and we want to buy prod-ucts from specialists rather than general-ists. So we’re really getting into thesupply chain and looking for the bestopportunities to buy the best.”Another clear ingredient is the man-

agement team’s commitment to, and beliefin, its workforce: “The most importantcontributor to our quality and processcomes from the people that we have,”

notes the GM. “Added to that, shiftchanges in the factory that go beyondthe cosmetic; an increase in the skilllevel to manage those changes (a resultof a recruitment drive in Madagascar toseek BAC Technique-qualified staff); anda thorough new manual detailing specifictechnical processes and operating proce-dures, have all produced a noticeableincrease in efficiency throughout Ferney’soperations. We are also starting theprocess to move on to the newISO:9001 standards.”“It’s very rewarding when we do a cus-

tomer survey with our customers in Europewho are also spinners like us, and theydon’t hesitate to rate us better than theirown products,” he concludes. “That reallydoes mean something to us.” o

General Manager, Mr Sooltangos