Merino & Co. (ASX:MNC) Partners With Ronni Kahn AO on YÙE Merino Travel Collection

Sonal Goyal

21 October 2026 01:26 PM AEDT

Merino & Co. (ASX:MNC) Partners With Ronni Kahn AO on YÙE Merino Travel Collection

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Key Highlights

Merino & Co. has signed a collaboration agreement with social entrepreneur Ronni Kahn AO to design and commercialise a travel capsule collection under its YÙE house.
The collection will contain no fewer than nine designs built on Australian merino wool and will carry the endorsement YÙE by Merino & Co.
Ms Kahn holds design authorship over silhouette, styling, construction, materials and fit, while the company controls brand, positioning, pricing, manufacturing, supply, quality standards and route to market.
The design phase starts immediately, with completion targeted within six months of commencement and the first commercial sale within twelve months.

Merino & Co. Limited (ASX:MNC) has entered into a collaboration agreement with social entrepreneur Ronni Kahn AO for the design and commercialisation of a capsule travel collection under the company's YÙE house. The collection will comprise no fewer than nine designs, built on Australian merino wool and released as YÙE by Merino & Co. The design phase begins immediately, with the company targeting completion within six months and a first commercial sale within twelve months, a schedule that runs from the agreement announced on 21 October 2026.

A Travel Capsule of Nine or More Merino Designs

A capsule collection is a compact, defined range released together, and in this case the range is a travel capsule of no fewer than nine designs. It will be built on Australian merino wool and sold under the YÙE house, endorsed as YÙE by Merino & Co. The collection is designed for the purpose of travel, and Ms Kahn described her test as every piece earning its place in a suitcase.

The collaboration follows what the company calls a build-then-trade structure. A design phase, during which the collection is developed, comes first, followed by an initial term during which it is sold. The two stages run in sequence: sales begin only after the collection has been developed. Design phase completion is targeted within six months of commencement, and the first commercial sale within twelve months. Because the design phase commences immediately, counting from 21 October 2026 places the six-month target around April 2027 and the twelve-month target around October 2027. The company has not disclosed the financial terms of the agreement or the length of the initial selling term.

Who Decides What: Designer and Company Roles

The agreement splits control between the designer and the company. Ms Kahn holds design authorship of the collection, with authority over silhouette, styling, construction, materials and fit. She is supported in that work by the company's House Designer. Ms Kahn and the House Designer therefore share the design work, with Ms Kahn holding authorship.

Merino & Co. holds authority over brand, positioning, pricing, manufacturing, supply, quality standards and route to market. Design decisions therefore sit with Ms Kahn, while commercial and production decisions sit with the company. Managing Director Fiona Yue summarised the arrangement by saying it is a design collaboration in the real sense: Ms Kahn is designing the collection and the company is making it.

Ronni Kahn's Background and Comments

Ms Kahn is a social entrepreneur, author and public figure, born in Johannesburg and based in Sydney. She built an event management business before founding OzHarvest, Australia's food rescue organisation, in 2004, and she is now its Visionary in Residence. She was named Local Hero in the 2010 Australian of the Year Awards and appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2019 for distinguished service to social welfare. She is the subject of the 2018 documentary Food Fighter and co-author of the 2020 memoir A Repurposed Life.

Commenting on the collaboration, Ms Kahn said she and Ms Yue share a founder's belief that good things should be built to last. She said that although she is known for rescuing food, she has always cared about how things are made and what they are made from. The collection will be Australian made from Australian merino wool, she said, and the company has given her the freedom to design it from the ground up. She added that she does not put her name to things lightly. Ms Yue said Ms Kahn brings a point of view on what things are made of and what happens to them afterwards, which sits naturally with merino wool as a fibre.

Where Things Stand for YÙE and Merino & Co.

Merino & Co. Limited (ASX:MNC) said the collaboration advances YÙE as a design-led house within its portfolio, opens the Travel chapter of its collection sequence and broadens its reach to new customer audiences. The company is vertically integrated, covering the design, manufacture, marketing and sale of wool products. It sells merino wool garments and accessories in Australia through its own online store and offline channels such as duty free shops, airports, boutique shops and tourism spots, as well as through wholesalers and agents, and it exports to China, Japan and North America. For the Kahn collaboration, the design phase begins immediately, with a first commercial sale targeted within twelve months.

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