Luxury cloth brand Dormeuil, based in France and England, has been filming at Haldon Range, near Seddon, the company's only source of New Zealand merino wool.
Marlborough farmer Dick Bell owns the 1350-hectare station which carries 5000 merino sheep.
Commercial director of the family-owned business Frederic Dormeuil said clients were more discerning and wanted to know the processes the company goes through to make the fabric from start to finish.
"The client is very demanding. They want to know that as a manufacturer we're controlling the process as much as we can."
The only way to get the answer questions from clients about how some of their products were made was to get to know the people on the farm, he said.
Mr Bell said the relationship between the two companies began when he approached the cloth firm about 15 years ago.
Seventy-five per cent of the wool produced at the farm is sent to Dormeuil.
Each of the 5000 sheep is on a database, which records the genetics of each sheep and the quality and quantity of the wool they are producing.
This allows him to better control the quality of the wool and to explain how best to handle the wool while it is processed.
"We're using old fashioned stockmanship with new technology."
Mr Dormeuil said both companies were innovators and described the relationship between the two as a marriage.
Out of that marriage came a cloth named Jade which has greenstone fibres in the wool – an idea which Mr Bell challenged the company to produce after talking with a jade sculptor.
Mr Bell said the company was "gutsy" to develop the idea into a workable material.
Prime Minister John Key wore a specially tailored suit made of the cloth to the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in April.
- The Marlborough Express
SIMON WONG
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