MJ Bale to clothe Aussie footballers in well-wishers' tweets

In 'Grazed on greatness', in 2012, the company created handcrafted suits for the Australian cricket team from the wool of an elite group of Merino sheep who grazed on grass taken from the Sydney Cricket Ground.

This time around the effort is called ‘Paddock of Pride’. Working again with Whybin/TBWA Sydney and Eleven PR, the company set up a paddock and grew grass in patches forming the letters of tweets from well wishers with large social-media followings. The wool from the 100 Merino sheep grazing on the tweets will go into suits for the team when it represents Australia in the FIFA World Cup in Brazil (streetwear, not game kit). The Socceroos will "quite literally be dressed in passionate support from celebrities like Hugh Jackman, Shane Warne and Jessica Gomes", according to the company.

Each of the 11 selected tweets measured approximately 30 meters wide, and the collection took up up two acres (click the image on the left to read some of the tweets). A former Socceroos player, Mark Bosnich, released the sheep into the paddock to the strains of the national anthem being performed by a local singer, Ernie Constance.

The project took 212 million grass seeds, 40,000 litres of hydro-seeding and 1,300 metres of irrigation.

“Australian pride and passion for the Socceroos was at an ultimate high when the team qualified, so working with the official suit maker MJ Bale, we wanted to bring this to life in a fun way to show them this support," said Dave Bowman, ECD at Whybin\TBWA Group Sydney. "We hope the team wear their suits with pride.”