Wellington Design Company, The Formary, wants to blend New Zealand wool with waste products to create eco-friendly fabrics.

The company has already successfully created an upholstery fabric using recycled coffee sacks blended with New Zealand wool, now used by international brand Starbucks.

Bernadette Casey, a director of The Formary, is off to China to explore this latest eco-friendly idea.

She says there is no better product than wool for their invention, and believes wool is severely underutilized.

"Two things we do know - the trouble that NZ farmers have had over recent years in wool prices, and also the narrow application of NZ wool for a long time, which has been focused mainly on carpets, and there are so many things that you can do beyond that.

"Wool is just a fantastic fibre and we believe that there are other markets, and better returns for the farmers."

The Formary is working in collaboration with Beef and Lamb New Zealand, and is part of a Wellington mayoral delegation leaving for China on Monday to start the process with China.

"Wool fits perfectly into the sustainable market. It's a fantastic fibre. So what we are doing in taking products that have been disposed of, that are still really viable fibre's, and blending it with New Zealand wool. It's a really true, sustainable story."